Early years WARM has a long and distinguished history in
Northeastern Pennsylvania broadcasting. It has held its original
call letters since it
signed on the air in 1940. It began broadcasting on 1370 kHz, powered at 250 watts. A year later, with the enactment of the
North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), it switched to 1400 kHz. WARM was originally a
network affiliate of the
Mutual Broadcasting System. It was owned by the Union Broadcasting Company and had its studios in the Select Building in Scranton.
The Mighty 590 In the 1960s and 1970s, WARM was the predominant
Top 40 station in the area, playing the hits for a generation of young listeners. It was known as "The Mighty 590". The station became an affiliate of the
ABC Contemporary Radio Network. In the 1980s, the station transitioned to a more adult sound as younger listeners were tuning to FM stations for their music. It spent time as an
oldies station and also tried
country music. In the early 2000s, it was owned by
Citadel Broadcasting. After Citadel bought the
ABC Radio Networks in 2007, WARM became an ABC Radio
owned-and-operated station. Citadel merged with
Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011. Part of the station's broadcast day came from
Scott Shannon's "
The True Oldies Channel."
Off the air For a time in April 2009, WARM went
dark due to transmitter problems. Some of its equipment dated back 70 years. The station announced that, due to the high cost of replacing its transmitter, it had no plans to return. The host of WARM's weekly
polka music show told a reporter, "Unless there's a miracle, they ain't coming back." However, on April 23, with an effort by its engineers to get it working again, WARM returned to the air. It was still airing its oldies format and weekly polka program. On September 15, 2014, WARM went silent again, due to a transmitter failure. On November 24, 2014, an application was filed with the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to lower power from 5,000 watts during day and night to 1,800 watts daytime and 430 watts nights. It would use only three of its five towers. The station resumed broadcasting in December 2014. At this point, it switched to a
sports radio format, as an affiliate of
CBS Sports Radio. Cumulus Media has a financial interest in that network.
Bigfoot Legends Cumulus sold WARM to Major Keystone on September 24, 2021. On January 19, 2022, after completing the purchase, Major Keystone resold WARM to Seven Mountains Media. Seven Mountains replaced the sports programming with a simulcast of co-owned
classic country station
WLGD (107.7 FM). The stations were branded as "Bigfoot Legends". In 2024, ten of WARM's early radio personalities were inducted into the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame under the collective moniker "Legends of WARMland". That May, Seven Mountains Media sold WLGD to
Times-Shamrock Communications, while retaining WARM. While WLGD began simulcasting Times-Shamrock-owned
classic rock station
WEZX, WARM was taken silent while seeking a new programming source. ==Translator==