WCUM

WCUM (present)1450 Bridgeport, Connecticut

wcum-1450

The call letters WNAB were prior issued to a station in Boston and Bowling Green, Kentucky

This station seems to go 'downhill' as far as the antenna. It was located out in Bridgeport Harbor. Later on a hill further north. Now located somewhere north of that.

Usually nothing remains to remember old Radio Stations except little tid-bits dug up over maybe time. Small stations maybe nothing is ever found.

WCUM 1450 in Bridgeport,Ct. Original WNAB. It became WDGS. In 1985 it became WJBX until 1985. Later it became WCUM with a Spanish Format. It remains WCUM in 2015.

It was WNAB for years, and my boss, at the time, Jonathan Hoffman bought it. I was chiefing Jon's WMJY in Long Branch NJ and built the furniture and helped with the move to new studios. I left his organization soon after WJBX (I think that was it) debuted.

I remember WNAB - "We're Nuts About Bridgeport" was their slogan for a while sometime in the late 70's to early 80's. It was live and local, and trying to compete with WICC for many years. They had a tall tower on a hill near the lake at Beardsley Park which gave them a GREAT signal over Bridgeport proper. I believe they lost the lease, and that's how they wound-up with the shunt-fed antenna they have now. (I think it's actually in Trumbull? Much less signal along coastal Bridgeport.)

The Late "Tiny Markle" had a show on WNAB for years that was well-liked in Bridgeport. When he left the station to join WICC, that was most likely WNAB's death knell... it foundered soon after. (I think the loss of their tower site played a role and happened around this time. Memory is fuzzy.) WJBX had their new studios within spitting distance of WDJZ's towers, right near I-95 exit 25. They were playing a lot of "oldies" and were also "live and local", taking song dedications, etc. It's a shame they weren't able to survive with that format and localism. Music on AM was already long out-of-favor, so that didn't help.

I don't remember when the Cumbre' group got it, but it was dark for a while before that. I lived in Bridgeport at the time, and remember being surprised that I could *clearly* hear *two* other stations on 1450 in mid-day! They were roughly 90 degrees apart, so it was pretty easy to null one to hear the other.

Then the Spanish programming signed-on and has remained to this day. I figured that since it was there this long, (20+ years) it was doing well.

Willie...

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