WSJW (AM)
| City | Pawtucket, Rhode Island |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Providence, Rhode Island |
| Frequency | 550 kHz |
| First air date | February 12, 1950 |
| Format | Religious |
| Power | 1,000 watts day 500 watts night |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 67578 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°54′18″N 71°23′58″W / 41.90500°N 71.39944°W |
| Callsign meaning | St. Joseph the Worker |
| Former callsigns | WPAW (1950–1961) WXTR (1961–1972) WGNG (1972–1985) WICE (1985–1995) WPNW (1995–1997) WLKW (1997–2000) WICE (2000–2001) WDDZ (2001–2011) WBZS (2011–2012) |
| Owner |
Starboard Media Foundation (Starboard Media Foundation, Inc.) |
| Website | www.relevantradio.com |
WSJW (550 AM) is a radio station licensed to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, serving the Providence area. Established in 1950 as WPAW, the station is owned by Starboard Media Foundation and airs Catholic talk programming.
In 1948, a construction permit was issued for 500 watts on 1380 kHz for Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The station went on the air in 1950 as WPAW, becoming WXTR on October 13, 1961. On March 25, 1972 the call letters changed to WGNG ("Gold-N-Great") with the station adopting an oldies format. It quickly switched to Top 40 in early 1973, then to "mellow rock" in the spring of 1977. Around 1980 the station returned to its "Gold-N-Great" format. The next callsign change occurred on Halloween 1985 when the station changed its call letters to WICE (which were vacated from 1290 in Providence). With a change in ownership and format it became a simulcast of Boston's all business-talk WBNW as WPNW. The WPNW call became official on June 16, 1995. After 2 years of business talk it changed on December 12, 1997 to WLKW. On July 17, 2000 the WICE calls returned, and on May 16, 2001, after joining Radio Disney, the station became WDDZ. WPAW was originally on 1380 kHz until 1952, when it changed to the current 550 kHz.
The Walt Disney Company took WDDZ, and three other stations slated to be sold, off the air on September 30, 2010. A deal to sell the station to Salem Communications was reached that November; after returning to the air, it ran in conjunction with Boston sister station WEZE (the descendant of WBNW). The call letters were changed to WBZS on January 1, 2011, when the WDDZ call letters were moved to the Radio Disney affiliate in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The call sign changed to WSJW when the station was acquired by Starboard Media Foundation and the format changed to Catholic radio on March 17, 2012.
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