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WWCA
WWCA (1270 AM) is a radio station in Gary, Indiana, serving northwest Indiana. It airs a Catholic Radio format, as an owned and operated affiliate of Relevant Radio.
WWCA is powered at 1,000 watts, using a directional antenna with a four-tower array. The transmitter is off Chase Street near 50th Street in Gary. Programming is also heard on 100-watt FM translator W268DI at 101.5 MHz in Gary.
WWCA first signed on the air on December 7, 1949. It was owned by the Lake Broadcasting Company and had studios in Hotel Gary.
President and founder Dee O. Coe established the station and operated from studios that had housed WIND before that station moved to Chicago. Coe also owned WLOI in LaPorte, IN and other stations throughout the state. Co-owners of WWCA included its chief engineer Vic Voss and the Burns family, operators of a Gary funeral home. Other key personnel included general manager Joseph Haas, news & program director Ted Thorne and Sales Manager Al Evans. The station's studios were moved from Hotel Gary to the fourth floor of the First Federal Saving and Loan Association building at 545 Broadway. Licensed to the city of Gary, the station's transmitter was located in a then rural area south of the Gary city limits near 49th Avenue and Chase Street. The station's signal was directional, then requiring transmitter operators to hold 1st Class Federal Communications Commission (FCC) operator licenses.
Thorne, though a resident of Michigan City, IN, hosted the mid-day Sound-Off program which had a large following and delivered expanded newscasts at noon and again at 5 PM. Thorne left WWCA for a stint with WGN-TV, Channel 9, in Chicago, but later returned to the Gary station.
WWCA experienced its peak in popularity during the 1960s and 1970s, with its community commitment and the popularity of its on-air personalities. Residents of Gary, Merrillville, Crown Point, Hobart and other northwestern Indiana cities and towns depended on WWCA for local news and sports coverage. Area residents tuned to WWCA for live on-the-scene coverage of breaking news events as well as weekly live coverage of high school sports. Broadcasts of basketball tournaments involved most of the on-air personalities broadcasting from multiple locations throughout northwestern Indiana.
Popular daytime programs included Tom Higgins’ morning program, "Sound-Off with Ted Thorne" at noon and Matt Hart in afternoon drive time. Morning news was delivered by Morris Wayne. Thorne and Doug Kullerstrand handled midday news chores. Play-by-play coverage of high school sports was the work of sports director Frank Sauline.
WWCA's nighttime audience belonged to R&B-music disc jockey Jesse Coopwood. The Coopwood show was one of the highest rated evening show in the Chicago area during the 1970s. During that time Coopwood worked with news reporter Tony Rose. Rose was a staple in the news department at WWCA from 1970 through the mid-1980s. After spending most of his career at WWCA, Coopwood was hired away by competitor WLTH in the late 1970s. Coopwood was replaced by a series of soul deejays, none of whom earned the level of listenership Coopwood brought to the station.
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WWCA
WWCA (1270 AM) is a radio station in Gary, Indiana, serving northwest Indiana. It airs a Catholic Radio format, as an owned and operated affiliate of Relevant Radio.
WWCA is powered at 1,000 watts, using a directional antenna with a four-tower array. The transmitter is off Chase Street near 50th Street in Gary. Programming is also heard on 100-watt FM translator W268DI at 101.5 MHz in Gary.
WWCA first signed on the air on December 7, 1949. It was owned by the Lake Broadcasting Company and had studios in Hotel Gary.
President and founder Dee O. Coe established the station and operated from studios that had housed WIND before that station moved to Chicago. Coe also owned WLOI in LaPorte, IN and other stations throughout the state. Co-owners of WWCA included its chief engineer Vic Voss and the Burns family, operators of a Gary funeral home. Other key personnel included general manager Joseph Haas, news & program director Ted Thorne and Sales Manager Al Evans. The station's studios were moved from Hotel Gary to the fourth floor of the First Federal Saving and Loan Association building at 545 Broadway. Licensed to the city of Gary, the station's transmitter was located in a then rural area south of the Gary city limits near 49th Avenue and Chase Street. The station's signal was directional, then requiring transmitter operators to hold 1st Class Federal Communications Commission (FCC) operator licenses.
Thorne, though a resident of Michigan City, IN, hosted the mid-day Sound-Off program which had a large following and delivered expanded newscasts at noon and again at 5 PM. Thorne left WWCA for a stint with WGN-TV, Channel 9, in Chicago, but later returned to the Gary station.
WWCA experienced its peak in popularity during the 1960s and 1970s, with its community commitment and the popularity of its on-air personalities. Residents of Gary, Merrillville, Crown Point, Hobart and other northwestern Indiana cities and towns depended on WWCA for local news and sports coverage. Area residents tuned to WWCA for live on-the-scene coverage of breaking news events as well as weekly live coverage of high school sports. Broadcasts of basketball tournaments involved most of the on-air personalities broadcasting from multiple locations throughout northwestern Indiana.
Popular daytime programs included Tom Higgins’ morning program, "Sound-Off with Ted Thorne" at noon and Matt Hart in afternoon drive time. Morning news was delivered by Morris Wayne. Thorne and Doug Kullerstrand handled midday news chores. Play-by-play coverage of high school sports was the work of sports director Frank Sauline.
WWCA's nighttime audience belonged to R&B-music disc jockey Jesse Coopwood. The Coopwood show was one of the highest rated evening show in the Chicago area during the 1970s. During that time Coopwood worked with news reporter Tony Rose. Rose was a staple in the news department at WWCA from 1970 through the mid-1980s. After spending most of his career at WWCA, Coopwood was hired away by competitor WLTH in the late 1970s. Coopwood was replaced by a series of soul deejays, none of whom earned the level of listenership Coopwood brought to the station.