| WPAT-FM | |
| City: | Paterson, New Jersey |
| Area: | New York metropolitan area |
| Branding: | "93.1 Amor" |
| Languages: | Spanish |
| Format: | Tropical music |
| Subchannels: | HD2: Spanish Christian "Visión Latina 93.1 HD2" |
| Erp: | 4,800 watts |
| Haat: | 415m (1,362feet) |
| Coordinates: | 40.7483°N -73.9858°W |
| Class: | B |
| Licensing Authority: | FCC |
| Facility Id: | 51663 |
| Callsign Meaning: | Paterson (WPAT's city of license) |
| Owner: | Spanish Broadcasting System |
| Licensee: | WPAT Licensing, Inc. |
| Sister Stations: | WSKQ-FM |
| Webcast: | Listen Live |
WPAT-FM (93.1 FM) – branded "93.1 Amor" – is a commercial radio station with a Tropical music format serving the New York metropolitan area.[1] It is licensed to Paterson, New Jersey, and is owned by the Spanish Broadcasting System. The studios are on East 26th Street in Midtown Manhattan.
WPAT-FM's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and it broadcasts using HD Radio technology.[2] Its HD2 subchannel carries "Visión Latina," a Spanish-language Christian radio format.
WPAT-FM signed on the air in .Broadcasting Yearbook 1961-1962 page B-105. Retrieved Oct. 29, 2024 It was the FM sister station of WPAT 930 AM, with studios in Newark, New Jersey. Its frequency of 93.1 MHz had previously been assigned to Edwin Howard Armstrong's pioneering FM station based in Alpine, New Jersey, KE2XCC. That station went off the air in 1954 with Major Armstrong's death. This was the second station to hold the WPAT-FM call sign. An earlier WPAT-FM, originally called WNNJ, had operated on 103.5 MHz from 1949 until its deletion in early 1951.
WPAT-AM-FM had a beautiful music format for nearly four decades.[3] The stations aired quarter-hour sweeps of instrumental music, mostly cover versions of popular adult songs, Broadway and Hollywood show tunes. Over time, some vocal songs were added. To help the station sound more contemporary, by the 1980s, vocals made up half of the playlist. By the 1990s, WPAT-FM had made the transition to soft adult contemporary.Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1994 page B-238. Retrieved Oct. 29, 2024
After being based in Newark, WPAT-AM-FM moved to studios on Church Street in Paterson. The stations later relocated to studios at the four-tower transmitter site of the AM station, at 1396 Broad Street in Clifton, New Jersey. WPAT-AM-FM were purchased by Capital Cities Communications in 1961.[4]
In 1985, Capital Cities announced that it would buy the ABC Network, including its television and radio stations.[5] [6] As a result of Federal Communications Commission regulations at the time, the company decided to sell WPAT-AM-FM because ABC already owned 770 WABC and 95.5 WPLJ in New York City. (A broadcasting company could only own one AM and one FM station in each market.) The WPAT stations were sold to Park Communications, owned by Roy H. Park.[7]
On January 19, 1996, at 11:59 pm, WPAT-FM ceased being an English-language station when control was switched over to current owners Spanish Broadcasting System. WPAT-FM DJ Karen Carson did the last air shift for the station's adult contemporary format that day.[8] Operations Director Ken Mackenzie gave a farewell speech right before the station ended its broadcast.
Immediately after the station signed off from Clifton, a new Spanish-language adult contemporary format signed on from SBS studios in Manhattan. The branding became "Suave 93.1" ("Smooth 93.1"). Eventually, on February 4, 1998, the station's branding was changed to "Amor 93.1" ("Love 93.1") and in January 2002, returned to "93.1 Amor" ("93.1 Love"). Over time, the station transitioned from Spanish AC to Spanish tropical music.