WTMI

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WTMI is a classical music station branded as Radio Beethoven at AM 1290 in West Hartford, Connecticut. The station is owned by Marlin Broadcasting of Hartford, LLC operating as a class D AM station operating with 490 watts during the day and reducing power at night per FCC rules.

[edit] History of WTMI

WTMI AM 1290 in West Hartford, CT USA, is one of the few remaining commercial classical music stations in the US. One of the things that makes WTMI notable is that is carries the programming of it's co-owned webcast station, beethoven.com. While many radio stations in the US stream their audio on the web, this is one of the few cases, and perhaps the first, where a stand-alone webcaster had a full time radio station carrying its programming.

The magazine Radio World On Line has published articles and letters about the station, see: http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/beethoven.shtml

WTMI is owned by Marlin Broadcasting, llc, is the only commercial station licensed to West Hartford, CT (USA) and was the first station in the state to adopt HD radio digital technology in April, 2005. HD technology allows AM station to sound like FM stations when received on a HD capable receiver.

AM 1290 in West Hartford, CT USA dates back to 1948 when the station first went on the air from the "lower street level" of the well known Hotel Bond in Hartford, CT. Owned by colorful jeweler Bill Savitt (of "POMG" fame), the call letters at that point were WCCC which stood for "We Cover Connecticut's Capitol". Early programming consisted of popular music of the day, news, sports and farm and agricultural reports. 23,000 watt WCCC-FM was licensed on 106.9 in 1959 with a transmitter site a top Avon Mountain in West Hartford. In the late sixties WCCC moved to 11 Asylum Street in Hartford and changed to a hugely popular "All Request" format which was simulcast in part on WCCC-FM. AM 1290 was one of the only stations in the country ever owned by a record label, in this case Elektra (1960s). Sy Dresner purchased the station in the early Seventies and by the mid-Seventies the station had switched to a rock music format. Conservative National Commentator Paul "The Rest of the Story" Harvey was heard on WCCC for close to two decades. In 1980, the station was moved to 243 South Whitney Street in Hartford. For a brief time in the early eighties WTMI ran a talk format. In 1998 Marlin Broadcasting purchased the station from Sy Dresner's Greater Hartford Communications Corporation and moved the station to 1039 Asylum Avenue in Hartford with an Active Rock format.

Howard Stern was heard daily on WTMI (formally WCCC-AM) starting when he started his talk radio career in the late seventies. He returned to WTMI in 1995 before leaving radio for satellite broadcasting in 2004. Other notable hosts over the years were Bob Crane, Fred Norris, Ivor Hugh, Rusty Pots, Stoneman, The Ozzman, Sebastian, and Country Paul Payton.

Previously, the call letters WTMI belonged to an FM station in Miami, Florida, USA. Beethoven.com originated as a part of that Miami classical FM station on 93.1.