WTOC (AM)
Encyclopedia
WTOC was a radio station
licensed to Newton, New Jersey
. They offered an oldies
music format with songs from the 1960s and 1970s along with a small amount oldies from 1955 to 1964 and a small amount of hits from the 1980's. They were a full-time affiliate of Scott Shannon
's True Oldies Channel from ABC Radio. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications
. From the station's 1953 sign-on until July 1, 2008, the radio station was known as WNNJ.
WTOC signed off on August 17, 2011, in preparation for a handover of the frequency to Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, to which it was donated by Clear Channel. The frequency is expected to carry Radio Vision Cristiana in the future.
Since the summer of 2007, the station has had no local air personalities. The True Oldies Channel actually uses Scott Shannon
for voiceovers the entire time through voicetracking. WTOC continued to have ABC News
and local news. Core artists included The Beatles
, The Supremes
, The Four Seasons, Elvis Presley
, Three Dog Night
, The Rolling Stones
, The Eagles, The Temptations
, The Monkees
, Stevie Wonder
, The Righteous Brothers
, Buddy Holly
, The Beach Boys
, Carole King
, Herman's Hermits
, Young Rascals
, Chuck Berry
, among others.
signed on as well and broke away as WIXL in the mid 1960s. By 1971, 1360 WNNJ would evolve into an adult contemporary music format with a slight lean on Top 40 music. The station was also news intensive. WNNJ was also allowed to sign on at 6:00 a.m. even if it stayed dark after because they had a pre sunrise authorization. In the Fall of 1978, WNNJ modified their music to more of a Top 40 format adding more rock music.
In 1979, Group M Communications headed by Marvin Strauzer & Mike Levine purchased WNNJ and WIXL. WNNJ stayed with top 40 until October 1981, when they evolved back into an Adult Contemporary format and in November of 1981 into Adult Standards
format, mixing in some Adult Contemporary hits. The amounts of adult contemporary hits varied from more than half to only a couple an hour depending upon the time of day and who was on the air. The station tried to be more consistent by the early summer playing very limited contemporary songs but by the late summer the station began to lean Adult Contemporary again. In the Fall of 1982 though the station abruptly dropped virtually the baby boomer pop and became a Big Band and Standards station only playing music from the 30's to the 50's, with a few exceptions by Sinatra type artists. By the Spring of 1983 the station evolved back to a Middle Of The Road format blending standards and soft AC cuts.
That fall, the station moved into an easy listening leaning format playing almost no big bands but only small amounts of adult contemporary cuts. The station was now leaning toward artists like Frank Sinatra
, Nat "King" Cole, Nancy Wilson, Johnny Mathis
, among others. This format failed, and on February 8, 1984, at 1:00 p.m. WNNJ became a soft adult Contemporary station. At that point WNNJ got a post sunset authorization to stay on the air until 6 p.m. even in the months that dusk occurred before 6. That summer they modified into more of a contemporary hit radio
station mixing in a few oldies. In the Winter of 1985, under new program director William Cox, and after a few false starts, WNNJ settled on an Adult Contemporary/Oldies hybrid format under the name "Solid Gold 1360 WNNJ". The format did well through the late 1980s. In 1989 WNNJ got 24 hour a day authorization to broadcast. WNNJ now could stay on the air during the overnight but still signed off at 10:00 p.m.
By 1990, though the current product was dropped and the station had evolved into a broad based 1955-1989 oldies format still known as Solid Gold 1360 WNNJ. In January 1994, some of the full time airstaff was laid off while other full timers and part timers were folded into 103.7 WNNJ FM. WNNJ 1360 became a satellite oldies station playing music from 1955 to 1975. The station was still called Solid Gold 1360 WNNJ but was entirely automated. The station also began broadcasting 24 hours a day.
Late in 1996, Nassau Broadcasting purchased WNNJ along with WNNJ FM. WNNJ 1360 dropped the Satellite Oldies in favor of ABC's Stardust satellite format featuring an eclectic blend of standards, soft rock oldies, soft AC cuts, and some big bands. The station remained automated full time, known as "Unforgettable 1360 WNNJ".
During the summer of 1998 WNNJ added a live weekday morning show from 5:30 to 10 a.m. with Chris Debello. The show consisted of a few adult standard songs along with news and phone call ins by people of various types. In 2000 the satellite format was switched to Westwood One's standards format which was a blend of soft rock oldies, easy listening standards, and soft adult contemporary hits. By now the station was known as simply "1360 WNNJ".
At 3 p.m. on November 27th, 2002, WNNJ switched to country as "Bear Country 1360". The station was entirely automated with in house voicetracking except for overnights when they ran "After Midnight". Ratings were very low but the format lasted until September of 2004.
In September 2004 Clear Channel lost the local marketing agreement with locally owned 96.7 WTSX (known as Fox 96.7) which played 60's and 70's oldies. At the end of the month WTSX went their separate way. Most of the airstaff though would stay with Clear Channel. They opted to move aspects of the Oldies format over to 1360, dropping country and flipping to oldies as "Oldies 1360". In the Spring of 2005 Oldies 1360 added former WCBS FM personality Max Kinkel to mornings. Late in October of 2006, Max Kinkle suffered debilitating injuries in an automobile accident. He never returned to the station.
On July 30, 2007, local voice tracking and personalities were abruptly dropped. The station continued its automated oldies format for a few more weeks. Then on August 21 at 12 Noon, WNNJ picked up a Satellite format called "Timeless Classics", which played a mix or Soft Oldies, some Soft AC cuts, and some adult standards. Core artists included Beatles, Frank Sinatra
, Elvis Presley
, Neil Diamond
, Ray Charles
, Billy Joel
, Roy Orbison
, and others.
On June 26, 2008, it was announced that WNNJ was dropping their call letters on July 1, 2008 and would be known as "WTOC" at that time when the WTOC call letters were relinquished by a radio station in Savannah, GA. On the evening of June 30, 2008, the Classic AC/Oldies Timeless format was dropped in favor of Scott Shannon
's True Oldies Channel
. WTOC shared call letters with a CBS
Television Affiliate in Savannah, Georgia
known as WTOC-TV
, and was never affiliated with 1360 WTOC.
On July 21, 2010, Clear Channel announced that they will donate the station to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council through the MMTC-CLEAR CHANNEL Ownership Diversity Initiative. The station then signed off at noon on August 17, 2011. The last song played was "Hello Goodbye" by the Beatles. The last voice heard was that of chief engineer for Clear Channel Sussex and staff announcer Tony Dee.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Newton, New Jersey
Newton, New Jersey
Newton is a town in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 8,244. It is the county seat of Sussex County....
. They offered an oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
music format with songs from the 1960s and 1970s along with a small amount oldies from 1955 to 1964 and a small amount of hits from the 1980's. They were a full-time affiliate of Scott Shannon
Scott Shannon
Michael Scott Shannon is a radio disc jockey, current co-host of the "Scott and Todd in the Morning" show on WPLJ, host of The True Oldies Channel, and the official voice of The Sean Hannity Show.-Early Radio Career:...
's True Oldies Channel from ABC Radio. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
. From the station's 1953 sign-on until July 1, 2008, the radio station was known as WNNJ.
WTOC signed off on August 17, 2011, in preparation for a handover of the frequency to Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, to which it was donated by Clear Channel. The frequency is expected to carry Radio Vision Cristiana in the future.
Since the summer of 2007, the station has had no local air personalities. The True Oldies Channel actually uses Scott Shannon
Scott Shannon
Michael Scott Shannon is a radio disc jockey, current co-host of the "Scott and Todd in the Morning" show on WPLJ, host of The True Oldies Channel, and the official voice of The Sean Hannity Show.-Early Radio Career:...
for voiceovers the entire time through voicetracking. WTOC continued to have ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
and local news. Core artists included The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, The Four Seasons, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, The Eagles, The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
, The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...
, Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
, Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
, Young Rascals
The Rascals
The Rascals were an American blue-eyed soul group initially active during the years 1965–72. The band released numerous top ten singles in North America during the mid- and late-1960s, including the U.S. #1 hits "Good Lovin'" , "Groovin'" , and "People Got to Be Free"...
, Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
, among others.
History
The station was known as WNNJ when it signed on as a daytimer in 1953 and had a full service middle of the road music and news format. In 1961, WNNJ-FMWNNJ
WNNJ is a Class B FM radio station licensed to Newton, New Jersey broadcasting on 103.7 FM. They serve the Sussex County, New Jersey radio market while also reaching northeastern Pennsylvania and Orange County, New York. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications. WNNJ offers a Rock...
signed on as well and broke away as WIXL in the mid 1960s. By 1971, 1360 WNNJ would evolve into an adult contemporary music format with a slight lean on Top 40 music. The station was also news intensive. WNNJ was also allowed to sign on at 6:00 a.m. even if it stayed dark after because they had a pre sunrise authorization. In the Fall of 1978, WNNJ modified their music to more of a Top 40 format adding more rock music.
In 1979, Group M Communications headed by Marvin Strauzer & Mike Levine purchased WNNJ and WIXL. WNNJ stayed with top 40 until October 1981, when they evolved back into an Adult Contemporary format and in November of 1981 into Adult Standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
format, mixing in some Adult Contemporary hits. The amounts of adult contemporary hits varied from more than half to only a couple an hour depending upon the time of day and who was on the air. The station tried to be more consistent by the early summer playing very limited contemporary songs but by the late summer the station began to lean Adult Contemporary again. In the Fall of 1982 though the station abruptly dropped virtually the baby boomer pop and became a Big Band and Standards station only playing music from the 30's to the 50's, with a few exceptions by Sinatra type artists. By the Spring of 1983 the station evolved back to a Middle Of The Road format blending standards and soft AC cuts.
That fall, the station moved into an easy listening leaning format playing almost no big bands but only small amounts of adult contemporary cuts. The station was now leaning toward artists like Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Nat "King" Cole, Nancy Wilson, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, among others. This format failed, and on February 8, 1984, at 1:00 p.m. WNNJ became a soft adult Contemporary station. At that point WNNJ got a post sunset authorization to stay on the air until 6 p.m. even in the months that dusk occurred before 6. That summer they modified into more of a contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
station mixing in a few oldies. In the Winter of 1985, under new program director William Cox, and after a few false starts, WNNJ settled on an Adult Contemporary/Oldies hybrid format under the name "Solid Gold 1360 WNNJ". The format did well through the late 1980s. In 1989 WNNJ got 24 hour a day authorization to broadcast. WNNJ now could stay on the air during the overnight but still signed off at 10:00 p.m.
By 1990, though the current product was dropped and the station had evolved into a broad based 1955-1989 oldies format still known as Solid Gold 1360 WNNJ. In January 1994, some of the full time airstaff was laid off while other full timers and part timers were folded into 103.7 WNNJ FM. WNNJ 1360 became a satellite oldies station playing music from 1955 to 1975. The station was still called Solid Gold 1360 WNNJ but was entirely automated. The station also began broadcasting 24 hours a day.
Late in 1996, Nassau Broadcasting purchased WNNJ along with WNNJ FM. WNNJ 1360 dropped the Satellite Oldies in favor of ABC's Stardust satellite format featuring an eclectic blend of standards, soft rock oldies, soft AC cuts, and some big bands. The station remained automated full time, known as "Unforgettable 1360 WNNJ".
During the summer of 1998 WNNJ added a live weekday morning show from 5:30 to 10 a.m. with Chris Debello. The show consisted of a few adult standard songs along with news and phone call ins by people of various types. In 2000 the satellite format was switched to Westwood One's standards format which was a blend of soft rock oldies, easy listening standards, and soft adult contemporary hits. By now the station was known as simply "1360 WNNJ".
At 3 p.m. on November 27th, 2002, WNNJ switched to country as "Bear Country 1360". The station was entirely automated with in house voicetracking except for overnights when they ran "After Midnight". Ratings were very low but the format lasted until September of 2004.
In September 2004 Clear Channel lost the local marketing agreement with locally owned 96.7 WTSX (known as Fox 96.7) which played 60's and 70's oldies. At the end of the month WTSX went their separate way. Most of the airstaff though would stay with Clear Channel. They opted to move aspects of the Oldies format over to 1360, dropping country and flipping to oldies as "Oldies 1360". In the Spring of 2005 Oldies 1360 added former WCBS FM personality Max Kinkel to mornings. Late in October of 2006, Max Kinkle suffered debilitating injuries in an automobile accident. He never returned to the station.
On July 30, 2007, local voice tracking and personalities were abruptly dropped. The station continued its automated oldies format for a few more weeks. Then on August 21 at 12 Noon, WNNJ picked up a Satellite format called "Timeless Classics", which played a mix or Soft Oldies, some Soft AC cuts, and some adult standards. Core artists included Beatles, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, and others.
On June 26, 2008, it was announced that WNNJ was dropping their call letters on July 1, 2008 and would be known as "WTOC" at that time when the WTOC call letters were relinquished by a radio station in Savannah, GA. On the evening of June 30, 2008, the Classic AC/Oldies Timeless format was dropped in favor of Scott Shannon
Scott Shannon
Michael Scott Shannon is a radio disc jockey, current co-host of the "Scott and Todd in the Morning" show on WPLJ, host of The True Oldies Channel, and the official voice of The Sean Hannity Show.-Early Radio Career:...
's True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel is a syndicated radio programming stream begun in the spring of 2004, hosted by American radio personality Scott Shannon...
. WTOC shared call letters with a CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
Television Affiliate in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
known as WTOC-TV
WTOC-TV
WTOC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Southeastern Georgia's Coastal Empire and Southern South Carolina's Lowcountry. Licensed to Savannah, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter along Fort Argyle Road/SR 204 in unincorporated...
, and was never affiliated with 1360 WTOC.
On July 21, 2010, Clear Channel announced that they will donate the station to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council through the MMTC-CLEAR CHANNEL Ownership Diversity Initiative. The station then signed off at noon on August 17, 2011. The last song played was "Hello Goodbye" by the Beatles. The last voice heard was that of chief engineer for Clear Channel Sussex and staff announcer Tony Dee.