WOBM (AM)

WOBM
Simulcasting WOBM-FM Toms River
Asbury Park, New Jersey;
Broadcast area	Monmouth–Ocean County, New Jersey
Frequency	1310 kHz
Branding	92.7 WOBM
Programming
Format	Adult contemporary
Ownership
Owner	Townsquare Media; (Townsquare License, LLC);
Sister stations	WCHR-FM, WJLK, WJLK-FM, WOBM-FM
History
First air date	1926; 98 years ago
Former call signs	WDWM (1926–1928); WCAP (1928–1950); WJLK (1950–1996); WADB (1996–2008); WBUD (2008–2009); WADB (2009–2023);
Call sign meaning	Ocean, Burlington, Monmouth
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	14895
Class	B
Power	2,500 watts (day); 1,000 watts (night);
Transmitter coordinates	40°13′47.00″N 74°05′27.00″W / 40.2297222°N 74.0908333°W
Translator(s)	96.7 W244EE (Asbury Park)
Links
Public license information	Public file; LMS;
Webcast	Listen live
Website	wobm.com

WOBM (1310 kHz) is an adult contemporary AM radio station serving southern Monmouth and northern Ocean County, New Jersey. Licensed to Asbury Park, its studios are located in Toms River and its transmitter is in Tinton Falls. The station is owned by Townsquare Media.

History

The station began in 1926 as WDWM in Newark; it moved to Asbury Park as WCAP (for City of Asbury Park) in 1928.^[2] In 1950, the station was purchased by the Asbury Park Press and renamed WJLK^[2] as a sister station to WJLK-FM, which the newspaper placed on the air on November 20, 1947. The stations emphasized news coverage, using the paper's resources to produce 15-minute newscasts at the top of each hour, and a wide variety of programs including various types of music, talk and interviews.

In 1989, the newspaper sold the two stations to Devlin and Ferrari Broadcasting Company of New York for $12.5 million. The ownership changed again and during the time between the sale by the Press and the present day, various formats were tried, including oldies, big band music and country.

The station held the WJLK call sign until November 4, 1996, and was called WADB from that date until September 18, 2008.^[3]

On June 25, 2007, WADB became a full-time ESPN Deportes Radio affiliate, broadcasting sports programming in Spanish. Six months later, in January 2008, it became a Fox Sports Radio affiliate and adopted the slogan "National Sports with a Shore View". WADB mostly broadcast Fox Sports Radio programming. The station also broadcasts Lakewood BlueClaws minor league baseball along with sister station WOBM.

Millennium Radio renamed the station WBUD on September 18, 2008, before changing the name back to WADB on June 4, 2009.^[3]

On September 3, 2010, WADB changed its format to oldies, simulcasting WOBM. Both stations continue to broadcast Lakewood BlueClaws minor league baseball and play-by-play of high school sports. On May 19, 2014, WADB changed its format news/talk.^[4] On January 3, 2017, WADB returned to an oldies format, branded as "Beach Radio".^[5]

On February 1, 2022, at 10 am, after playing "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen, WADB changed its format from oldies to country, branded as "Cat Country 96.7/104.1", with the first song being "Cold as You" by Luke Combs. The "Cat Country" branding was shared with Atlantic City sister station WPUR.^[6]

On July 10, 2023, WADB dropped the country format and began simulcasting the adult contemporary format of WOBM-FM, expanding that station's coverage of Monmouth County; the format change also ended the simulcast with WOBM AM, which began simulcasting WJLK.^[7] The "Cat Country Jersey Shore" website was then redirected to the WPUR website.^[8] WADB's call sign was changed to WOBM on July 31, 2023.^[9]