- WALE
Infobox Radio station
name = WALE
city = Greenville,Rhode Island
area =Providence, Rhode Island
branding = "Amor 990"
slogan =
airdate =April 12 , 1961
frequency = 990 kHz
format = SpanishAdult Contemporary
power = 50,000watt s (day)
5,000 watts (night)
class = B
facility_id = 49128
coordinates = coord|41|57|18|N|71|35|39|W
callsign_meaning = Whaling City (calls began on 1400-Fall River, Mass.)
former_callsigns = WLKW, WEAN
owner = Cumbre Communications Corp.
licensee =
sister_stations =
webcast =
website = http://www.amor990.com/
affiliations =WALE (990 AM, "Amor 990") is a
radio station licensed to the community ofGreenville, Rhode Island , and serving theProvidence, Rhode Island , area. The station is owned by Cumbre Communications Corp. It airs a SpanishAdult Contemporary format. [ cite web |title=Winter 2008 Station Information Profile |work=Arbitron |url=http://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?srvy_id=WI08&surveyID=WI08&band=am&callLetter=WALE]WLKW
WLKW began official broadcasting on April 12, 1961 as Rhode Island's only 50 kW radio station during daylight hours only. This fact was noted in the calls as "LKW" really reads as "50 (L in Roman Numerals) KiloWatts" (sic). For most of its life the station's format was easy listening, which is how the calls are associated today (now the calls exist on 1450-West Warwick).
As WALE
The station has been assigned these call letters by the
Federal Communications Commission sinceJuly 24 ,1989 .cite web |title=Call Sign History |work=FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database |url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=49128&Callsign=WALE] . When Francis Battaglia's North American Broadcasting Company bought WEAN after selling their facility on 1400 inFall River, Massachusetts it tried to make a go at straight-ahead talk against better-established 630/WPRO & 920/WHJJ . As the 1990s wore on the station added more & more brokered programming until the station aired nothing but brokered programming. The station was the last radio home of Steve "White" Wight, a controversial talk host. White registered the highest ratings at WALE since its move to Providence. While at WALE White was named top AM radio host by the Providence Journal's Lifebeat contest in 1991, finishing ahead of radio legend Salty Brine. WALE earned a reputation in the Providence area as having fringe programming, such asThe National Vanguard , which aired from 16:00-16:30 on Saturdays as well as nearly no listeners.WALE was sold at a bankruptcy auction in 2003 to Cumbre Communications where it reemerged as "Supermax 990", a Spanish-language outlet going up against 1110/
WPMZ & 1220/WRIB . The station was an affiliate of the Red Sox Beisbol Network in 2005, but it is unknown if it will air games in 2008. WALE went silent onDecember 29 2006 & returned to the airwaves in late 2007. Today the station airs a Spanish-language adult contemporary format as "Amor 990" (Love 990).References
External links
* [http://www.amor990.com/ WALE official website]
*AMQ|WALE
*AML|WALE
*AMARB|WALE* [http://www.rossrevenge.co.uk/tx/wlkw50g.htm History of 1st transmitter, the RCA Ampliphase 50G]
* [http://69.28.73.17/jackbloodbusted.html One former time broker's story about how they were, as they put it, scammed while hosting a show on WALE.]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20021121035323/http://www.renaissanceradio.com/ Old WALE website on www.archive.org]
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