WCRW

WCRW is a Chinese News/Talk formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Leesburg, Virginia, serving Metro Washington, D.C.. WCRW is owned and operated by Potomac Radio, LLC (Delaware).

History

In 1958, the station first went on the air as WAGE, on 1290 kHz. In 1995, WAGE moved to 1200 kHz, allowing the use of a stronger full-time signal.

On October 29, 2008, WAGE received a permit from the Federal Communications Commission to move to 1190 kHz and increase its power to 50,000 watts. If the move had occurred, it would have caused Annapolis-based WBIS, currently on 1190 kHz, to shut down. While the station covered local news throughout its history, the music format changed over the years, going from classical music, to easy listening music, to country, to light rock and pop.

On August 2, 2009, WAGE fell silent due to "tough economic conditions" and an ongoing attempt to move the station to AM 1190 and up the power to 50,000 watts. On April 21, 2010, the FCC approved WAGE's application to increase its daytime power to 50,000 watts and its nighttime power to 1,300 watts from different antenna sites, along with the frequency shift to 1190 kHz.

WCRW (disambiguation)

WCRW may refer to:

WCRW (defunct)

WCRW was a "shared time"AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois; sharing its frequency with two other stations, (WEDC and WSBC), each broadcasting a part of the day. Clinton White, a radio engineer, started the station in 1926; it initially operated on 720 kc. from studios at Waveland and Pine Grove on Chicago's north side. White and his wife, Josephine, worked at their station as a team, with both sharing the on-air duties. Josephine claimed to be the first female disk jockey. While the Whites entertained friends and neighbors with their radio station, this programming was not able to pay the station's operating expenses. They were able to stay afloat by selling segments of the station's air time to others. German, Italian, and Swedish language programs paid the bills.

WCRW began sharing its frequency with radio stations WHT (owned by Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson) and WIBO. Its frequency soon changed: first to 760 kc. and then to 1340 kc., where their new time-sharing partners were stations WPCC and WFKB. In 1927, Congress passed the Radio Act of 1927, which was designed to streamline the broadcasting industry; only those stations who proved to be providing community service were re-licensed for operation. The station's foreign language programming was most helpful in this process. Once again, this brought a change of frequency to 1210 kc. and a time-sharing partnership with radio stations WSBC and WEDC, who also broadcast ethnic programming. The next year, the Whites moved the station into the Embassy Hotel at Pine Grove and Diversey, on Chicago's Gold Coast. WCRW then began identifying itself as "The Gold Coast Station".