WARM 590 AM, which debuted in 1940, pioneered rock ’n’ roll on NEPA airwaves in the 1950s and introduced the Beatles to local listeners in the 1960s, went silent on Sept. 15, according to a notice filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
That “notification of suspension of operations” filed by the station on Sept. 25 as required by the FCC, states that a failure of WARM’s antiquated transmitter located near Falls knocked it off the air temporarily. It’s not known how long it may take to fix.
The station’s “engineers are in the process of specifically identifying the technical problem(s), however due to the age of the transmitter, they are not sure it will be immediately repairable,” the filing states.
“Unfortunately, it’s a pretty technical challenge and complex problem,” said Ron Giovanniello, regional vice president for Cumulus Media, WARM’s parent company, said told The Scranton Times-Tribune. “We’re talking about trying to get this resolved sometime in the fourth quarter” of this year.
FCC rules mandate that a station that has gone off the air for 12 months loses its license.
During the 1960s, WARM became a Top 40 station with a strong news presence, pulling in an unheard-of 70 percent of the radio audience. With on-air personalities like Don Stevens, Joey Shaver, Bill Stewart, George Gilbert, Harry West and others becoming celebrities.
The station was sold in the 1990s to Citadel which was later acquired by Cumulus Media.
There is no excuse for not having a backup transmitter. I worked for a powerhouse (top billing) country/news format FM in the midwest in the '70's whose xmtr shutdown suddenly. It took them almost 2 weeks to get the xmtr back up and operating. The station, which billed millions in ad revenue, failed to invest in a backup (2nd xmtr) and paid a heavy price in lost revenue because of it. It immediately installed a backup xmtr to prevent financial ruin.
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