WMEX (AM)

WMEX (1510 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve the Boston media market. Its programming is a mixture of libertarian and personality talk shows. It first began broadcasting in 1934 as WMEX, and after using various call signs since 1978, regained the original WMEX call sign on November 17, 2014.

The highly directional, 50,000 watt signal of WMEX protects directional Class A, 50,000 watt, WLAC in Nashville (which also protects WMEX since the station pre-dated WLAC on the frequency).

History

WMEX: Influential jazz and Top 40 station

WMEX was founded in 1934 by Bill and Al Pote, with studios in the Hotel Manger, and was originally on 1500 kc., with 500 watts day, 100 watts night from a transmitter site on Powder Horn Hill in Chelsea, and later (1940-1981) from a site off West Squantum Road in Quincy, near the then-WNAC/WAAB (now WBIX) site in the Neponset River valley. After several unsuccessful attempts to move to 1470 with a power upgrade to 5,000 watts, WMEX finally made the move (with power increase) in 1941, just in time for the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement to move that channel to its current frequency, 1510 kHz. Throughout this period, WMEX operated as an independent (non-network) station with a program schedule filled with everything from live music remotes to ethnic programming. In the early 1950s, the station featured some notable jazz programming, and the recording of a WMEX-originated Billie Holiday remote broadcast from a Boston club survives.