WCNL
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| City | Newport, New Hampshire |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Sullivan County, New Hampshire |
| Branding | Country 1010 |
| Slogan | Playing All Your Country Favorites |
| Frequency | 1010 kHz |
| Translator(s) | W234BN (94.7, Claremont) |
| First air date | 1960 |
| Format | Country |
| Power | 10,000 watts day 37 watts night |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 35406 |
| Callsign meaning | Claremont Newport New London |
| Former callsigns | WNTK |
| Affiliations | The UNH Sports Network, Red Sox Radio Network |
| Owner | Sugar River Media LLC |
| Sister stations | WNTK-FM, WCFR, WUVR, WCVR |
| Website | http://www.country1010.com/ |
WCNL is an AM radio station located at 1010 on the AM dial, licensed to Newport, New Hampshire. It was Newport's first radio station. The studios are located on Main Street in Newport, and its on-air slogan is Country 1010 WCNL-AM.
WCNL went on the air as a 250W daytimer on 1010 in 1960, before moving up the dial with 10,000 watts of daytime power on 1020 and changing call letters to WNTK. WNTK became a stand alone AM station when the original WCNL AM 1010 and WCNL-FM 101.7 were sold off to individual owners. WCNL-FM 101.7 became the original frequency for country formatted WXXK (Kixx). WNTK was fairly successful as a stand-alone AM talk signal. WNTK would eventually add a couple FM simulcast partners, with the first FM simulcast being on 100.5 FM then known as WNBX in Lebanon under a lease arrangement. WNTK received another simulcast partner, this time under the same ownership when the talk programming was broadcast over WNTK-FM 99.7 in New London where the talk format remains today.
WNTK was one of the early stations on board with The Rush Limbaugh Show, and was a huge catalyst in drawing listeners to the station. In fact, the station took advantage of Rush's popularity and even had a lifesize cardboard cutout of Rush which was brought to station live broadcasts. The owner, himself, was known to take Polaroid shots for listeners to keep while taking a picture with the Rush cutout. This cardboard cut of Rush was way before he 'slimmed down'. When Clear Channel bought WTSL in Hanover, New Hampshire, The Rush Limbaugh Show migrated to the much weaker 1400 signal, since The Rush Limbaugh Show's parent company was owned by Clear Channel. This was amid strong protests from the WNTK owner citing being an early and loyal affiliate, plus WNTK's strong 10,000 watt signal against WTSL's weaker 1,000 watt signal.
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