Audacy’s heritage all-news station KYW(AM/FM) celebrated its 60th anniversary with a gala at Philadelphia’s historic Bellevue Hotel.
The event took place on Sept. 17, a culmination of the station’s year-long celebration of the milestone. KYW has also broadcast on-air segments commemorating its six decades throughout the year.
David Yadgaroff, senior VP and market manager of Audacy Philadelphia, said in a release that the event was a tribute to those members of the station over the past six decades who have devoted their lives to “telling the story of the Delaware Valley.” For listeners across southeast Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, segments like “traffic and transit on the twos” might be the most familiar. And of course, the station’s trademark jingle.
Philadelphia’s all-news format dates back to Sept. 21, 1965, when Westinghouse launched its “All News, All the Time” format on KYW. By most accounts, it was the second station in the U.S. to pick up the continuous news format, with WINS(AM) in New York City being first, also in 1965.
Westinghouse had regained control of 1060 AM in Philadelphia in 1965, after swapping it with NBC’s WTAM(AM) 1100 in Cleveland nine years prior, according to the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers.
In 1972, KYW moved its studios to Independence Mall East at the corner of 5th and Market streets in Philadelphia. It would remain there for 35 years thereafter. That iconic site is now the home of the National Museum of American Jewish History. Today, KYW is located at 2400 Market St. along with Audacy’s six other Philadelphia radio properties.
The station’s 50 kW directional AM signal on 1060 AM transmits from a two-tower array in the Lafayette Hill section of the city.
In April 2021, KYW added an FM simulcast, via Class A 103.9 WPHI(FM), licensed to Jenkintown, Pa., broadcasting from the Roxborough antenna farm.
KYW rarely mentions its 1060 AM signal today in its regular programming. But the station is still live and local around the clock.
