verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wepn am city new york city broadcast area new york city area branding espn deportes nueva york 1050 am frequency 1050 khz first air date march 19 1922 license as whn format commercial ; sports language s spanish power 50 000 watts class b facility id 65636 transmitter coordinates 40 48 25.70 n 74 04 10.5954 w 40.8071389 n 74.069609833 w 40.8071389 ; 74.069609833 callsign meaning w espn former callsigns whn 1922 1948 and 1962 1987 wmgm 1948 1962 wfan 1987 1988 wukq 1988 1989 wevd 1989 2003 affiliations espn deportes radio owner the walt disney company new york am radio llc sister stations wabc tv wepn fm webcast listen live wepn am website espndeportes.espn.go.com espndeportesradio index wepn 1050 am is a 24 hour hispanic sports talk formatted radio station in new york city featuring national and local sports talk programs and live broadcasts of sports matches . it is the new york affiliate for espn deportes radio owned and operated by the walt disney company the network s owner . its transmitter site is located on the border of secaucus and north bergen new jersey and its studios are on the upper west side of manhattan . 1 it is the radio home for the spanish language broadcasts of the new york jets of the nfl the new york mets of mlb and the new york red bulls of mls . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 whn 1.2 wmgm 1.3 whn again 1.4 wfan 1.5 wukq 1.6 wevd 1.7 wepn 1.7.1 bidding for baseball 1.7.2 shift to espn deportes 2 programming 2.1 programs on wepn up to 9 6 12 2.2 weather emergency programming 3 broadcasters 4 references 5 external links history edit the 1050 frequency has a long history prior to this format . starting in the 1920s as whn it played a diversified format . it was renamed wmgm in the late 1940s continuing the same format until a switch to rock & roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s . as whn again it played adult standards in the 1960s and country music in the 1970s and 1980s the format it was best known for . in the late 1980s as wfan it was the original frequency for the very successful first of its kind all sports station . then began a truly convoluted set of ownership call letter and format changes from the spanish language wukq to wevd a low rated brokered station in the 1990s to today s incarnation as wepn . whn edit originally owned by the ridgewood times newspaper whn was one of the first radio stations in new york city going on the air on march 18 1922 at am frequency 833 . original shows included children s programming . a court case in the 1920s against at & t established some of the early legal principles for american broadcasting . the station played jazz and contemporary dance music including sophie tucker fletcher henderson and duke ellington as well as broadcasting columbia university football games . in 1928 the station was bought by the loew s theatre organization . during the 1920s the station s frequency changed to 830 760 and then 1010 . in the 1930s it broadcast the major bowes amateur hour which was picked up by the cbs radio network . in 1933 whn became a full time station when it acquired the licenses of wrny and wqao wpap with approval by the federal radio commission on january 31 and february 3 respectively . 3 whn made its final frequency change to 1050 in 1941 . during the 1940s the programs radio newsreel and newsreel theater were prototypes for what would later become the all news radio format . the station broadcast brooklyn dodgers games with red barber as well as the new york giants and new york rangers with marty glickman . wmgm edit on september 15 1948 the station changed its call letters to wmgm reflecting loew s then ownership of movie studio metro goldwyn mayer . the station had a diversified format that included pop standard hits drama talk and sports and briefly featured new york talk legend barry gray . in the mid to late 1950s the station switched to playing top 40 rock and roll hits which covered a broad spectrum of music . the 50s brand of top 40 played by wmgm and its competitors included what might today be considered rhythm and blues and country music in addition to popular instrumentals percy faith s 1960 theme from a summer place and acker bilk s 1962 stranger on the shore hit the top of the charts during this era . nevertheless wmgm was overall more up tempo than the competition featuring artists like elvis presley fats domino carl perkins jerry lee lewis frankie lymon the crystals the tokens ray charles dinah washington brook benton ricky nelson and bill haley . playlists were narrower and more predictable than mainstream mor stations . wmgm s deejay lineup included morning man ted brown and the redhead ted s then wife jerry marshall peter tripp norm stevens dick shepherd bob lewis ed stokes and bob callen . among its newsreaders were bill edmunds dick defrietas and aime govin . wmgm had a theme song incorporating the names of many of its djs in the 1960s . the words were he was a us marshal and jerry was his name . so they called him jerry marshall and widespread was his fame . he went to catch the outlaws bob callen and ted brown who were roping old dick shephard s sheep and herding them to town . sing a song about western hero men will never ride the range again . they re on 1050 wmgm . during its top 40 incarnation wmgm was for a time home to new york yankees baseball with mel allen red barber and phil rizzuto . ex athletes marty glickman and gussie moran worked yankees pre and post game shows from the studio . by 1962 with 1010 wins 770 wabc and 570 wmca also playing predominantly rock and roll music wmgm 1050 was sold by loew s to storer broadcasting which owned mostly tv stations but also owned wibg a rock and roll radio station less than 100 miles away in philadelphia . whn again edit storer immediately dropped top 40 for slow paced standards and beautiful music the province of much of fm radio at the time . the station was renamed whn again on february 28 1962 with special permission of the fcc . three letter call sign sets are a rarity and have not been issued to broadcast stations since the early 1930s let alone on the am band ; whn wgh in newport news virginia and khj in los angeles are the only known am stations that have been able to revert to their original three letter calls . the whk callsign in cleveland returned to its longtime home on 1420 after a few years absence but owner salem communications had kept it active on other stations it owned . through the 1960s whn became new york city s mutual radio network affiliate . on air hosts included jim ameche brother of actor don ameche jack sterling and early on the comedy team of bob elliot and ray goulding bob and ray . morning host ted brown remained with whn for only a short time of transition heading eventually to mor wnew . longtime wabc fixture herb oscar anderson moved into the morning slot by the late 60s . the station played vocalists such as nat king cole perry como frank sinatra bing crosby peggy lee patti page and johnny mathis plus a heavy dose of instrumentalist groups notably percy faith al hirt ray conniff henry mancini and others . the station was about 75 % vocal and 25 % instrumental . ratings were decent but the demographic was older by a generation or two . whn eventually picked up new york mets baseball with announcers lindsey nelson bob murphy and ralph kiner after the team s original nyc flagship wabc 770 dropped the rights . the station became a launching pad for the radio sports broadcasting career of marv albert who hosted the interwoven scoreboard after mets games and later on reintroduced new york fans to the knicks and rangers on radio . initially rangers games were broadcast in small doses the last two minutes of the first and second periods then the entire third period . the entire metropolitan area enjoyed red holzman s miracle 1969 70 knicks championship run much of which was blacked out on tv . overall though whn s ratings were still low . by 1971 whn began mixing in softer songs by artists like elvis presley everly brothers the beatles the association and others with their easy listening format . still the ratings were below average . after a lot of research on february 26 1973 whn became a country music station . the new york metropolitan area had never been a country music hot spot and prior to whn the area had only had two country music stations wjrz in hackensack new jersey which changed to a top 40 format with the call letters of wwdj in 1971 and to a religious format in 1974 and wthe in mineola new york which also later changed to a religious format . in the early years of whn s country format it featured on air personalities such as lee arnold del demontreux larry kenney big wilson ray otis and jack spector . some of these were holdovers from the previous middle of the road format . as a country music station they played artists like johnny cash willie nelson waylon jennings tanya tucker lynn anderson kenny rogers mel tillis charley pride mickey gilley ronnie milsap and many more . also they mixed in non country artists that had country friendly songs such as the eagles elvis presley anne murray olivia newton john linda ronstadt and others . over the years as whn evolved as a country station on air personalities such as mike fitzgerald dan taylor sheila york dana lauren bob wizard wayne dan daniel jessie sheila york alan colmes robbie roman brian kelly stan martin ed baer robbie roman jerry carroll and others moved in . during this era whn was programmed by ed salamon who was inducted into the country radio hall of fame in 2006 . whn is considered the most listened to country radio station in history . in the late 1970s mutual radio bought whn from storer . in 1980 whn got some competition when wrvr was sold to viacom and dropped jazz for country and became wkhk also known as kick 106 fm . as a result ratings went down for whn . they added new york mets baseball to their lineup in 1983 . whn had previously carried the mets from 1972 until 1974 . in 1984 wkhk became lite fm wltw playing a soft adult contemporary format . without direct competition whn remained country with decent ratings . in 1985 doubleday broadcasting bought whn . in 1986 emmis communications bought whn . emmis added sports talk in the evenings but kept the country format the rest of the day until 1987 . in late april 1987 emmis announced that whn would drop country on july 1 for an all sports format the first of its kind on radio . they would drop the whn calls and become wfan the fan . in may nbc announced that adult contemporary wyny 97.1 today s wqht would go country on july 1 . dan taylor signed off whn s long history at 3 p.m. that day with for the good