W296EK
History
The station went on the air on December 4, 1951 as WPAC. Its first studios and offices were located in the Mills Building on Main St. in Patchogue. Transmitting facilities were located on the former Bailey's Mill property on West Ave. in Patchogue. In the early hours of February 10, 1956, fire destroyed the Mills Building, however, the station was able to continue broadcasting from its transmitter site off the Patchogue River until new studios were built at 31 West Main St in Patchogue. The station would become the highest powered station on Long Island, when it increased power from its original 250 watts to 1,000 watts in February 1956. In early 1959, the station built a new office, studio and transmitting facility on the corner of Pennsylvania & Woodside Avenues in Medford, New York. A new 10,000–watt transmitter was installed at this time and the station began broadcasting a 10 kW directional daytime signal from 2 towers. Previously the station broadcast a 1 kW non-directional daytime signal from a single tower. Rick Sklar who, while at New York City's WABC, was one of the originators of the top 40 radio format, began his career at WPAC.
The station changed call letters to WSUF in July 1972 and went dark for 3 years beginning on April 15, 1975. In early May 1975, the station building was gutted by what local police termed suspicious fires, twice in a 24–hour period. The station was sold in late 1977 to Brookhaven Broadcasting Corporation and returned to the air in 1978 with the new call letters WYFA. The station was assigned the WLIM call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on July 13, 1981, after being purchased by Long Island Music Broadcasting. After becoming WLIM, the station began a Big Band/Standards format. Radio veteran Jack Ellsworth (who started his radio career in the late 1940s and became known as the "Silver Fox") ran the independent radio station from 1981 to 2001. There, he continued the show he launched in 1948 at WHIM in Providence and for which he was best known, Memories in Melody.
The station went silent on November 2, 2017, due to storm damage to one of their broadcast towers. WLIM resumed operations on March 27, 2018, at reduced power, while repairs were made to the damaged tower.
In May 2018, Cantico Nuevo Ministry filed a $350,000 deal to purchase WLIM from Polnet Communications. The sale was consummated on August 16, 2018. On May 25, 2018, WLIM dropped the Polish format and began simulcasting WNYG. Both stations share transmitting facilities and diplex on one of WLIM's 3 transmitting towers. In mid-August 2018, the WNYG simulcast was dropped and the station began broadcasting "The Breeze", which had previously been broadcast on WVIP-HD3. In late April 2019, "The Breeze" format swapped with "Radio Cantico Nuevo" on 1440 AM WNYG. On May 1, 2019, the stations swapped call letters with WLIM becoming WNYG.
References
- ^ "Call Sign History". CDBS Public Access Database. FCC Media Bureau. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WNYG". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "WPAC ON THE AIR" (PDF). The Suffolk County News. Sayville New York. December 7, 1951. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- ^ "FIRE RAZES BLOCK IN PATCHOGUE" (PDF). The Suffolk County News. Sayville New York. February 10, 1956. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
- ^ "Mills Bldg. To Be Replaced; Tenants Plan Relocation" (PDF). The Suffolk County News. Sayville New York. February 17, 1956. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
- ^ "WPAC Is Highest Powered Station On Long Island" (PDF). The Suffolk County News. Sayville New York. February 24, 1956. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
- ^ "WPAC Now Has New 10,000 Watt Transmitter" (PDF). The Advance. Patchogue New York. August 20, 1959. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
- ^ "Rick Sklar, 62, A Dominant Force Behind Rock Radio". The New York Times. June 24, 1992. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
- ^ "WSUF may be sold locally" (PDF). The Long Island Advance. Patchogue New York. April 24, 1975. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
- ^ "Police smell arson amid WSUF fires" (PDF). The Long Island Advance. Patchogue New York. May 8, 1975. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
- ^ "WYFA raises the roof" (PDF). The Long Island Advance. Patchogue New York. December 22, 1977. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
- ^ "WYFA is the new kid on the block" (PDF). The Long Island Advance. Patchogue New York. January 25, 1979. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
- ^ Spangler, Nicholas (September 3, 2013). "Dorothy Shiebler, 85, helped run Patchogue's WLIM/1580 AM, dies". Newsday. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
- ^ Hinckley, David (September 15, 2013). "Jack Ellsworth, WLIM Long Island radio vet, dies at 91". Daily News. New York. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
- ^ Phillips, Ted (September 14, 2013). "Jack Ellsworth, 91, longtime LI radio personality, dies". Newsday. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
- ^ "Memories In Melody Radio". memoriesinmelody.com. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
- ^ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". FCC Media Bureau. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
- ^ "Resumption of Operations". FCC Media Bureau. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
- ^ "Long Island AM Gets A New Owner". allaccess.com. May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
- ^ "Consummation Notice". Retrieved August 25, 2018.
External links
- Facility details for Facility ID 38333 (WNYG) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- WNYG in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- FM translators
- Facility details for Facility ID 142126 (W243ES) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- W243ES at FCCdata.org
- Facility details for Facility ID 139264 (W296EK) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- W296EK at FCCdata.org