CT BROADCAST HISTORY!
By 1950, the studios were located at 183 Main Street. There are also reports that the station operated out of the Yankee Peddler Inn.
James Parker was the General Manager, Joseph R. Schifini, Pres. of Torrington Broadcasting Company.
By 1969 the studios were at 32 South Main Street in Torrington.
In the 60s the owner and GM was listed as Edmund William Waller.
In 1964 the station moved to 610 AM with 1KW day and 500W night and a three tower directional antenna system, transmitting from a site in Harwinton, CT. Up until this point WTOR had been at a competitive disadvantage due to their high dial position (1490 khz) and low power (250 watts) which allowed WBZY (formally WLCR), a station with a better dial position (990 Khz) and higher power (1,000 watts) to challenge them in the marketplace. Within five days of WTOR switching frequency and increasing their power WBZY was no more! WBZY was sold to WTOR in January, 1964 and was promptly shut down leaving WTOR as Litchfield County's only station for nearly two decades.
The call letters were subsequently changed to WSNG.
Torrington Broadcasting owned it till the mid 70'S
In 1986 new ownership changed the format to News and Talk.
WSNG went off the air on January 19, 1996 and would have lost its license the following February had it remained silent. Buckley Broadcasting, purchased the station in November, 1996 and returned it to the airwaves a month later, simulcasting Buckley's WDRC (1360) Hartford, with an adult standards format.
Above: 1969 letter from WTOR.
In the fifties and sixties it was not uncommon to find radio station studios located in Hotels. There are unconfirmed reports that at one point WTOR had studios in the famous Yankee Pedlar Inn on Main St. in Torrington. Can anyone verify this?
QSL Card.
Console at transmitter site in Harwington, former location of station's studio. Dennis Jackson photo.
Above photos by Dennis Jackson.
