WSUS (FM)
Encyclopedia
WSUS is a Class A radio station
serving the Sussex County, New Jersey
, area. The station is licensed to Franklin, New Jersey
, is owned by Clear Channel Communications
and has an adult contemporary music format. The station is consistently the number one radio station in Sussex County.
It broadcasts the syndicated program Delilah After Dark.
In 1971, WLVP was sold for $75,000 to Peter Bardach, an advertising executive who lived in New Jersey and worked on Madison Avenue. Bardach changed the station's call letters to WSUS. (Bardach's company was Sussex County Stereo, even though WSUS itself broadcast a mono signal for several years before actually going stereo.) James Normoyle, a veteran disc jockey who used the name Jay Edwards, was hired as Sales Manager in 1972 and later became General Manager and part owner with Bardach. Normoyle eventually became the full owner.
The station had a Top 40/Country hybrid format called "Town & Country". Half the songs played were current Top 40 Hits and half the songs country, including current hits and older songs. In 1975 WSUS changed its night-time format to Top 40/Rock mixing Top 40 and Rock cuts both old and new. During the day it continued the Top 40/Country hybrid format.
In 1973 the station moved its studios from the mountaintop to 75 Main Street in Franklin. The transmitter stayed, and the power was eventually raised to the current level of 590 watts.
WSUS liners included "All Hit Music" and "Dependable WSUS". The station was also news intensive during the day. Its news is known as "First Report News". WSUS consistently was at or near the top when ratings are measured. Sussex County occasionally was a rated market when WSUS and WNNJ would pay Arbitron to take diaries in Sussex County in order to measure ratings here. This practice only happened once a year until the past 10 years. Now Sussex is rated for Spring and Summer Books. This is known as "Buying the Book". In such a practice local stations in an area pay in order to get rated for their home county. This practice is increasingly becoming common in rural areas in order to sell ads.
In the winter of 1982 with Top 40 leaning young again and WIXL doing very well with its all-country format, WSUS dropped the daytime Top 40/Country hybrid format during the day and the Top 40/Rock format at night and became an adult contemporary radio station. It was more of a Hot AC at night (playing slightly more rock then) but overall it was now AC rather than Top 40. The station became a slightly hotter AC by the late 1980s. The station continued with weekend specialty shows as well.
In the early 1990s WSUS gradually moved into a regular straight ahead adult contemporary format. In 1997 Jay Edwards sold WSUS to Nassau Broadcasting Partners
, and channeled his earnings into a brief career in harness racing. He died in 2002. Early in 1998 Nassau took over the station and revamped the format. The station now became known as "The Best Variety of Soft Rock". It added Delilah, a syndicated love songs show in the 7 p.m.-to-midnight time slot. The station also added better sounding jingles as well. By now the market was rated twice a year. In all but a few books WSUS has easily been the number one station in the area. Occasionally now co-owned Classic Rock station WNNJ FM was on top.
In the Winter of 2001 Clear Channel Communications
purchased all the Nassau stations in the Sussex/Warren/Monroe County cluster except for WVPO, WSBG, and AM 960 located in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Clear Channel would get WSUS, WHCY, WNNJ, WNNJ FM, and local marketing agreements for WDLC and WTSX (which would end Fall of 2004). WSUS stayed as it was with no changes. In fact WSUS is the only station that has not since been changed significantly since the sale to Clear Channel. In exchange for these stations Nassau was paid a good sum of cash plus WEEX and WODE in the Lehigh Valley (which Clear Channel had to sell due to the merger with AM/FM/Chancellor).
WSUS continues to be a high rated station in the region. It concentrates on news, traffic, and weather.
Clear Channel has consolidated the studios of the Sussex and Warren County stations to 45 Ed Mitchell Avenue in Franklin.
5AM-10AM Steve Andrews
10AM-2PM Maria Lake
2PM-7PM Rich Kaminski
7PM-12AM Delilah
Weekends
George Fuller
Mel Andrews
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
serving the Sussex County, New Jersey
Sussex County, New Jersey
The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...
, area. The station is licensed to Franklin, New Jersey
Franklin, New Jersey
Franklin is a Borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 5,045.Franklin, known as the "Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World," is located over a rich ore body containing more than 150 minerals, many of them fluorescent and...
, is owned by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
and has an adult contemporary music format. The station is consistently the number one radio station in Sussex County.
It broadcasts the syndicated program Delilah After Dark.
History
The station began on February 28, 1965, as WLVP, named after Louis VanderPlate, the station's founder. The station's studio and transmitter were located, along with VanderPlate's house, atop Hamburg Mountain, overlooking Franklin and Sussex County's central valleys. The station's power was 360 watts.In 1971, WLVP was sold for $75,000 to Peter Bardach, an advertising executive who lived in New Jersey and worked on Madison Avenue. Bardach changed the station's call letters to WSUS. (Bardach's company was Sussex County Stereo, even though WSUS itself broadcast a mono signal for several years before actually going stereo.) James Normoyle, a veteran disc jockey who used the name Jay Edwards, was hired as Sales Manager in 1972 and later became General Manager and part owner with Bardach. Normoyle eventually became the full owner.
The station had a Top 40/Country hybrid format called "Town & Country". Half the songs played were current Top 40 Hits and half the songs country, including current hits and older songs. In 1975 WSUS changed its night-time format to Top 40/Rock mixing Top 40 and Rock cuts both old and new. During the day it continued the Top 40/Country hybrid format.
In 1973 the station moved its studios from the mountaintop to 75 Main Street in Franklin. The transmitter stayed, and the power was eventually raised to the current level of 590 watts.
WSUS liners included "All Hit Music" and "Dependable WSUS". The station was also news intensive during the day. Its news is known as "First Report News". WSUS consistently was at or near the top when ratings are measured. Sussex County occasionally was a rated market when WSUS and WNNJ would pay Arbitron to take diaries in Sussex County in order to measure ratings here. This practice only happened once a year until the past 10 years. Now Sussex is rated for Spring and Summer Books. This is known as "Buying the Book". In such a practice local stations in an area pay in order to get rated for their home county. This practice is increasingly becoming common in rural areas in order to sell ads.
In the winter of 1982 with Top 40 leaning young again and WIXL doing very well with its all-country format, WSUS dropped the daytime Top 40/Country hybrid format during the day and the Top 40/Rock format at night and became an adult contemporary radio station. It was more of a Hot AC at night (playing slightly more rock then) but overall it was now AC rather than Top 40. The station became a slightly hotter AC by the late 1980s. The station continued with weekend specialty shows as well.
In the early 1990s WSUS gradually moved into a regular straight ahead adult contemporary format. In 1997 Jay Edwards sold WSUS to Nassau Broadcasting Partners
Nassau Broadcasting Partners
Nassau Broadcasting Partners LP is a company based in Princeton, New Jersey that owns radio stations in New England and the Mid-Atlantic United States. Nassau's stations, which include both AM and FM frequencies, are located in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey,...
, and channeled his earnings into a brief career in harness racing. He died in 2002. Early in 1998 Nassau took over the station and revamped the format. The station now became known as "The Best Variety of Soft Rock". It added Delilah, a syndicated love songs show in the 7 p.m.-to-midnight time slot. The station also added better sounding jingles as well. By now the market was rated twice a year. In all but a few books WSUS has easily been the number one station in the area. Occasionally now co-owned Classic Rock station WNNJ FM was on top.
In the Winter of 2001 Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
purchased all the Nassau stations in the Sussex/Warren/Monroe County cluster except for WVPO, WSBG, and AM 960 located in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Clear Channel would get WSUS, WHCY, WNNJ, WNNJ FM, and local marketing agreements for WDLC and WTSX (which would end Fall of 2004). WSUS stayed as it was with no changes. In fact WSUS is the only station that has not since been changed significantly since the sale to Clear Channel. In exchange for these stations Nassau was paid a good sum of cash plus WEEX and WODE in the Lehigh Valley (which Clear Channel had to sell due to the merger with AM/FM/Chancellor).
WSUS continues to be a high rated station in the region. It concentrates on news, traffic, and weather.
Clear Channel has consolidated the studios of the Sussex and Warren County stations to 45 Ed Mitchell Avenue in Franklin.
On-air staff
Weekdays5AM-10AM Steve Andrews
10AM-2PM Maria Lake
2PM-7PM Rich Kaminski
7PM-12AM Delilah
Weekends
George Fuller
Mel Andrews
Former on-air staff
- Ansel Bartley
- Dom Coles
- Rick Davis
- Jimmy Diele
- Mark Fowser (news)
- Frank Garrity
- Jimmy Howes
- Tom Kennedy
- Dave Margalotti
- Robert Hantson (Bob Knight)
- Pat Murphy
- Forest Green (Bob Morris)
- Dave Searls (news) (now known as Doc SearlsDoc SearlsDavid "Doc" Searls , co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, is an American journalist, columnist, author and a widely-read blogger, a fellow at the Center for Information Technology & Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a fellow alumnus of the Berkman Center for Internet &...
) - Vince Toscano (On air as Vince Thomas)
- Don Trapp
- Jeff Earnest (news)
- Jerry Keenan (news)
- Bob McDevitt (news)
- David Matthau (news)
- Jerry Morelli (sports)
- Bob Gleason (sports)
- Eric Slater
- Bob Bober (air name: Bob Roberts)
- Bob O' Brien
- Rene' Tetro (air name: Johnny Fredericks)
- Chuck O'Brien (changed to Jim Preston)
- Country Dee
- Frank Bruno
- Wayne Scott
- Dylan Reason-News
- Dick Bartley-News
- Scott Charles (Kienzlen)