➦In 1916...Pioneering radio, TV engineer Ernst Alexanderson successfully tested the multiple tuned antenna. He was a pioneer in radio and television development. Alexanderson designed the Alexanderson alternator, an early longwave radio transmitter, one of the first devices which could transmit modulated audio (sound) over radio waves. Alexanderson also created the amplidyne, a direct current amplifier used during the Second World War for controlling anti-aircraft guns. During some 45-years working for General Electric, he was responsible for 322 patents.
➦In 1924...the BBC time signal was first transmitted at 9.30pm, introduced by Sir Frank Dyson, the Astronomer Royal. Ever since that date, equipment at the Greenwich Observatory generates six short “pips” starting at five seconds to the hour and ending exactly on the hour. The pips have been generated by the BBC since 1990 to mark the precise start of each hour.
➦In 1931... Eddie Cantor‘s long radio career got underway as he made his first appearance on Rudy Vallee’s “The Fleischmann Hour” on NBC. By September of 1931 he would be headlining his own variety hour for Chase & Sanborn. The show established Cantor as a leading comedian.
➦In 1940... one of the many Frank and Anne Hummert radio soap operas, ‘Amanda of Honeymoon Hill‘ began it six-year run, the first half on NBC Blue, and then on CBS. It was a 15-minute daily radio soap opera.
➦In 1940...WTIC-FM was one of the two pre-World War II FM stations in Connecticut, signing on the air originally as W1XSO and using a frequency of 43.5 MHz. In December 1941, it became a commercial operation using the call letters W53H. In 1943, the call letters were changed for the last time to WTIC-FM. On April 17, 1948, the station moved to 96.5 MHz where it has remained, and switched to a classical music format. It switched from classical to CHR/Top 40 on May 12, 1977; the first song played as a Top 40 station was "Feels Like The First Time" by Foreigner.
The station's classical music library was donated to the University of Hartford radio station WWUH a few months later.
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| WTIC 96.5 FM (20 Kw) Red=60dBu Coverage Area |
The station switched to its current Hot AC format on June 15, 1994. This was done in order to remove controversial rap music from its playlist.
The original WTIC-FM Top 40 format in the late 1970s consisted of only current hit songs (no oldies) in a high-energy, jingle-heavy presentation designed by consultant Mike Joseph, and it was an instant success. Joseph would later term this formatic approach "Hot Hits" and put it into use at other stations around the United States, most notably WBBM-FM in Chicago.
The station is now owned by Audacy Communications.
➦In 1941...WNYC FM signed on as W39NY and was located at 43.9mc in the early FM band. On September 21, 1943, it became WNYC and in 1946 it moved over to 98.1 on the current FM band. By 1948, it settled on its current position of 93.9 FM.
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