personal reflection or opinion essay that states the wikipedia editor s personal feelings about a topic rather than the opinions of experts . please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style . august 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message wmex city boston massachusetts branding 1510 wmex slogan the conversation starts here frequency 1510 khz first air date october 18 1934 1934 10 18 at 1500 1 format libertarian and personality talk power 50 000 watts day 50 000 watts night 50 000 watts critical hours class b facility id 12789 transmitter coordinates 42 23 10.00 n 71 12 01.00 w 42.3861111 n 71.2002778 w 42.3861111 ; 71.2002778 wmex former callsigns 2012 2014 wufc 2001 2012 wwzn 2001 wsze 11 days only 1995 2001 wnrb 1990 1995 wssh 1989 1990 wkku 1987 1989 wssh 1983 1987 wmre 1978 1983 wits 1934 1978 wmex former frequencies 1940 1941 1470 khz 1934 1940 1500 khz affiliations usa radio network owner henry remmer and mary remmer daly xxl communications llc webcast ice64.securenetsystems.net wmex website 1510wmex . com wmex 1510 am is a radio station licensed to serve the boston media market . its programming is a mixture of libertarian and personality talk shows . it first began broadcasting in 1934 as wmex and after using various call signs since 1978 regained the original wmex call sign on november 17 2014 . the highly directional 50 000 watt signal of wmex protects directional class a 50 000 watt wlac in nashville which also protects wmex since the station pre dated wlac on the frequency . contents 1 history 1.1 wmex influential jazz and top 40 station 1.2 wits information talk and sports 1.3 since 1983 multiple call signs and formats 2 references 3 external links history edit wmex influential jazz and top 40 station edit wmex was founded in 1934 by bill and al pote with studios in the hotel manger and was originally on 1500 khz with 500 watts day 100 watts night from a transmitter site on powder horn hill in chelsea and later 1940 1981 from a site off west squantum road in quincy near the then wnac waab now wbix site in the neponset river valley . after several unsuccessful attempts to move to 1470 with a power upgrade to 5 000 watts wmex finally made the move with power increase in 1941 2 just in time for the north american regional broadcasting agreement to move that channel to its current frequency 1510 khz . throughout this period wmex operated as an independent non network station with a program schedule filled with everything from live music remotes to ethnic programming . in the early 1950s the station featured some notable jazz programming and the recording of a wmex originated billie holiday remote broadcast from a boston club survives . 3 in 1957 the pote family sold wmex to the richmond brothers . max richmond one of the brothers changed the format of wmex to a rock and roll dominant pop music format one of the first in the nation and hired arnie ginsburg whose nightly rock and roll broadcasts on wbos now wunr were very popular . the format lasted from 1957 until march 1975 . max richmond was reportedly a challenge to work for with his alleged micro managing and abrasive personality yet there is no denying his uncanny ability to spot deejay talent and to keep his station despite a poor nighttime signal in many suburban locations a major player and innovator for many years . 4 5 6 7 8 9 among max richmond s innovations was the hiring of jerry williams in 1957 to conduct a nighttime telephone talk show with the caller heard on the air a revolutionary concept in the late 1950s . with the weekday only williams show beginning at 10 pm after many of the young rock and roll audience was in bed richmond shrewdly was able to expand the appeal of his station to the adult community in the late night hours . malcolm x was a favorite guest of williams and many wmex broadcasts featuring williams and malcolm x survive . when the beatles broke in the usa wmex was at the forefront playing virtually every beatles song available and fueling the already rabid boston fans . in the early 1960s main personality arnie woowoo ginsburg began his sunday night oldies show one of the first in the nation to feature early pioneer rock and rhythm and blues recordings in a specialty show on a top rated radio station . in the late 1960s wmex received a power upgrade to 50 000 watts daytime still with 5 000 watts at night . station engineers had to constantly adjust the phasing network as tides in the neponset river would play havoc with the station s directional pattern . however the salt water marsh area provided the station with an excellent coastal signal . while the night signal could not be heard clearly inland at many boston suburban locations especially in the growing and affluent western and southwestern suburbs the station s nighttime transmissions were heard very clearly across the salt water to the boston city neighborhoods and the working class north shore areas which gave the station s programming a more gritty earthy sound . the salt water path nighttime transmissions kept going right up to nova scotia and labrador gaining the station an audience in those areas as well . wits information talk and sports edit by the late 1960s wmex was facing tough competition in the top 40 format from wrko which featured a tight playlist a more suburban oriented polish and a 50 000 watt day and night signal which was heard clearly in all suburbs . however under the programming of dick summer and later john garabedian wmex countered with an expanded playlist featuring some progressive rock album cuts . 10 the station was the first major market station to pick up american top 40 with casey kasem and broke maggie may by rod stewart nationally . wmex shot back up in the ratings and actually beat wrko in a few demographics and time periods but it was a temporary and final victory for the venerable station . shortly thereafter max richmond died and fm radios became more common especially in cars where wmex was getting the fm audience who didn t have an fm car radio yet . wmex decided to abandon top 40 in 1975 . although briefly a middle of the road station with some talk programming wmex captured the broadcast rights to the boston red sox beginning with the 1975 playoffs and became an all talk station in 1976 . in 1978 to better promote its talk format and sports coverage the station changed call letters to wits we re information talk and sports adding the boston bruins hockey team in the 1978 79 season boosted wits sports profile but the station came in for considerable criticism after the 1978 baseball season when it fired the popular red sox commentary duo of ned martin and jim woods . although martin was able to continue broadcasting the red sox on television woods never again broadcast the team s games on a regular basis . long a 5 000 watt station wmex wits in the 1970s had a daytime power output of 50 000 watts and a nighttime power of 5 000 watts which led to a less than perfect signal in parts of the boston area especially at night . wkbw now wwkb with 50 000 watts right next door to wmex on the dial at 1520 from buffalo new york and directional straight at massachusetts all but buried the weaker 5 000 watt wmex after dark in the western boston suburbs such as wellesley . on the other side of wmex was an equally strong signal from wtop now wfed in washington dc which together with wkbw would really put the squeeze on wmex s signal at night . one would really have to eke out the 1510 signal in the face of these 50 kw blowtorches . in 1981 the station moved its transmitter to waltham and was able to boost power to 50 000 watts day and night . but while some areas did get an improved signal especially at night other areas did not . not long afterwards wits s owner at the time mariner communications suffered financial problems . the station lost the red sox and bruins and had to abandon its talk format . since 1983 multiple call signs and formats edit wwzn s logo as 1510 the zone used from the fall of 2002 until december 2008 . wits flipped to an adult standards format under the call sign wmre the memory station but was not successful . 11 other formats quickly followed one after the other . among them were a return to talk featuring morgan white jr. and bob katzen soft adult contemporary as wssh country music as wkku a return to soft adult contemporary again as wssh and as wnrb first brokered religious programming and then spanish language programming before settling on sports under the call letters of wwzn . most wwzn programming came from the one on one sports network and from one on one s successor sporting news radio . for a time there were local sports talk hosts on wwzn such as sean mcdonough ryen russillo and boston sports talk legend eddie andelman . during this time paul allen s rose city broadcasting held the license . allen also owned sporting news radio and the sporting news magazine . for a few years wwzn had the local radio broadcasts of the boston celtics basketball team but the station did not renew the deal when it expired at the end of the 2004 2005 nba season . prior to the station s sale wwzn started to rely on time brokered programming in addition to its coverage of sporting news radio . on may 31 2007 blackstrap broadcasting completed its purchase of this station and wsnr in the new york city area licensed to newark new jersey . in the fall of 2007 wwzn moved from burlington massachusetts to brand new studios overlooking the ocean at marina bay in quincy . wufc s logo from 2012 to 2013 during its nbc sports radio affiliation from 2008 until 2012 the station aired progressive talk shows as brokered time including a local show hosted by jeff santos . the station then changed its call letters to wufc and returned to a sports format as an affiliate of nbc sports radio from 6 to 10 a.m. and 7 p.m to 1 a.m. weekdays with a local show the bawstin diehards from 10 a.m. to noon . yahoo sports radio the successor to sporting news radio aired at other times . the nbc sports radio affiliation lasted until late 2013 when yahoo took over during nbc s hours . in june 2014 the station began airing a libertarian talk radio format . on november 17 2014 the station reverted to its original call sign wmex ; the change coincided with the move of the howie carr show to the station from wrko . 12 on march 9 2015 it was announced that carr s show would be returning to wrko as of march 16 . programs on wmex in early 2015 included boston herald radio the glenn beck program michael savage the sean hannity show and alex jones . a saturday night oldies show debuted on march 28 2015 hosted by jim callahan and chris porter which is then followed by classic rewind with jimmy jay . the program features music from the classic wmex rock and roll years along with original station jingles from the era . the station unveiled a new all live and local lineup on june 2 2015 that began with renegade radio in the mornings followed