The 1340 AM frequency first signed-on in December 1944[2] as WNHC, under the ownership of the Elm City Broadcasting Corporation. Elm City was principally controlled by Patrick J. Goode, U.S.postmaster for New Haven and former co-owner of WELI radio; and Aldo DeDominicis, a former WELI sales person.[3]Triangle Publications acquired the station, along with WNHC-FM (99.1, now WPLR) and WNHC-TV (channel 8, now WTNH), from Elm City in 1956.[4]
Triangle had sold its stations, including WNHC-AM-FM-TV, to Capital Cities Communications in 1971.[5][6] However, the new owners were forced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to spin off the radio stations to comply with then-current ownership limits; WNHC was sold to Westerly Broadcasting Company.[7] By this time, the station had a contemporary format;[8] this gave way in 1976 to a middle-of-the-road/talk format.[9]
WNHC again attempted a top 40 format starting in June 1979 in an attempt to compete against WAVZ; however, just weeks later, WAVZ swapped formats with its sister station, WKCI.[10] With minimal promotion, WNHC struggled to compete with WKCI's stronger FM signal, and in March 1980 it flipped to an urban format.[10][11] However, the station ran into financial problems during the 1990s, forcing owner Willis Communications to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 1997.[12][13] The bankruptcy resulted in a battle between Yale Broadcasting Company, which wanted to eliminate a competitor to WYBC-FM, and Buckley Broadcasting over the sale of WNHC, as well as protests against Yale Broadcasting in New Haven's African American community.[13][14] The dispute ended on June 3, 1998, when Yale Broadcasting purchased the station in bankruptcy court; the next morning, WNHC was shut down at the order of a United States bankruptcy judge for the District of Connecticut.[15] It returned to the air under Yale Broadcasting's control on September 15;[16] on October 5, the call sign was changed to WYBC.[17] Starting in 1941, Yale students had operated an unofficial AM radio station using weak-signal carrier current technology tolerated by the FCC and common among student-run stations at the time, renamed WYBC and changed to 640 AM in 1945, but that station ceased operations by the early 1980s.[18]
In the station's first decade as WYBC, unlike many college campus radio stations, it featured both student and non-student programming, some professional. However, interest in the station eventually dwindled (in sharp contrast, sister station WYBC-FM, largely programmed by Cox Radio, is one of the highest-rated urban adult contemporary stations in the country), and its college radio programming was transitioned to an Internet radio station, WYBCX, by 2010.[19] WYBC then adopted its current public radio programming, provided by Sacred Heart University, on April 4, 2011 (WYBC-FM continues to operate as a commercial station).[20] The time brokerage agreement with Sacred Heart University provides funding for WYBCX's operations.[21] The AM station uses a small ValComfiberglass antenna in place of the original metal tower which stood on the site.[22]
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