WAWZ

WAWZ
City	Zarephath, New Jersey
Broadcast area	Central and Northern New Jersey
Branding	Star 99.1
Slogan	Family Safe Hit Music!
Frequency	99.1 (MHz) (also on HD Radio) 99.1-2 FM for Teaching and Preaching 99.1-3 The Energy for alternative Contemporary Christian music
First air date	1954
Format	Contemporary Christian/Gospel Christmas music (Nov.-Dec.)
ERP	28,000 watts
HAAT	200 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	52601
Callsign meaning	W Alma White Zarepath
Owner	Pillar Of Fire International
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	star991fm.com

WAWZ (99.1 FM, "Star 99.1") is a contemporary Christian music radio station located in Zarephath, New Jersey. It is a listener supported/commercial radio station owned by the Pillar of Fire International. The station's target demographic is a 25- to 34-year-olds. The Class B, 50,000-watt signal based in Bridgewater, New Jersey and can be heard through Central and Northern NJ, Eastern Pennsylvania and as far south as Burlington County NJ.

The call letters for the station, like its AM counterpart which went off the air in 1984, were chosen to honor Bishop Alma White, who was the founder of the Pillar of Fire Church.

WAWZ began airing its current format as Star 99.1 on February 3, 2003. Its original format was traditional and classical music and church services. In later years inspirational contemporary Christian music and mostly syndicated Christian teaching and talk shows were added. In this format its tagline was WAWZ - Your Voice of Faith and Inspiration

As of 2010, its daily on-air schedule includes Scott and Sam (6:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.), Mysti Jordan in Middays, Afternoons with Rick Hall and Sharon Davis in the evening, 6 to 10.

The weekend schedule includes ""Keep The Faith"", ""Your Favorite Songs" and the regular format for the rest of the day.

History

The Old WAWZ-FM Logo

WAWZ was founded in 1931^[1] by Bishop Alma White and the Pillar of Fire Church.^[2] Formerly headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the organization was given land in 1906, in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey.^[3]

The station was first assigned a frequency on 1350 AM, sharing time equally with three other stations, WCDA, WBNX and WMSG. In later years,^[1] on 1380 AM, it shared time with WBNX in New York City. WAWZ was the second station owned by the Pillar of Fire Church. (KPOF in Denver was the first).

On September 1, 1984, WAWZ sold its part-time AM operation over to New York station WBNX (now christened WKDM.) On WAWZ's final day, they produced a special program recalling the station's 53 years of religious broadcasting, and by electrical transcription, once again featured the voice of Alma White.^[4]

The station began broadcasting on FM on August 22, 1954.^[5] The broadcast format was eighteen hours a day of classical music along with Pillar of Fire church services. In the 1980s there was a challenge to its license. The challenge alleged that the station did not serve the public good. Allen Lewis was hired as the new program director and it became a 24-hour station. For many years WAWZ carried teaching programs, talk shows, church services, and traditional Christian music. The station ran the tagline, WAWZ-Your Voice of Faith and Inspiration and featured mostly syndicated evangelical Christian teaching and talk shows and inspirational music. Local news, AP World News, public affairs programs and several call-in shows added a New Jersey feel to the station as it attempted to serve its license area it had just vigorously defended. Most of the schedule consisted of programming came from area church services and outside ministries via the state-of-the-art Chicago-based Moody Broadcasting Service satellite subscription. Among these was a local program called Search Light which served tri-state area prison inmates. The station ran Share-a-thons twice a year to solicit support from listeners. During the 1980s WAWZ began moving from a conservative format of traditional hymns and classical music to a format which included music by contemporary Christian artists. By 1990 the music mix was about half traditional and half contemporary By 1994 the music format was nearly all contemporary. However, the majority of the schedule consisted of non-musical programming.

Major changes began on Thanksgiving Day in 2002, WAWZ began playing wall-to-wall traditional and contemporary Christmas music. After Christmas, the station started airing hot adult contemporary Christian music with non-musical elements reduced to four hours per day. Finally on February 2, 2003, WAWZ renamed itself STAR 99.1. The station also began selling time to commercial advertisers, but as it remains owned by a 501C3 they continue to have an annual "Radiothon". But it has continued its all Christmas format since 2002. Playing mostly Christian themed holiday music. WAWZ's signal is among the strongest in NJ and can be heard through all of Central and Northern New Jersey and New York City and as far south as Ocean and Burlington counties as well as Eastern Pennsylvania. With its polished family-friendly contemporary sound, Star 99.1 aims at Christians and nonbelievers alike. A casual listener scanning the radio may not easily differentiate it from secular stations that play Phil Collins or U2.^[6]

The National Religious Broadcasters honored WAWZ with Station of the Year awards in 2007^[7] and 2008^[8] and the National Association of Broadcasters honored them with the 2008 Crystal Radio Award for community service.^[9]

HD Radio

On April 2006, WAWZ-FM started HD radio operations with Star 99.1-2. The eight-hour block of teaching programs resembles the station's mid-1990s format, including the use of the former tagline, WAWZ-Your Voice of Faith and Inspiration. In 2007, 99.1-3, The Energy, was launched to coincide with the station-sponsored annual youth festival, Autumn Blaze 2007. The Energy playlist and consisted of various genres of Christian-themed, youth-oriented music (e.g., Rock, Hip-Hop, Rhythm & Blues). In 2014, The Energy ceased broadcasts on HD and online.^[10]

References

1 2 The Founding and Operation of WAWZ Radio, V. Capolunghi, Masters Thesis, Kean University, 1977
↑ Jaker, Bill; Sulek, Frank; Kanze, Peter (1998). The airwaves of New York. ISBN 0-7864-0343-8.
↑ William B. Brahms (1998). Franklin Township, Somerset County, NJ: A History. ISBN 0-9668586-0-3.
↑ http://www.angelfire.com/nj2/piratejim/njamhistory8.html
↑ http://www.angelfire.com/nj2/piratejim/njfmhistory6.html
↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/nyregion/how-one-radio-station-made-the-conversion.html
↑ "WAWZ, WAVA Are Honored by NRB". Radio World. 2007-01-26.
↑ Peterson, Kevin (Kevin). "WAWZ Wins NRB Award". Radio and Records. Check date values in: |date= (help)
↑ Jones, Kristopher (April 15, 2008). "NAB CRYSTAL RADIO AWARD PRESENTED TO WAWZ-FM". NAB Press Release.
↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=96

External links

Star 99.1 FM's Official Website

Query the FCC's FM station database for WAWZ

Radio-Locator information on WAWZ

Radio stations in Middlesex, Somerset and Union Counties, New Jersey

By FM frequency	88.7 90.3 98.3 99.1 100.7

By AM frequency	1070 1170 1450 1530

By callsign	WAWZ WCTC WJDM WKMB WMGQ WRSU-FM WVPH WWTR plus most New York City radio stations

New Jersey radio markets Atlantic City–Cape May Middlesex–Somerset–Union Monmouth–Ocean Morristown Sussex Trenton Other New Jersey radio regions Vineland–Millville–Bridgeton NYC Metro Markets Long Island Hudson Valley [partial] Poughkeepsie Middlesex-Somerset-Union Monmouth-Ocean Morristown Bridgeport Danbury New Haven Stamford-Norwalk See also List of radio stations in New Jersey

Radio stations in the New York City market

By AM frequency	570 660¹ 710¹ 770¹ 820 880¹ 1010 1050 1130¹ 1190 1280 1330 1380 1480 1560⁴ 1600 1620 New Jersey 620 930 970 1430 1500 1530 1660 Westchester County, N.Y. 1460

Apex/VHF FM	42.8

By FM frequency	87.7 88.9 89.1² 89.9 90.3 (New York) 90.3 (Brooklyn) 90.7 91.5 92.3 93.9 95.5 96.3 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 101.1 101.9 102.7 103.5 104.3 105.1 106.7 107.5 New Jersey 88.3 89.1² 89.5 90.3 91.1 93.1³ 94.7 99.1 100.3³ 105.5 105.9³ 106.3 Westchester County, N.Y. 88.1 88.9 90.3 93.5 96.7 103.9 106.3 107.1 Long Island, N.Y. 92.7 103.5³

Via FM subcarrier	67 kHz Chinese Radio New York Gatewave radio reading service Radio Maria Stati Uniti (Italian) 92 kHz Chung Wah Chinese Broadcasting Company ICN Radio Radio Maria Estados Unidos (Spanish) RBC Radio

Digital radio	710 880 1010 1280 1560 88.3-1 88.3-2 89.5-1 89.5-2 89.9-1 89.9-1 89.9-2 89.9-3 90.7-1 90.7-2 90.7-3 92.3-1 92.3-2 93.1-1 93.1-2 93.5-1 93.5-2 93.5-3 93.5-4 93.9-1 93.9-2 93.9-3 94.7-1 94.7-4 95.5-1 95.5-2 95.5-3 97.1-1 97.1-2 97.9-1 98.7-1 100.3-1 100.3-2 101.1-1 101.1-2 101.1-3 102.7-1 102.7-2 102.7-3 103.5-1 103.5-2 103.5-3 103.9-1 104.3-1 104.3-2 105.1-1 105.1-2 105.9-1 105.9-2 106.7-1 106.7-2 107.5-1 107.5-2

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.550

By callsign	KWO35 WA2XMN WABC¹ WADO WARY WAWZ WAXQ WBAI WBBR¹ WBGO WBLS WBMP WCBS¹ WCBS-FM WEPN WEPN-FM WFAN¹ WFAN-FM WFDU² WFME¹ WFME-FM WFMU WFUV WGHT WHCR-FM WHTZ WICR WINS WJDM WKCR-FM WKDM WKLV-FM WKMK WKRB WKTU WLIB WLTW WMCA WMSC WNBM WNEW-FM WNSH WNSW WNYC WNYC-FM WNYE WNYM WNYU-FM² WNYZ-LP WOR¹ WPAT WPAT-FM WPLJ WQBU-FM WQHT (HD2) WQXR-FM WQXW WSIA WSKQ-FM WSNR WSOU WVIP WVOX WWES WWPR-FM (HD2) WWRL WWRU WWRV WWZY WXNY-FM WXPK WZRC

Defunct	WHN⁴ WNBC WNBC-FM⁴ WNEW WYNY⁴

See also Poughkeepsie Philadelphia Hudson Valley New Haven Bridgeport Danbury Stamford-Norwalk Middlesex-Somerset-Union Sussex Morristown Monmouth-Ocean Long Island Trenton ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage. ² = Stations share time on the frequency. ³ = Station is licensed to a community in their respective sub market (e.g. New Jersey), but transmits from atop the Empire State Building or Freedom Tower. ⁴ = Technically still active, but on a different frequency with new call letters and different intellectual property.

Coordinates: 40°36′40″N 74°34′12″W / 40.611°N 74.570°W / 40.611; -74.570

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