WMEX (1510 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Quincy, Massachusetts, United States that is currently silent. Prior to suspension of operations the station served the Greater Boston market from 1934 until 2026. Last owned by Local Media Boston, headed by Tony LaGreca and Larry Justice, WMEX broadcast an oldies format at its closure and was an affiliate of The True Oldies Channel. The station's studios were last located in Plymouth while the transmitter was sited in Quincy, near the Neponset River.
History Early years WMEX was founded in 1934 by Bill and Al Pote, with studios in the Hotel Manger, and was originally on 1500 kHz, with 250 watts daytime, 100 watts nighttime.Broadcasting Yearbook 1936 page 54 It broadcast from a transmitter site on Powder Horn Hill in Chelsea. On October 18, 1934, the station officially signed on the air. On April 5, 1936, WMEX moved its studio and offices to 70 Brookline Ave, where it remained for thirty years. In 1940, WMEX moved to a site off West Squantum Road in Quincy, near the WNAC and WAAB site in the Neponset River Valley; it would remain there until 1981.
After several unsuccessful attempts to move to 1470 with a power upgrade to 5,000 watts, WMEX finally made the move (and power increase) in 1941,WMEX History just in time for the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement to move the station to 1510 kHz. Throughout this period, WMEX operated as an independent (non-network) station with a program schedule filled with such programs as live music remotes, horse racing, and ethnic programming.
One early WMEX star was future Fenway Park and Boston Garden organist John Kiley, who in 1941 broadcast three daily programs.Boston Post, July 7, 1941 One of them was titled Letter-Quest, on which listeners would write to Kiley in care of the station, requesting songs. The letter would be read by announcer Jay McMaster (who remained at WMEX into the Top 40 era), followed by Kiley playing the requested song.
In the 1940s, jazz critic Nat Hentoff got his start as a jazz deejay at WMEX.Nat Hentoff In the early 1950s, Nat Hentoff announced many live jazz radio broadcasts over WMEX from the Storyville nightclub at the Hotel Buckminster. Many audio recordings from these sessions are still available, including those by Billie Holiday, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan.Dave Brubeck Quartet: Complete Storyville Broadcasts amazon.comBillie Holiday: Complete Storyville Broadcasts amazon.com
The Top 40 era In 1957, the New England Radio Corporation sold WMEX to the Richmond brothers. One of the brothers, Max Richmond changed the format of WMEX to a rock-and-roll-dominant pop-music format (among the first in the nation) and hired popular disc jockey Arnie Ginsburg away from smaller station WBOS. The hit format lasted from 1957 until March 1975. Max Richmond was reportedly a challenge to work for, with his alleged micromanaging and abrasive personality, yet none can deny his uncanny ability to spot DJ talent, and to keep his station—despite a poor nighttime signal in many suburban locations—a major player and innovator for many years.WMEX Good Guys Music Survey 1965WMEX Good Guys Music Survey 1966WMEX Good Guys Music Survey 1966
Among Max Richmond's innovations was the hiring of Jerry Williams in 1957 to conduct a nighttime telephone talk show, with the caller's voice heard on the air, a revolutionary concept in the late 1950s. With the weekday-only Williams show beginning at 10 pm (after much of the young rock-and-roll audience was in bed), Richmond was able to expand the appeal of his station to the adult community in the late-night hours. Malcolm X was a favorite guest of Williams, and many WMEX broadcasts featuring Williams and Malcolm X survive. Larry Glick (who was to become a Boston radio talk show legend) was hired by WMEX to host a show that aired after the Jerry Williams Show (1965–1967). Larry's show steered clear of controversy and was more focused on "having a good time" while taping into Boston's well-known humor side. When the Beatles broke in the United States, WMEX played virtually every Beatles song available and fueled the already rabid Boston fans. In the early 1960s, personality Arnie (WooWoo) Ginsburg hosted a Sunday night oldies show, one of the first in the nation to feature early pioneer rock and rhythm and blues recordings in a specialty show on a top-rated radio station.
In the late 1960s, WMEX received a power upgrade to 50,000 watts daytime, still with 5,000 watts at night. Station engineers had to constantly adjust the phasing network as tides in the Neponset River would play havoc with the station's directional pattern. However, the saltwater marsh area provided the station with an excellent coastal signal. While the night signal could not be heard clearly inland at many Boston suburban locations (especially in the growing and affluent western and southwestern suburbs), the station's nighttime transmissions were heard very clearly across the water to the Boston city neighborhoods and the working class North Shore areas. The saltwater path nighttime transmissions reached up to Nova Scotia and Labrador, gaining the station an audience in those areas, as well.Social life in Clare: eating, drinking, singing, dancing Council of Nova Scotia Archives
WITS: Information, talk and sports By the late 1960s, WMEX was facing tough competition in the Top 40 format from WRKO, which featured a tight playlist, a more "suburban oriented" sound, and a 50,000 watt day and night signal which was heard clearly in all suburbs. However, under the programming of Dick Summer and later, John Garabedian, WMEX countered with an expanded playlist featuring some "progressive rock" album cuts.WMEX 1971 Music Survey The station was one of the first two major market stations along with its sister, WPGC in Washington, DC, to pick up American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and broke "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart nationally. WMEX shot back up in the ratings and actually beat WRKO in a few demographics and time periods, but it was a temporary and final victory for the station.
In November 1971, owner Max Richmond died and FM radio began to overtake AM stations for music listening. WMEX decided to abandon Top 40 hits in 1975. It briefly ran a middle of the road music format with some talk programming. Then, WMEX captured the broadcast rights to Boston Red Sox baseball beginning with the 1975 playoffs. That led to WMEX becoming an all-talk station in 1976.Robert A. McLean, "WMEX takes another step toward all-talk format," The Boston Globe, May 15, 1976. In 1978, to better promote its talk format and sports coverage, the station changed call letters to WITS ("Information, Talk and Sports").
Adding the Boston Bruins hockey team in the 1978-79 season boosted WITS's sports profile, but the station came in for considerable criticism after the 1978 baseball season when it fired the popular Red Sox commentary duo of Ned Martin and Jim Woods. Although Martin was able to continue broadcasting the Red Sox on television, Woods never again broadcast the team's games on a regular basis.
Long a 5,000-watt station, WMEX/WITS in the 1970s had a daytime power boost to 50,000 watts, with nighttime power remaining at 5,000 watts, a less-than-perfect signal in parts of the Boston area, especially at night. WKBW (1520 AM), with 50,000 watts in Buffalo, New York, right next door to WMEX on the dial, all but buried the weaker 5,000-watt WMEX after dark in the western Boston suburbs (such as Wellesley). On the other side of WMEX was an equally strong signal from WTOP (1500 AM) in Washington, which, together with WKBW, put the squeeze on WMEX's signal at night. In 1981, WITS moved its transmitter to Waltham and was able to boost power to 50,000 watts day and night. While some areas did get an improved signal, others did not, especially at night. Not long afterward, WITS's owner at the time, Mariner Communications, suffered financial problems. The station lost the Red Sox and Bruins and had to abandon its talk format.
1983–2017: Multiple formats On January 1, 1983, WITS flipped to an adult standards format under the call sign WMRE "The Memory Station", but was not successful.Robert A. McLean, "Old favorites ring in the new at WMRE," The Boston Globe, December 31, 1982.Radio & Records January 9, 1987 Other formats quickly followed, one after another. Among them were a return to talk (featuring Morgan White Jr. and Bob Katzen) in September 1986,Robert A. McLean, "WMRE resuming talk format," The Boston Globe, August 30, 1986. a flip to soft adult contemporary (as WSSH) in July 1987,Robert A. McLean, "WSSH-AM will echo WSSH-FM," The Boston Globe, January 3, 1985. a flip to country music (as WKKU) in February 1989,Susan Bickelhaupt, "WSSH-AM turns to country music," The Boston Globe, March 1, 1989. a return to soft adult contemporary (WSSH again) in November 1990,Susan Bickelhaupt, "Country music fades from airwaves," The Boston Globe, October 31, 1990. a flip to Spanish-language programming in March 1991,"WSSH-AM switches to Hispanic programming," The Boston Globe, March 13, 1991. and as WNRB, changing to brokered religious programming in February 1995.Susan Bickelhaupt, "Two stations hope 'new' sound will wash," The Boston Globe, February 2, 1995. On December 18, 1997, the station flipped to an all-sports format from One-On-One Sports.Howard Manly, "Talk of the town," The Boston Globe, December 21, 1997.
In 2001, coinciding with One-On-One Sports's relaunch as Sporting News Radio, the call sign was changed first to WSZE, then to WWZN ("1510 The Zone"). During this time, Paul Allen's Rose City Broadcasting held the license. Allen also owned Sporting News Radio and The Sporting News magazine. The relaunched WWZN also acquired the local radio broadcasts of the Boston Celtics basketball team, but the station sold the broadcast rights to WRKO at the end of the 2004–2005 season. For a time, sports hosts such as Sean McDonough, Ryen Russillo, and Eddie Andelman were all heard on WWZN.
Prior to the station's sale, WWZN started to rely on time-brokered infomercials in addition to programming from Sporting News Radio. On May 31, 2007, Blackstrap Broadcasting completed its purchase of both this station and WSNR in the New York City area (licensed to Newark, New Jersey). In the fall of 2007, WWZN moved from Burlington, Massachusetts, to brand new studios overlooking the ocean at Marina Bay in Quincy.
From 2008 until 2012, the station aired progressive talk shows as brokered time including a local show hosted by Jeff Santos. The station then changed its call letters to WUFC and returned to a sports format as an affiliate of NBC Sports Radio from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. weekdays, with a local show, "The Bawstin Diehards", from 10 a.m. to Noon. Yahoo! Sports Radio (the successor to Sporting News Radio) aired at other times. The NBC Sports Radio affiliation lasted until late 2013, when Yahoo! took over NBC's hours. In June 2014, the station began airing a libertarian talk radio format. On November 17, 2014, the station reverted to its original call sign, WMEX. The change coincided with the move of The Howie Carr Show to the station from WRKO. Carr's show returned to WRKO on March 16, 2015.
Programs on WMEX in early 2015 included Boston Herald Radio, The Glenn Beck Program, Michael Savage, The Sean Hannity Show, and Alex Jones. A Saturday-night oldies show debuted on March 28, 2015, hosted by Jim Callahan and Chris Porter, which was followed by Classic Rewind with Jimmy Jay. The program featured music from the classic WMEX rock-and-roll years, along with original station jingles from the era.