About WRNJ
WRNJ (1510 AM, 92.7 FM, 104.7 FM and 105.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to Hackettstown, New Jersey, USA. The station is currently owned by WRNJ Radio, Inc. and features live and local programing and news as well as network news from ABC Radio. The station is locally owned by Norman Worth and Larry Tighe. WRNJ offers a local and national news, music from the 1960s through today, talk shows pertaining to the community and local sports. The 1510 AM signal is now simulcast on FM translators on 92.7, 104.7 and 105.7.
CURRENT PROGRAMMING: WRNJ features the “RNJ Morning Program” hosted by New Jersey Broadcasters Association Radio Hall of Fame Inductee Bert Baron weekdays from 5:30 to 10:00 a.m. The program is highlighted by local news updates from longtime News Director Joyce Estey. Greta Latona hosts the PM Drive program from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturdays are hosted by Dave Kelber from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and Jay Edwards from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., while Sunday mornings feature the “Sunday Brunch,” a special collection of easy listening and soft rock favorites. Sunday afternoons present “Still Rockin,” and “The Tailfinned Turntable,” both hosted by local music historian “The Golden Gup” Gascoigne.
Specialty talk programs offered are “The Local Impact” hosted by Joyce Estey the first Wednesday of each month at 10 a.m., “Healthier Living” hosted by Lisa DiMiceli from the Foundation for Hackettstown Medical Center the third Tuesday of each month and “Educationally Speaking,” a program hosted by Joyce Estey with programming content provided by Warren Community College the third Wednesday of each month.
HISTORY OF WRNJ: WRNJ began operation on AM 1000 on August 26, 1976. They were a daytime only station with no pre-sunrise or post-sunset authorization, except for local emergencies. WRNJ employed a full service adult contemporary format with a strong emphasis on local and national news. They also had a lot of local shows pertaining to the community. Larry Tighe originally owned the radio station.
For many years WRNJ was not profitable. By the early 1980s, there were rumors that the station may even go dark. At that point, Norman Worth, who was the only person selling a substantial amount of advertising, became sales manager. Months later the station began turning a profit. After a couple years the station became extremely profitable and was sold out in most dayparts. By the late 1980s, Worth became part owner of the station and took over as General Manager and eventually as Chief Operating Officer.
In 1992, Worth was awarded an FM license on 107.1 FM. That station became WRNJ-FM and employed a country music format. In 1996, WRNJ was granted a 24 hour license on 1510 AM. They then would sell AM 1000 to Westinghouse, freeing them to boost the power of their New York City AM station WINS. That year WRNJ would move off AM 1000 and onto 1510. They kept the Adult Contemporary format initially. They also began operation from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
In 1997, it was determined that their current towers could not transmit the correct night-time patterns. Therefore WRNJ reverted to daytime only on AM 1510. The current music also was phased out and the station evolved to more of an oldies format. By 1998, they were known as “Oldies 1510 WRNJ”. The station still continued to be very profitable despite the fact they were daytime only. At the same time, they sold their FM station 107.1 to Big City Radio. WRNJ-FM becameWWYY and joined the Country Music Y 107 triplecast making that station a Quadcast. That Quadcast became a Spanish format in 2002. In 2003 those stations were sold to Nassau and Nassau broke up the quadcast selling three of these stations to other owners. They kept 107.1 WWYY and today that station remains licensed to Belvidere, but broadcasts from Stroudsburg. That station employed an Adult Contemporary format as “Lite 107” until on May 3, 2007 when the format moved to 93.5 WSBG Stroudsburg, PA. WWYY is now known as “107 The Bone; The Valley’s Real Rock Station” with an Active Rock format targeting the Lehigh Valley.
In 1999, Oldies 1510 WRNJ would finally begin 24 hour a day operations. They added satellite oldies programming for much of the day. But they retained their morning shows, specialty shows, local news, and local talk shows. In 2004, WRNJ dropped the satellite and oldies programming. They continue to air a variety of music from the 1960s though today as well as continuous local and national news updates and regularly-scheduled talk shows.
The sale of WRNJ-FM in 1998 excluded the FM translators on 92.7 in Washington Boro, NJ and on 104.7 in Hackettstown. WRNJ’s owners retained these. They continued simulcasting 107.1 until 2002 when they began simulcasting a non commercial FM station. The FCC did not permit low power FM stations to simulcast AM stations. This changed in 2007 of at which time WRNJ’s signal began to be simulcast on 92.7 and 104.7 FM and would eventually add an additional simulcast at 105.7 FM in Glen Gardner.