WNWR

The station first signed on the air on July 11, 1947.[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1949/Radio-NE-Ter-BC-YB-1949-B&W.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1949 page 226] Its call sign was WJMJ which stood for "Jesus, Mary, Joseph". The station broadcast middle-of-the-road music and religious programming. It was owned by Patrick Joseph Stanton and had its offices and studios in the St. James Hotel.

WJMJ was a daytimer, powered at 1,000 watts and forced to sign-off at sunset to avoid interfering with other stations on 1540 kHz. In the late 1950s, the station got a boost to 50,000 watts, but it still had to stay off the air at night.[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1960/B%202%20Radio%20Yearbook%201960.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1960 page A-219] One of the programs carried on WJMJ in the 1950s was George A. Palmer's popular Morning Cheer daily broadcast.{{cite news|title=Statement Issued by 'Cheer' Head|newspaper=Courier-Post|location=Camden, New Jersey|date=July 1, 1959|page=30|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69769493/courier-post-camden-nj-711959/|via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}

In 1965 it was acquired by the Rust Craft Greeting Card Company, which changed the call letters to WRCP (for "Rust Craft Philadelphia").[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1967/B%202%20Radio%201967%20YB.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1967 page B-138] In 1967, Rust Craft changed the sound to country music, a format not found on the Philadelphia radio dial.

In 1981, after WFIL also adopted a country format, WRCP switched to oldies. Later in 1985, the call sign was changed to WSNI to match sister station 104.5 WSNI-FM (now WRFF). For a time, the AM station broadcast an all-Beatles-and-Motown format. After two years, a more conventional oldies mix returned and the station became WPGR ("Philly Gold Radio").

In 1995, the station was sold to new owners operating as Global Radio LLC, becoming WNWR.[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/2010/D3-2010-BC-YB-7.pdf Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2010 page D-471] The call letters stood for "New World Radio". It switched to mostly ethnic brokered programming, where show hosts bought time on the station and sold advertising in their communities to pay for their broadcasts.

On June 13, 2011, WNWR's entire brokered program schedule moved to WWDB.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html |title=WDUQ Prepares for All-News Future|access-date=June 6, 2011 |archive-date=June 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603230458/http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html |url-status=dead }} The station was then leased to broadcast China Radio International.{{Cite news|date=November 2, 2015|title=FCC, Justice Department investigate covert Chinese radio network|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-radio-fcc-idUSKCN0SR2AI20151102|access-date=July 5, 2020}} Several years later, WNWR got authorization from the Federal Communications Commission to stay on the air around the clock with low power at night. WNWR went off the air and was listed as silent since June 14, 2018. As of Saturday November 17, 2018, WNWR returned on the air broadcasting a Spanish language format. On December 8, 2019, however, it was on the FCC's Silent AM Stations List.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/silent-am-list|title = Silent AM Broadcast Stations List|date = May 25, 2016}}

As of April 27, 2021, WNWR returned to the airwaves with 1,000 watts of power during the day and 7 watts at night according to station engineer Dana Puopolo. By then, the station was owned by Aztec Capital Partners and was simulcasting WHAT 1340 AM, airing Latin hit music.{{cite web|url= http://www.phillyradioarchives.com/history/wnwr|title= History of Philadelphia radio station 1540 WNWR (Philadelphia Radio Archives)}}

In 2023, the station was sold to Wilkins Broadcasting LLC, which owns dozens of Christian talk and teaching stations around the U.S. WNWR returned to its beginning roots with a religious format, broadcasting as "1540 The Word". The call sign's meaning was repurposed as "New Word Radio", with "Word" as a synonym for "The Bible".

{{RadioTranslators

| call1 = W237EH

| freq1 = 95.3

| watts1 = 250

| class1 = D

| fid1 = 141664

| city1 = Pennsauken, New Jersey

| coord1 = {{coord|39|55|34.6|N|75|3|11.1|W|region:US-NJ_type:landmark|name=W237EH}}

}}

{{AM station data|1027|WNWR}}

• [https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=66443 FCC History Cards for WNWR]

{{Philadelphia Radio}}

{{Religious Radio Stations in Pennsylvania}}

NWR

Category:Radio stations established in 1947

Category:1947 establishments in Pennsylvania

NWR