After running a loop redirecting listeners of “K-Love” to 95.5 WPLJ New York, Educational Media Foundation launched its Contemporary Worship “Air 1” brand in the market today on 96.7 WARW Port Chester.
The station acquired the WARW call letters from EMF’s 93.5 Remsen NY, which is now the inverted WAWR. In the June 2019 Nielsen Audio ratings 96.7 held a 0.6 share of the New York audience despite a signal that covers only the northern and eastern parts of the market. Between WARW, 94.3 WAWE Chicago and a network of rimshots and translators in Los Angeles, the Air 1 brand now has a presence in each of the top three media markets along with K-Love.
Original Report 7/15: After launching its flagship “K-Love” brand in New York on May 31, Educational Media Foundation has begun the process of moving the audience from rimshot 96.7 WKLV-FM Port Chester to 95.5 WPLJ and debuting its Contemporary Worship “Air 1” brand in the market.
96.7, now under temporary WMKQ call letters, has begun running a redirect loop telling listeners to find the “K-Love” programming on 95.5. When the station debuts the new brand, it will do so under the WARW calls that are currently held by an EMF station in Remsen NY.
The call changes saw the WKLV-FM calls moved to 93.5 Butler AL replacing WMKQ, while the company also introduced new call letters to its Air 1 affiliate in Chicago. 94.3 WJKL Glendale Heights switched its call letters to the more brand appropriate WAWE, while its former calls moved to what was 89.3 WKRT Richmond IN.
EMF also closed on its long gestating purchase of CHR “AC 102.7” WWAC Ocean City/Atlantic City NJ and debuted the “K-Love” network on the station this week under new WLRB calls. EMF had agreed to purchase WWAC from Longport Media in June 2018 for $570,000.
