WDHA

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WDHA
City of license	Dover, New Jersey Morristown, New Jersey
Broadcast area	Northern New Jersey
Slogan	The Rock of New Jersey
First air date	February 22, 1961
Frequency	105.5 (MHz) 105.5-2 FM for Live Rock
Format	Rock Music
ERP	5000 watts
Class	A
Callsign meaning	W Drexel Hill Associates
Owner	Greater Media
Website	wdhafm.com

WDHA 105.5 FM is a rock music station licensed to Dover and Morristown, New Jersey. WDHA is owned and operated by Greater Media and serves the northern New Jersey region.

The station focuses both on rock music of the 1970s and 1980s as well as rock music from the 1990s, 2000s, and today. The station will go as far back as the 1960s on occasion. The station plays both classic rock and newer rock cuts and calls itself "Classic Rock That Really Rocks". Core artists include the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Mötley Crüe, Queen, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Nirvana, Allman Brothers, The Doors, Foreigner, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Ozzy Osborne, Matchbox Twenty, and many others. The station is local and live full-time. The station's facilities are located in Cedar Knolls outside of Morristown.

In terms of ratings, the station dominates in Morris County as well as surrounding counties. One reason is the lack of a rock station in New York City. WAXQ (Q104.3), which plays Classic Rock, is the only rock station in the New York market. This void was left by WXRK "92.3 K-Rock" when that station became WFNY, a talk station. Because of WXRK's indecision as to whether to focus on classic rock or new rock, WDHA garnered high ratings in northern New Jersey, even when New York had as many as three full-time rock stations.

[edit] History

WDHA began operation on February 22, 1961. The WDHA calls stand for "Drexel Hill Associates," who were the original owners of the station. The station played adult pop hits during the day but had Classical Music and Jazz block programming at night. The station began broadcasting stereo in 1972. 1250 WMTR was their co-owned station. WDHA studios had been located in Randolph Township while WMTR was located in Cedar Knolls. WDHA also had a one hour lunchtime news/talk show that was simulcast with their AM station, WMTR.

From 1972 to 1974 WDHA gradually moved away from pop standards and evolved into a Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary format. Initially they stayed away from hard rock. By 1975, they played the available album cut versions instead of the shorter single versions of the hits. By 1977 WDHA evolved into a top 40/rock format blending both types of music. Harder Rock would be gradually mixed in while pop hits were being phased out. By 1978 WDHA became known as "The Jersey Giant".

By 1980, WDHA had evolved into an album oriented rock format similar to WNEW FM at the time. By the late 1980's more heavy metal bands were heard while the station still kept a balance between classic rock and new rock. At this time WDHA became a popular station in northern New Jersey.

In 1990 WDHA moved out of their Randolph facilities into new Cedar Knolls facilities with sister station WMTR. In 1991 WDHA and WMTR were sold by Drexel Hill Associates to Signal Communications. The format was unaffected and WDHA continued on as usual.

In the mid-1990s Signal Communications restructured and became known as New Jersey Broadcast Partners. The station continued to dominate for rock music in this region and began to market themselves as "Classic Rock/New Rock". By the late-1990s, WDHA was the middle ground between WXRK 92.3 "K Rock", playing hard rock and alternative music, and WAXQ "Q 104" playing Classic Rock. WNEW-FM had poor ratings in New Jersey, in part due to its indecision of what kind of music to play, in part because of the influence of WDHA.

In 2001, WDHA (along with WRAT and WMTR) was sold to Greater Media (owners of WMGQ/WCTC). Today the station continues as the premiere rock station for northern New Jersey. They fill a void that New York City stations just don't want to fill. WDHA has begun HD Radio Broadcasts; WDHA HD 1 rebroadcasts WDHA's rock format while WDHA HD 2 broadcasts a live rock format focusing on concert music. There is some consideration to adding WMTR's successful Oldies format to WDHA HD 3 but no decision has been made on this yet.

Among the prominent radio people employed at one time at WDHA were Manny Glinn and Steve Scola.

[edit] Airstaff

Time	DJ
12 AM	Jeff Charone
6:00 AM	Jim Monaghan and Suzanne
10 AM	Tony Paige
2 PM	Curtis Kay
7 PM	Lindsay Klein

Part Time Weekends - fills in different shifts every week

• Bert Baron
• Selina
• Shawn Newman
• Mike Cocheo
• Scott Evil
• Bill Hall