WBAB
Template:For multi Template:More citations needed Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Main otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". WBAB (102.3 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Babylon, New York. It is owned by Cox Radio with studios and offices on Sunrise Highway (New York State Route 27) in West Babylon. Morning duo "Roger & JP" (Roger Luce and John Parise) began hosting the morning show in January 2000.[1] WBAB and sister station WHFM (95.3 FM, licensed to Southampton, simulcast a classic rock radio format for Long Island.
WBAB has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 6,000 watts, its transmitter is off the Long Island Expressway South Service Road in Dix Hills. WBAB's signal covers Western Suffolk County and part of Nassau County, while WHFM's signal covers Long Island's East End.
History
Top 40, Album Rock, Classic Rock
The station signed on the air on August 27, 1958, as WBAB-FM.[2] In its early years, it simulcast WBAB (1440 AM). Because the AM station was a daytimer, WBAB-FM could continue its programming in the evening, when the AM station had to go silent. The stations were owned by Bay Shore Broadcasting. At the time, WBAB-FM was powered at only 670 watts, a fraction of its current output.
In the 1970s, the stations had a Top 40 format.[3] In September 1975, the simulcast ended. AM 1440 adopted a Gospel music format as WNYG.[4] WBAB-FM shifted its focus to an album rock sound. By the early 2000s, WBAB began concentrating on the top rock songs of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, becoming a classic rock station.
2006 signal hijacking
On the morning of Wednesday, May 17, 2006, the station's signal was hijacked for about 90 seconds.[5] During that time, the signal jammers broadcast the song "Nigger Hatin' Me" by the 1960s-era white supremacist country music singer Johnny Rebel.
Roger Luce, the station's morning host, said at the time, "I've never seen this in 22 years at this radio station... Whatever that was - it was very racist."[6] The next morning, it made the front page of Newsday with the headline "JACKED FM". The station's new general manager, John Shea, said, "I've only been here a week and we get hijacked." Former program director John Olsen said, "This was not some child's prank, this was a federal offense."[5][7]
The hijack was likely accomplished by overpowering the studio transmitter link (STL) signal to the transmitter in Dix Hills, New York. A signal hijacking with the same song happened to WBAB's sister station WBLI (106.1 FM) about two weeks earlier.[8]
Discography
- WBAB Homegrown Album (1981)
- WBAB Son of Homegrown (1984)
References
External links
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". (Guide to reading History Cards)
Template:Long Island Radio Template:Classic Rock Radio Stations in New York Template:COXMG
- ↑ InsideRadio.com "Long Island Morning Duo Roger & JP Celebrate 25 Years on WBAB" March 31, 2025. Retrieved April 23, 2025
- ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1960 page A-188. Retrieved April 23, 2025.
- ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1976 page C-130. Retrieved April 23, 2025.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".