connecticut southern massachusetts and northern long island new york branding kiss 95 7 slogan all the hits frequency 95.7 mhz also on hd radio 95.7 hd2 dance music first air date december 1947 format top 40 chr erp 16 500 watts haat 268 meters class b facility id 53384 callsign meaning kiss former callsigns wmmw fm 1947 1960 wbmi 1960 1971 owner iheartmedia inc. sister stations whcn wpop wucs wwyz webcast listen live website www.kiss957.com wkss 95.7 fm is an american radio station operated by iheartmedia inc. in the hartford new britain middletown radio market as measured by nielsen audio . it broadcasts from its original transmitter site in meriden connecticut and is licensed to two cities meriden and hartford a rare circumstance in the united states . using a mainstream top 40 format the station is currently branded as kiss fm brand kiss 95 7 with the slogan all the hits . its studios and offices are co located in downtown hartford at 10 columbus boulevard with all of the other stations iheartmedia owns in the market whcn wpop wucs and wwyz . contents 1 technical 2 coverage area 3 history 3.1 early years as wmmw fm 1945 1960 3.1.1 functional music format 3.1.1.1 muzak origins of functional music 3.1.1.2 storecasting corporation of america 3.1.1.3 storecast affiliation 3.2 as wbmi 1960 1971 3.3 as a beautiful music station 1971 1984 3.4 as a top 40 station 1984 present 4 references 5 external links technical edit wkss transmits with frequency modulation fm at 95.7 mhz using a directional antenna with an effective radiated power erp of 16 500 watts . the signal is nulled to the southeast to protect wfox in norwalk connecticut . which uses the adjacent frequency 95.9 mhz . the station has a 50 kw equivalent signal at 268 meters above average terrain . 1 the station broadcasts from the west peak of the hanging hills in meriden connecticut on a tower with former sister station wmrq . coverage area edit at 60 dbu the station s primary contour is contained almost entirely within the borders of connecticut covering nearly all of hartford middlesex and new haven counties as well as the adjacent portions of fairfield litchfield new london and tolland counties . at 50 dbu wkss remains listenable in most of the rest of connecticut including east into windham co. and past norwich southeast past new london south into the northern portion of long island new york ; southwest past bridgeport to the west past danbury into dutchess and putnam county new york and north over nearly all of hampden county massachusetts including the city of springfield and almost all of its suburbs . at 40 dbu the fringe of the signal can be traced east into western rhode island ; most of the eastern half of long island to the south ; greenwich connecticut and westchester county new york to the southwest ; west to poughkeepsie new york northwest to columbia county new york and pittsfield in berkshire county massachusetts north to encompass nearly all of hampshire county massachusetts and northeast into worcester county massachusetts 2 history edit early years as wmmw fm 1945 1960 edit during world war ii the silver city crystal co. the first licensee of the station that would become wkss was one of at least 150 american enterprises that designed and manufactured quartz crystal oscillating devices that use the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material such as quartz to create an electrical signal with a very precise frequency making the timing of a clock or watch as well as the tuning of broadcast transmitters and receivers consistent and reliable . since tuned circuits the predecessor to the oscillating crystal would allow frequencies to drift by as much as 4 khz crystal devices and the broadcast equipment in which they were installed became essential components of the military build up during the war because they could maintain constant communication and coordination in the field . 3 the principal owner of the silver city companies was carl a. schultz 1895 1961 a native of oslo norway and veteran of world war i. 4 his son carl w. buzz schultz 1923 1982 managed the stations . as the wartime ban on licensing new stations was lifted the silver city crystal co. applied to the federal communications commission fcc for construction permits for am amplitude modulation and fm radio licenses in meriden connecticut . the fcc authorized the station that would become wmmw am on october 8 1945 . 5 and during the week of december 31 1945 january 4 1946 it authorized wmmw fm the station that would become wkss 25 years later . 6 the launch of wmmw which is assigned to operate at 1470 khz was delayed by hearings before the fcc involving companies that also held licenses for nearby stations that operate on that same regional frequency a construction permit for wlam in lewiston maine held by the lewiston auburn broadcasting corporation and an existing station wsan in allentown pennsylvania owned and operated by the lehigh valley broadcasting co. 7 ultimately wmmw am began broadcasting on june 8 1947 . 8 it appealed immediately to advertisers reporting that it was already operating highly profitably with its first monthly billing reaching 135 000 all from local businesses . 9 within a few weeks it was busy producing a series of tributes to connie mack 1862 1956 the celebrated major league baseball manager 10 as he and his philadelphia athletics descended on meriden to honor the sixty third anniversary of the grand old man of baseball stepping to home plate in his first game as a professional player there on july 1 1884 with a parade banquet and exhibition game against the insilcos the city s semi pro club . 11 as typical for the time finalization of the fm signal lagged behind the priority of getting its am counterpart up and running . 12 it did not actually sign on to broadcast until sometime in november 13 or december . 14 but over the years the first broadcast date of the fm station has been conflated with the june 8 1947 birth date of the wmmw radio enterprise as a whole perhaps partly because the precise late autumn date for the launch of wmmw fm itself has apparently been lost to history . by the start of the new year 1948 however wmmw fm was simulcasting the programming on wmmw am with an erp of 7 000 watts . the stations schedule had a variety of programs . one was the daily half hour polka time hosted by jim dunham who insisted that the residents of pt ville submit their mailed record requests in rhyming verse . three letters would entitle the sender to membership in the polka club . 15 setting the example he would open each show with the salutation greetings mates let s congregate . it s time to polka palpitate . 16 another program was swap shop . monroe bill benton 1923 1997 moderating the show as the shop s proprietor would connect listeners who phoned into the program to exchange offers for trades . the show unexpectedly created a sensational story in 1948 when on june 2 a woman named nellie wolan 1910 1988 called to swap her 14 000 six bedroom house 17 at 125 pearl street in middletown connecticut 18 for marriage to a man who must earn at least 5 000 a year be tall dark and good looking and be very affectionate because i like a lot of loving . speaking from the studio on june 4 she provided more detailed expectations for her dream man and opened two of the letters expressing interest since she first proffered matrimony to eligible bachelors . benton continued to share further updates with his audience over subsequent days . 19 a united press international upi report transformed the unemployed typist into an international human interest story inundating wolan with over 400 letters telegrams and phone calls from suitors across the united states and canada as well as from australia england france and spain . 20 she dated several of the men who contacted her after they passed an interview over the phone . and i m on a party line she told the upi . the neighbors all listen in . it s embarrassing . nonetheless one new london candidate whom she quickly began to favor turned out to be already married to someone else . 21 in fact none of the applicants would ever receive a proposal . immediately after her son howard 1950 2001 22 was born on november 13 1950 with cerebral palsy 23 she filed a paternity lawsuit against a traveling salesman from providence r.i. 24 by that time she had determined that offering to swap her house for a husband had been a poor decision . a girl can t find the right man that way she told the bridgeport sunday herald . her persistent lack of income was also forcing her to consider selling the house itself . 25 in the end she would never marry anyone . her grave marker in st. mary parish cemetery in portland conn. remembers her simply as nellie s. wolan mother . 26 the stations also participated in the radio industry s annual campaign to drive contributions to the march of dimes charity . during one afternoon in 1949 for example items donated by local merchants were auctioned by telephone to the audience for a total of 1 000 . they estimated they received 500 bids . 27 together with wmmw am wmmw fm s first main studios and offices occupied the entire fifth top floor of the landmark 1870 palace block building at 8 1 2 w. main street at the intersection with hanover street in meriden connecticut . 28 they also had a studio at 505 main street in middletown connecticut . 29 after the palace block burned to the ground on february 26 1957 the stations were temporarily removed to facilities at the fm transmitter site . new studios were built in meriden connecticut inside a former pump house at 122 charles street at a four acre industrial site that runs along parker avenue . listed on the national register of historic places as the meriden curtain fixture company factory since 1986 the pump house and the adjoining factory buildings were built in 1892 by the charles parker co. when wmmw and wmmw fm were there however the complex was home to the silver city glass co. and its offspring the silver city crystal co. functional music format edit over the course of 1948 the stations engineers worked to increase the erp of wmmw fm to 20 kw receiving a few construction permit extensions along the way . 30 at the same time many other authorized operators were returning their fm licenses to the fcc citing the poor post war economy and the slow sales of fm receivers to consumers due partly to the new demand for television sets among the public . 31 but the silver city crystal company was making arrangements to use wmmw fm for a commercial purpose that would define the station throughout the 1950s . muzak origins of functional music edit this section may stray from the topic of the article . please help improve this section or discuss this issue on the talk page . august 2016 as radio broadcasting got underway in the 1920s an entrepreneur named george owen squier 1865 1934 a major general in charge of the u.s. army signal corps invented a method to deliver music over leased telephone lines on a subscription basis . founding wired radio inc. in 1922 in conjunction with the north american co. then the country s largest utility company squire changed the name to muzak in 1934 shortly before his death . the name was retired in 2013 when the organization