- WSNE-FM
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WSNE-FM 
City of license Taunton, Massachusetts Broadcast area Taunton, Massachusetts/Providence, Rhode Island Branding Coast 93-3 Slogan "The Best Variety of the 90's, 2K and Today" Frequency 93.3 FM (MHz) (also on HD Radio)
93.3-2 FM Smooth Jazz (HD Radio)First air date January 26, 1966 Format Commercial; Hot AC ERP 31,000 watts HAAT 180 meters Class B Facility ID 74069 Callsign meaning W Southern New England Former callsigns WSNE (12/11/1980)
WRLM (09/26/1980)
WRLM-FM (1966)Owner Clear Channel Communications
(Capstar TX LLC)Sister stations WWBB, WHJJ, WHJY Webcast Listen Live Website www.coast933.com WSNE-FM (93.3 FM, "Coast 93-3") is a radio station serving the Providence, Rhode Island market with a Hot Adult Contemporary music format. The station is licensed in Taunton, Massachusetts to Clear Channel Communications. Its studio and offices are located at 75 Oxford Street, Providence, Rhode Island, and its transmitter is located at the WJAR transmitter site in Rehoboth, MA. The station was assigned its current WSNE-FM call sign by the Federal Communications Commission on March 1, 2001.[1] WSNE-FM transmits a directional signal to reduce interference to WHYN-FM in Springfield, MA.[2]
Contents
History
In 1966, WSNE signed on as WRLM, named for original owner Robert L. McCarthy. Its programming was a middle of the road format in monaural, as well as broadcasting local news and high-school sports for Taunton and the vicinity. During the 1970s, WRLM adopted an Adult Contemporary format and went stereo in 1976.
In 1980, co-owners John McCarthy and Joseph Quill sold WRLM to the Outlet Company, the then owners of WJAR (now WHJJ) and WJAR-TV in Providence. While the AC format was maintained on "FM 93," the call sign was changed to WSNE and several high-profile Providence personalities joined the station's staff including Mike Sands, Paul Perry, Bob Hollands and Patty Costa. Studios were moved to Providence and the transmitter was moved to Rehoboth, Massachusetts, improving the station's signal in Rhode Island. By 1984, Ken Cole was added for evenings and the station was now known as "93.3 WSNE." By 1986, the last four hours of Ken Cole's show was called Pillow Talk, featuring love songs and dedications.
In 1986, former WEAN (now WPRV) personality Joannie Edwardsen was brought in as the morning news anchor. Shortly after, former WPRO afternoon host David Jones was hired to take over mornings. With the addition of Chuck Hinman as news anchor by years end, Jones & Joan would become the new morning show. By 1989, Jones & Joan had gained a large following, finishing only second to WPRO's legendary Salty Brine.
on Saturday, June 5, 1993, tragedy struck WSNE as long-time midday host Mike Sands was killed in an automobile accident while on his way to a station remote in Swansea, MA. The station paid tribute to Sands the following Monday with phone calls from listeners, former co-workers and personalities from other stations. Program Director Steve Peck and Jim Halfyard would split Sands shift after his death, with Ken Cole on evenings and Amy Hawkins (later known as Amy Navarro) joining the station for overnights.[3]
Since 1993, the station had slowly been evolving from Adult Contemporary to Hot Adult Contemporary. When SFX Broadcasting acquired WSNE in 1995, the station re-imaged itself as "93-3 SNE," adding hotter jingles and the slogan "Southern New England's Variety Station." After several mergers placing the station with Capstar and AMFM, Inc., Clear Channel Communications acquired WSNE in October 1999. Around this time, WSNE started leaning toward the AC format once again, with the syndicated Delilah show being added at night. This effectively gave WSNE an AC format during the hours her show aired, with a lighter flavor of Hot AC all other times.
In November 2002, a series of changes began at WSNE. The station played all Christmas music leading into Christmas Day.[4] On December 26, 2002, the long running Jones & Joan morning show came to an end after nearly 17 years, as station management parted ways with David. The station re-imaged itself as the new "Star 93-3," leaning back toward Hot AC.[5] Within a month, Entercom Communications issued a cease and desist order on using the Star branding, as Star 93.7 (now WEEI-FM) existed in the overlapping Boston market.[6] From mid-January until April 2003, the station was now known simply as "The New 93-3" before being renamed as "Coast 93-3." In August 2003, Brian Mulhern (aka "The Pharmacist") would join the morning show,[7] however Joannie along with her husband Chuck Hinman left the station in 2006. On November 16, 2006, Tad Lemire moved down the hall from WCTK to become new morning show host, with Brian as co-host.[8]
In June 2008, the syndicated "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest" was added for afternoons and Delilah was replaced with the "John Tesh Radio Show" for evenings.[9] With this change, Coast began to sound overall like a Hot AC station, since the AC music provided with Delilah was gone. On April 28, 2009, Clear Channel Communications eliminated 590 positions nationwide, which meant the dismissal of Coast Program Director Chris Duggan and morning man Tad Lemire. On May 18, 2009, the station began syndicating "Matty in the Morning" from sister station WXKS-FM in Boston, MA.[10]
In May 2009, Coast installed the Hot AC programming of a newly formed Clear Channel Communications service called Premium Choice.[11] The service provides several music formats including the elements of scheduled music and the voicetracks of on-air talent from various Clear Channel stations across the country. Local Clear Channel stations have total choice in choosing the programming elements they wish to use (if any).[12] Coast elected to use its music playlist 24/7, while only using the voicetracked talent on weekends and Monday through Friday from 12am to 6am. The same music and some of the talent heard on Coast can also be heard on Iheartradio's "Today's Mix," which also uses the Hot AC programming of Premium Choice.
After Premium Choice programming was implemented, Coast's weekday lineup included "Matty in the Morning" (6am to 10am), the only remaining local personality Kristin Lessard (10am to 3pm), "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest" (3pm to 7pm) and the "John Tesh Radio Show" (7pm to midnight). In August 2009, John Tesh was dropped and replaced with Cindy Spicer from Premium Choice.
In June 2011, Coast pulled the plug on its two-year carriage of "Matty in the Morning" in favor of voicetracking from Toby Knapp, afternoon jock at Clear Channel's WIHT in Washington, DC.[13] The slogan was changed to "The Best Variety of the 90's, 2K and Today." Although not mentioned in the new slogan, popular songs from the 1980s are still played on occasion, as Hot AC programming from Premium Choice still includes '80s music. Ryan Seacrest and Kristin Lessard also swapped shifts, with Ryan now on middays and Kristin now on afternoons.
Current Programming
Coast 93-3's current weekday lineup includes Toby Knapp (6am to 10am), "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest" (10am to 2pm), Kristin Lessard (2pm to 7pm), Cindy Spicer (7pm to midnight) and Shelley Wade (midnight to 5am). The station's current weekend lineup includes Lori Bradley, Shaun Vincent, Jeff Stevens and Kristy Knight. Special weekend programming includes "American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest" (Hot AC version) and "TheHopeLine with Dawson McAllister" (Sunday, 9pm to midnight).
Former Personalities
Notable former personnel include Holland Cooke (Program Director (1982-1984)), Peter Mokover (Program Director (1980-1982)), Bill Hess (Program Director (2000s)), Mike Sands, David Jones, Joanie Edwardson (Mornings (1988-2006)), Chuck Hinman (News Director), Jim Halfyard, Ken Cole, Steve York, Jed Barton, Amy Navarro, Jack Casey, Jay Stevens, Scott Mallory, Jack Lawrence, Donna Mac, Harmon Dash, Bill O'Brien, Stacy Shannon, Doug O'Brien, Gary Trust, Michael Nordé, Chris Eagan, Vinnie McCoy, Patti Costa, Bob Hollands, John Morgan, Paul Perry, Steve Peck, Jim Raposa, Wally Bruckner, Norm Thibeault, Lisa Hanks, Liz Ryan, Will Gilbert, and Bill Smith.
WSNE-FM HD2
On April 25, 2006, Clear Channel announced that WSNE-FM would add an HD2 sub-channel. When activated, it carried a format focusing on dance and disco hits.[14] In 2009, the HD2 flipped to its current format, smooth jazz.
See also
References
- ^ "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database. http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=74069&Callsign=WSNE-FM.
- ^ https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101271613&formid=301&fac_num=74069
- ^ "Providence Radio Histories". WSNE History - July 22, 2007. http://pvdradiohistory.blogspot.com/2007/07/wsne-history.html.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - November 24, 2003. http://www.fybush.com/nerw-031124.html.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - December 30, 2002. http://fybush.com/nerw-021230.html.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - January 13, 2003. http://fybush.com/nerw-030113.html.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - August 25, 2003. http://www.fybush.com/nerw-030825.html.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - November 20, 2006. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2006/061120/nerw.html.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - June 16, 2008. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2008/080616/nerw.html.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - May 18, 2009. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2009/090518/nerw.html.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - May 4, 2009. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2009/090504/nerw.html.
- ^ "Clear Channel Radio Press Release". Clear Channel Radio Launches Plan to Improve Program Quality for All Day Parts - April 15, 2009. http://www.clearchannel.com/Radio/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=2394.
- ^ "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". NERW - June 27, 2011. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2011/110627/nerw.html.
- ^ hdradio.com
External links
- Coast 93-3 official website
- Lemire Takes over Morning Show at WSNE
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WSNE
- Radio-Locator information on WSNE
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WSNE
Radio stations in the Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket, Rhode Island market By AM frequency By FM frequency By NOAA Weather Radio frequency 162.4By callsign List of defunct stations Rhode Island Radio Markets: Providence
Other Rhode Island Radio Regions: Newport
See also: List of radio stations in Rhode IslandAdult Contemporary radio stations in the state of Massachusetts By frequency By callsign By community of license Barnstable · Boston · Boston · Great Barrington · Greenfield · Orange · Orleans · Plymouth · Springfield · Plymouth · Taunton · WorcesterCategories:- HD Radio stations
- Greater Taunton Area
- Adult top 40 radio stations in the United States
- Taunton, Massachusetts
- Radio stations in Massachusetts
- Radio stations established in 1966
- Clear Channel radio stations
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