WVOX

On April 28, 1949, New Rochelle Broadcasting Service, Inc. filed for a construction permit to build a new radio station at 1460 kHz in New Rochelle. The permit was granted on June 22, 1950, and WGNR began broadcasting on September 9, 1950.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39365926/ |page=67 |work=Daily News|location=New York |title=Listening In |date=July 27, 1950 |access-date=November 20, 2019}} WGNR-FM 93.5 had already launched in September 1948.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39365886/ |first=Ben |last=Gross |work=Daily News|location=New York |date=September 6, 1948 |access-date=November 20, 2019 |title=Looking & Listening |page=40}}

New Rochelle Broadcasting Service, however, went bankrupt in 1952, signing the station off on August 1. After the appointment of a receiver, Radio New Rochelle, Inc., owned by the Iodice Family, acquired the station and changed the call letters to WNRC on both the AM and FM stations.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=68443 |title= History Cards for WVOX|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards){{cite news |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1953/BC-1953-08-24.pdf |date=August 24, 1953 |work=Broadcasting |title=Call Letters Assigned |page=102 |access-date=November 20, 2019}} WNRC returned to the air in October 1953; it retained those call letters through a transfer of control to the Daniels family in 1955.{{r|hc}}

WNRC became WWES-AM-FM on December 10, 1958, as the station was sold to Radio Westchester for $225,000. The Radio Westchester sale made it a sister station to WVIP in Mount Kisco, serving lower Westchester County.{{Cite news |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1958/1958-10-13-BC.pdf |page=9 |date=October 13, 1958 |title=At Deadline |access-date=November 20, 2019 |work=Broadcasting}} On February 26, 1959, however, the station would change its call sign to WVOX, which remains in use as of January 2024.

WVOX joined a radio operation owned by the New York Herald-Tribune newspaper in the early 1960s. By 1962, after John Hay Whitney bought the Herald-Tribune the year before, the paper's radio division included WVOX-AM-FM, WVIP, WGHQ at Kingston and WFYI (now WJDM) in Mineola.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1962/1962-05-14-BC.pdf|pages=30, 32|work=Broadcasting|date=May 14, 1962|title=The 'Trib' uses tv to reverse a trend|access-date=November 20, 2019}} With the Herald-Tribune closed, Whitney Communications sold WVOX-AM-FM and WGHQ-AM-FM in 1968 to Hudson-Westchester Radio in an $800,000 acquisition.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1968/1968-05-06-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=May 6, 1968|pages=62–63|access-date=November 20, 2019|title=Changing Hands}} Hudson-Westchester was led by William O'Shaughnessy, a former account executive with the Herald-Tribune Radio Network who had been WVOX's general manager since 1965.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39366791/|title=Ex-Valleyite To Buy 4 Radio Stations|work=Star-Gazette|date=October 24, 1967|page=13|access-date=November 20, 2019}}

WVOX evolved into a community-oriented talk radio station, which by 1973 had a reputation for local color and gossip of Westchester County. That year, it moved out of its former studios to new facilities at the station's transmitter site in New Rochelle, known as One Broadcast Forum.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/927040778/|date=April 9, 1973|page=13|title=WVOX building new home|newspaper=The Standard-Star|location=New Rochelle, NY|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 30, 2023|archive-url=}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39366898/|date=October 14, 1973|work=Daily News|location=New York|first=Val|last=Adams|title=Radio Roundup|access-date=November 20, 2019|page=19}} O'Shaughnessy hosted a daily talk show on the station for more than 50 years, featuring interviews with U.S. politicians, authors, and entertainers.[http://www.nysun.com/business/colorful-radio-mogul-sees-threat-to-freedom/14226/ Colorful Radio Mogul Sees Threat to Freedom of the Airwaves], New York Sun, May 23, 2005 The Wall Street Journal described WVOX as the "quintessential community radio station in America".Stephen Warley (2005), [https://books.google.com/books?id=0UNR6e4d9YIC&dq=New+York+State+Broadcasters+Hall+of+Fame+o%27shaughnessy&pg=PA23 Serving Their Communities: 50 Years of the New York State Broadcasters Association], Fordham University Press, {{ISBN|0-9776117-0-1}}, {{ISBN|978-0-9776117-0-6}}[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5278/is_199809/ai_n24337843 WLNA radio mellows out], Westchester County Business Journal, September 28, 1998 In 2005, O'Shaughnessy was one of the first 25 people to be inducted into the new New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame by the New York State Broadcasters Association.[http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-4190486/William-O-Shaughnessy-of-New.html Westchester County Business Journal], April 25, 2005 He was honored for his long record as a champion of free speech under the First Amendment.

The programming of WVOX during the 1970s included local news shows that were dedicated to towns in its coverage area, such as Mount Vernon and Pelham. The call-in show "Open Line", which often exceeded its allotted time slot, was also part of the programming lineup. Ethnic and religious blocks were also featured, along with music when the station didn't have a talk show on the air.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39367158/|first1=Su|last1=Yates|first2=Bruce|last2=Blackwell|access-date=November 20, 2019|date=February 20, 1977|work=The Journal News|pages=TV-Radio Week 27, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39367003/ 28]|title=Vox Populi is more than a slogan}}

Following his departure from WEVD in 2001, Bill Mazer had an afternoon interview program on WVOX (and streamed from WVOX's website), with his son Arnie as producer. Mazer's last show was aired August 3, 2009, ending his tenure at the station and marking his retirement from broadcasting.

Owner William O'Shaughnessy died May 28, 2022, at age 84.{{cite web |last1=Winslow |first1=George |title=Former NY Broadcasters Association President William O'Shaughnessy Has Died |url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/former-ny-broadcasters-association-president-william-oshaughnessy-has-died |website=tvtechnology.com |publisher=Future US, Inc. |access-date=June 3, 2022 |date=May 31, 2022}} On August 25, 2023, O'Shaughnessy's estate announced WVOX and its FM translator would be donated to MMTC Broadcasting, a nonprofit that would then transfer the station's license to Chang Media Group.{{Cite web|url=https://rbr.com/following-oshaughnessys-death-wvox-is-donated/|title=Following O'Shaughnessy's Death, WVOX Is Donated | Radio + Television Business Report |first=Adam |last=Jacobson |date=August 26, 2023}} WVOX's FM sister station WVIP was sold several weeks earlier to Hope Media Group, which converted it to a Spanish-language Christian music format under new WNVU call letters on September 1, 2023.{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/254300/hope-media-group-acquired-wvip-in-new-yorks-suburbs/|title=Hope Media Group Acquires WVIP In New York's Suburbs - RadioInsight|first=Lance|last=Venta|date=June 30, 2023}}

On September 7, 2023, WVOX ended its local programing and ceased operations ahead of the sale.[https://radioinsight.com/headlines/258670/ahead-of-sale-wvox-signs-off/ Ahead of Sale WVOX Signs Off] Radioinsight - September 8, 2023 However, about a week later WVOX returned to the air and simulcasted the music programming of noncommercial WJZZ in Montgomery, New York. Upon the FCC's granting approval of the donation/sale transfer on October 26, 2023, the station went silent once again. Under the terms of the sale, Chang Media Group is required to move WVOX's transmitter and studio facilities to a new location, as the O'Shaughnessy family is retaining One Broadcast Forum; Chang will also install a new programming format.

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{{AM station data|28024|WVOX}}

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{{New Rochelle, New York}}

Category:Community radio stations in the United States

Category:Mass media in New Rochelle, New York

VOX