Of course you have heard of WWDJ-AM. It began its rock and roll history in 1971. WWDJ became the new Top 40 station. It was a format cornerstone for nearly three years. The call letters changed on May 16 of that year.
WWDJ tried to take on WABC. It wanted to replace WMCA as New York’s second Top 40 outlet. For a brief time, it was known as 97-DJ. Program director Mark Driscoll began imaging the station as 9-J.
The WWDJ station was hampered by its signal. The directional signal covered Manhattan and Northern New Jersey. It suffered in the rest of the Five Boroughs. The signal was virtually nonexistent on Long Island and western New Jersey.
Eventually, FM competition began. WCBS-FM and adult top 40 station WXLO ate into WWDJ’s ratings. By November 1973 WWDJ ranked 15th in the Arbitron ratings.
By 1974, WWDJ was losing money. It could not sell enough advertising. The WWDJ studios moved to the transmitter site.
In the fall of 1973, WWDJ began selling airtime. Religious groups bought airtime on weekends. This brought much-needed revenue. WWDJ continued with Top 40 during weekdays into 1974.
On April 1 1974, WWDJ abruptly dropped the Top 40 format. It switched to a Christian radio format full time. Because the change took place on April Fool’s Day, many listeners thought the switch was a joke.
Initially, WWDJ sold two-thirds of its daily airtime. The rest of the time it played traditional Christian music. A few hours on Saturdays were devoted to contemporary Christian music.
By late 1976, the music was a mix of traditional and soft contemporary. As of 1979, the music was adult contemporary Christian. By 1982, it had evolved to contemporary Christian. WWDJ still only played music part-time on weekdays and Saturdays.
In 1994, WWDJ was sold to Salem Communications. In the New York radio market, Salem already owned WMCA since 1989. Salem retained WWDJ’s studios on Main Street in Hackensack.
In the fall of 1995, the station abruptly changed formats again. The station’s teaching programming expanded. Music was cut back to morning and afternoon drive time hours on weekdays and Saturday afternoons. Most of the announcers were laid off. WWDJ revamped the format to a rhythmic Christian music format.
In 2004, the music was dropped. WWDJ moved to a Christian brokered format. For about two years, the station billed itself WMCA II. The WWDJ call letters were used only in the hourly station identification. The station’s on-air identity reverted to 970 DJ by 2007.
On July 25, 2008, WWDJ swapped call signs with a sister station in the Boston area. It briefly became WTTT. On August 6, 2008, the station’s call letters changed to WNYM. This change included adopting a conservative talk format.
John R. Gambling hosted a midday show on WNYM from April 2014 until September 2016. In January 2014, Joe Piscopo became WNYM’s morning drive time host. The rest of the weekday schedule is from the Salem Radio Network. It is a line up of conservative talk shows.
WWDJ had many excellent DJs. They included Bwana Johnny and Al Brady. Mike Phillips and Ronnie Grant were also on air. Howard Clark and George Taylor Morris passed through the 97 DJ doors. Sean Casey and Joe Conway spent time at WWDJ. Steve Clark and Mark Driscoll also worked there. Bob Lockwood and Don Cannon were WWDJ DJs. Bob Savage and Bobby Finck were also part of the team.