WNWR (1540 AM) is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format and is owned by Wilkins Broadcasting, LLC. Program hosts include Jim Daly, John MacArthur, Greg Laurie and Charles Capps. The studios are at 200 Monument Road, Suite 6, in Bala Cynwyd.

By day, WNWR is powered at 50,000 watts, non-directional.^[2] But 1540 AM is a clear channel frequency, so to protect other stations from interference, at night it greatly reduces power to 250 watts. The transmitter is in the Belmont Village neighborhood of Philadelphia, off Conshohocken Avenue.^[3] Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator W237EH at 95.3 MHz in Pennsauken, New Jersey.^[4]

History

Christian programming

The station first signed on the air on July 11, 1947; 76 years ago (July 11, 1947).^[5] Its call sign was WJMJ which stood for "Jesus, Mary, Joseph." The station broadcast middle-of-the-road music and religious programming. It was owned by Patrick Joseph Stanton and had its offices and studios in the [[St. James Hotel (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)|St. James Hotel, eventually moving to 2043 Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia.

WJMJ was a daytimer, powered at 1,000 watts and forced to sign-off at sunset to avoid interfering with other stations on 1540 kHz. In the late 1950s, the station got a boost to 50,000 watts, but it still had to stay off the air at night.^[6] One of the programs carried on WJMJ in the 1950s was George A. Palmer's popular Morning Cheer daily broadcast.^[7]

Country and Oldies

In 1965 it was acquired by Rust Craft Greeting Cards, which changed the call letters to WRCP, which stood for Rust Craft Philadelphia.^[8] In 1967, Rust Craft changed the sound to country music, a format not found on the Philadelphia radio dial.

In 1981, after 560 WFIL also adopted a country format, WRCP switched to oldies. Later in 1985, the call sign was changed to WSNI to match sister station 104.5 WSNI-FM (now WRFF). For a time, the AM station broadcast an all-Beatles-and-Motown format. After two years, a more conventional oldies mix returned and the station became WPGR ("Philly Gold Radio").

Ethnic programming

In 1995, the station was sold to new owners operating as Global Radio LLC, becoming WNWR.^[9] The call letters stand for New World Radio. It switched to mostly ethnic brokered programming, where show hosts bought time on the station and sold advertising in their communities to pay for their broadcasts. On June 13, 2011, WNWR's entire brokered program schedule moved to AM 860 WWDB.^[10]

The station was then leased to broadcast China Radio International.^[11] Several years later, WNWR got authorization from the Federal Communications Commission to stay on the air around the clock with low power at night. WNWR has gone off the air and is listed as silent since June 14, 2018. As of Saturday November 17, 2018 WNWR returned on the air broadcasting a Spanish language format. On December 8, 2019, however, it was on the FCC's Silent AM Stations List.^[12]

As of April 27, 2021, WNWR returned to the airwaves with 1,000 watts of power during the day and 7 watts at night according to station engineer Dana Puopolo. By then, the station was owned by Aztec Capital Partners and was simulcasting WHAT 1340 AM, airing Latin hit music.^[13]

Return to Religion

In 2023, the station was sold to Wilkins Broadcasting, LLC, which owns dozens of Christian talk and teaching stations around the U.S. WNWR returned to its beginning roots with a religious format, broadcasting as "1540 The Word." During the ethnic programming era, the call letters referred to "New World Radio." They now are repurposed as "New Word Radio" with "Word" as a synonym for "The Bible."