WOR (AM)

WOR (710 kHz) is a 50,000 Watt class A clear-channel, AM station located in New York, New York. The station is owned by iHeartMedia. The station airs a mix of local and syndicated Talk radio shows, primarily from co-owned Premiere Networks, including The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show, and Coast to Coast AM. WOR serves as the flagship station for the New York Mets. WOR also carries Rutgers Scarlet Knights football and basketball games.

WOR is one of the oldest radio stations in New York, with a three-letter call sign indicating the station dates from the 1920s. The station broadcasts from studios in the Tribeca district of Manhattan at the former AT&T Building, with its transmitter in Rutherford, New Jersey.

History

WOR began broadcasting on February 22, 1922, using a 500-watt transmitter on 360 meters (833 kc.) from Bamberger's Department store in Newark, New Jersey. The station's first broadcast was made with a home made microphone which was a megaphone attached to a telephone transmitter, while Al Jolson's "April Showers" was played. Bamberger's desire to sell radio sets explains why the department store put the station on the air. The WOR call sign was reissued from the U.S. maritime radio service. The call letters have no meaning, being sequentially assigned. They had previously been authorized for use by the ship SS California, owned by the Orient Lines.