Encyclopedia of Radio 3-Volume Set

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WABC

New York City Station

One of the most powerful New York City stations (in terms of both transmission and ratings strength), WABC has been successful first as a Top 40 station and more recently as a talk radio outlet. The flag-ship station of Disney/American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), WABC traces its history back to 1921. (It should not be confused with another WABC, also in New York City, that served as the flagship for the CBS network and became WCBS in 1946.)

Origins

WABC began broadcasting in 1921 in Newark, New Jersey, with the call letters WJZ, a 3,000-W station owned by the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company transmitting at 833 kHz. Two years later it moved into New York City and was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America(RCA), ...