WRCH (FM)

WRCH (100.5 MHz "Lite 100.5") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to New Britain, Connecticut and serving Greater Hartford. It is owned by Entercom and airs an adult contemporary radio format. In the evening it carries the syndicated Delilah program from Premiere Networks. On Saturday mornings, Your Weekend with Jim Brickman is heard and on Sunday mornings, Smooth Jazz Brunch airs.

WRCH

City	New Britain, Connecticut
Broadcast area	Greater Hartford
Frequency	100.5 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	Lite 100.5 WRCH
Programming
Format	Adult contemporary
Subchannels	HD2: Smooth Jazz HD3: WEEI-FM simulcast (Sports from Boston)
Affiliations	Premiere Networks
Ownership
Owner	Entercom (Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stations	WTIC, WTIC-FM, WZMX
History
First air date	July 1, 1968
Call sign meaning	W Radio Connecticut Hartford or RiCH music
Technical information
Facility ID	1910
Class	B
ERP	7,500 watts
HAAT	381 meters (12,500 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	41.704°N 72.832°W
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	WRCH.radio.com wrch.radio.com/hd2/

WRCH's transmitter is located on Rattlesnake Mountain atop the WTIC-TV tower, off U.S. Route 6 (Colt Highway) in Farmington.[1] A backup transmitter is in "Radio Park" behind the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, its former studio location. The studios and offices are located on Executive Drive, also in Farmington. WRCH broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format. It offers smooth jazz programming on its HD2 sub-channel. The HD3 sub-channel carries a simulcast of sports talk-formatted WEEI-FM in Boston.[2]

History

On July 1, 1968, WRCH-FM signed on the air.[3] It was the FM counterpart of WRCH-AM (now WLAT). Both were owned by Central Connecticut Broadcasting. While the AM station aired a full service, middle of the road format, WRCH-FM carried a beautiful music format. It played quarter hour sweeps of mostly instrumental cover versions of pop songs and Broadway showtunes. Easy listening was a popular format in that era, with several stations in the Hartford area also playing beautiful music, including WKSS, WWYZ, WKCI and WTIC-FM. Over time, as those stations switched to other formats, WRCH continued its easy listening format.

In 1977, WRCH and its AM sister station WRCQ, were acquired by the Radio Corporation of Hartford.[4] In the 1980s, WRCH gradually increased the number of soft vocals and decreased the instrumentals, to the point where it became a soft adult contemporary station. The transition was gradual and many of its listeners stuck with WRCH as a companion in the office and at home, and it remained one of the top rated stations in Greater Hartford.

In 1998, CBS Radio acquired WRCH, while its AM counterpart was sold to Mega Communications.[5] WRCH joined the CBS Radio cluster, including WTIC (AM) and WTIC-FM, as well as WZMX. WRCH continued its Soft AC format, although picking up the tempo a bit into the 2000s, shifting to mainstream adult contemporary music.

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom.[6] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[7][8] The only noticeable effect from the merger for listeners was the switch of Boston sports stations on WRCH's HD3 subchannel, as the simulcast changed from the now-Beasley-owned WBZ-FM to Entercom-owned WEEI-FM.

External links

• Lite 100.5 WRCH website
• WRCH in the FCC's FM station database
• WRCH on Radio-Locator
• WRCH in Nielsen Audio's FM station database

References

1. Radio-Locator.com/WRCH
2. http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=50 HD Radio Guide for Hartford-New Britain & Middletown, Connecticut
3. Broadcasting Yearbook 1971 page B-36
4. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1985 page B-48
5. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 page D-79
6. CBS Radio to Merge with Entercom
7. "Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio". Entercom. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
8. Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017). "Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger". Radio Insight. Retrieved November 17, 2017.