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95.9 FM
“THE RAT”
jerseyrock@wrat.com
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(“WRAT” is a ‘rock music radio station’ licensed to ‘point pleasant’ (/ ‘NJ’)
(its ‘studios’ and ‘transmitter’ are located in the ‘borough’ of ‘lake como’ (/ ‘NJ’))
(the station is owned by ‘beasley broadcast group’)
(‘WRAT’ took over the frequency ‘95.9’ from ‘WADB’, a station named for the founder (‘adamant brown’) and his wife ‘dorothy’)
(‘brown’, after determining that there was no one on frequency within the required ’70 miles’ (and co-channel ’35 miles’), petitioned the ‘FCC’ for the rights to the ‘frequency’)
(a ‘tower’ was subsequently erected at the ‘studio site’ in ‘south belmar’ (now known as ‘lake como’))
(taking to the air in ‘october 1968’, it was one of the first ‘automated broadcast stations’ with ‘large carousels’ loaded with ‘broadcast-spec tape cartridges’ for the majority of ‘advertising’)
(large reels of ‘taped music’ with ‘interspersed commercials’ allowed the station to run with ‘minimal human intervention’)
(an ‘SMC digital programmer’ controlled the operation)
(the station’s “easy listening” format quickly proved popular in its ‘coverage area’ of southern ‘monmouth’ and northern ‘ocean’ counties but over time, the ‘nationwide audience’ for that ‘program format’ began to decrease)
(once ‘brown’ decided to sell the station, its days as a “beautiful music” outlet were numbered)
(after a ‘labor day weekend’ stunt during which the song “rat in the kitchen” by ‘UB40’ was aired continuously, WRAT flipped to ‘rock ‘n roll’ on ‘labor day 1996’)
(the first song that day was AC/DC’s “for those about to rock”)
(the station quickly gained a ‘loyal following’, filling a void in the ‘monmouth’ / ‘ocean’ (NJ) radio market, by providing a ‘local station’ with a ‘rock format’ and approach which listeners could previously only hear via stations broadcasting from ‘new york city’ + ‘philadelphia’)
(WRAT’s ‘programming’, ‘sales’, ‘marketing’, and ‘internet operations’ are all controlled by ‘local employees’)
(WRAT’s marketing efforts have tended towards the “edgy”)
(the station gained some notoriety in the ‘late 1990s’ with a ‘roadside billboard advertising campaign’ to promote its playing of 9 songs in a row)
(the ‘billboard photograph’ was captioned “WRAT 9 in a row”, and featured 5 large-breasted women in bikinis standing next to each other, cropped so that only their chests were visible, and also cropped on the side so that only half of the last women was visible: thus, 9 breasts in a row)
(as recently as ‘early 2010’, a ‘billboard campaign’ was turned down by the ‘managing authorities’ of a ‘local outdoor advertising company’)
(in ‘september 2006′, WRAT celebrated its ’10-year anniversary’)
(some of the station’s success over this time has been contributed to the longevity of the ‘air staff’)
(almost all of the ‘air talent’ that began on the station in ‘1996’ is still on air in some capacity, a rarity in today’s ‘radio landscape’)
(similarly rare is the presence of a ‘staff member’ on the air around the clock while many stations switch to an ‘automated format’ for the ‘overnight hours’)
(the “family atmosphere” amongst its ‘airstaff’ is genuine)
(throughout the station’s history, its biggest problem has been a ‘very weak signal’)
(though the station added new ‘transmitters’ in ‘summer 2005’ that allow the signal to reach as far as the urban areas of ‘new york city’ and ‘philadelphia’, the station still suffers significant interference in southern and central ‘ocean county’ due to ‘co-channel interference’ from ‘WBEN-FM’ (at 95.7) + ‘WTTH’ (at 96.1))
(‘WRAT’ was amongst the first ‘radio stations’ in the market to simulcast its ‘radio broadcast’ over its ‘internet website’, and continues to do so to this day)
(on ‘9 march 2014’, WRAT extended its coverage to include ‘southern’ + ‘central’ ocean county by adding a ‘250-watt translator’ at ‘107.9 FM’ transmitting from a ‘300-foot tower’ on ‘beach avenue’ in ‘manahawkin’ (/ NJ))
(the ‘107.9 signal’ extends from ‘forked river’ to ‘atlantic city’ including ‘long beach island’, ‘tuckerton’, ‘brigantine’, and ‘pomona’)
(on ’19 july 2016′, ‘beasley media group’ announced it would acquire ‘greater media’ and its ’21 stations’ (including ‘WRAT’) for ‘$240 million’)
(the ‘FCC’ approved the sale on ‘october 6th’, and the sale closed on ‘november 1st’)
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