WPST - History

History

94.5 in Trenton began on August 7, 1965 as WCHR with a religious format. But after 33 years, that all changed when Nassau Broadcasting bought the station. November 10, 1997 saw the beginning of things to come when WCHR began to simulcast on 920 AM in Trenton (see NJ AM Page 4) in preparation for a format change. On February 27, 1998, WCHR started stunting with construction sound effects and on March 2, 1998 94.5 became "New Jersey's Oldies Station." The WNJO calls were assigned on March 26, 1998. On November 1, 2001, WNJO switched to a classic hits format as "94.5 The Hawk." Calls changed to WTHK on August 1, 2002 - and slowly evolved into a classic rock station. On February 14, 2005, at 5pm, 94.5 "switched" frequencies and formats with 97.5 WPST. Forming 94.5 "PST" "number one for today's hit music". Matt Sneed (current MD) was the first voice on 94.5 WPST, while Chris Puorro was music director and Dave McKay was program director at the time.

97.5 started life, initially on January 10, 1949, then officially on April 19, 1949, as WTOA. It was owned by the Mercer Broadcasting Company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trenton Times newspaper. WTOA started out broadcasting from 3pm to 11pm, with an ERP of 14,500 watts. Its original coverage area reached as far north as Brooklyn, New York and as far west as Reading, Pennsylvania. 97.5 became WPST on September 13, 1971. The WPST calls originally stood for "Passport Stereo Trenton," a slogan of the station at the time. Also, the WPST calls were on a Miami TV station now known as WPLG. WPST is known for its mainstream CHR format, which they've had for many years. Tom Taylor was the PD who launched the format in the mid 1970s, and did mornings on the station until 1987. In August 1975, owner Herb Hobler hired Phil Gieger as the General Manager. Along with Tom Taylor, they revamped the station and coined the phrase, "From The Shore To The Poconos, The Best Music Is On The FM 97.5 WPST." They initially established an Adult Rock format, and by the Fall of 1975, the station took off and eventually became the number one station in the market. Some WPST DJs over the years included Lee Tobin, John Mellon (aka Walt Ballard), Ed Johnson, Doug James, John Brown, Eddie Davis, Trish Merelo, David Cooper, Andy Gury, Jeff "Woody" Fife, Dan Kelly, Brian Douglas, Mel Toxic, Kris Gamble, Jay Sorensen, Bob Sorrentino, Dave Hoeffel, Tom Cunningham, Dave Moss, Michelle Stevens, Pat Gillen, Eric Johnson, Mark Sheppard, Andre Gardner, Phil Simon, Mike Kaplan, Tommy Jordan, Steve Trevelise, Joel Katz, Rich DeSisto, Jason Barsky, Scott Lowe, Joe LeCompte, Jeff Ryan, Vanness], Gabrielle Vaughn and Chris Puorro. Caricatures of the WPST DJs, circa 1977, can be found here. On February 14, 2005, at 5pm, 97.5 "switched" frequencies and formats with 94.5 WTHK (defunct), and adopted its current adult top 40 format. This officially "killed" the hot adult contemporary format on Philadelphia's WMWX, which became adult hits two months later and the following year getting the current calls WBEN-FM. Nielsen BDS & Mediabase still reported them as a contemporary hit radio station until 2008. The move left WIOQ from Philadelphia as the only mainstream top 40 station in both areas of Trenton & Wilmington, Delaware (served by WSTW). In August 2005, 97.5's city of license was changed from Trenton to Burlington. Before moving closer to Philadelphia, the 97.5 transmitter was located in downtown Trenton, New Jersey. The tower from which 97.5 broadcast is the tallest structure in the City of Trenton.

By 2011, the station returned to contemporary hit radio per Mediabase & Nielsen BDS reports.

The station, along with nine other Nassau stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was purchased at bankruptcy auction by NB Broadcasting in May 2012. NB Broadcasting is controlled by Nassau's creditors — Goldman Sachs, Pluss Enterprises, and P.E. Capital. In November, NB Broadcasting filed a motion to assign its rights to the stations to Connoisseur Media.