Радио 590AM The Word (WEZE)

WEZE is an AM radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, operating on 590 kHz. It is owned by Salem Communications and primarily airs religious programming.

The station's history dates back to 1924 when it was known as WEEI, owned by Edison Electric Illuminating Company. Initially, the station served as a public relations vehicle for Edison. In 1926, WEEI became a charter member of NBC Radio, broadcasting NBC Red Network programming. However, in 1936, CBS leased WEEI from NBC in response to NBC leasing WBZ for its Blue Network in 1932. Eventually, CBS purchased WEEI from Edison.

During its early years, WEEI featured a full schedule of radio comedy programs, dramatic series, variety shows, and soap operas. This programming continued until 1960 when the station switched to a MOR (middle-of-the-road) format with talk programming, making WEEI a pioneer in talk radio. By the mid-1960s, WEEI became an all-talk station, except for overnight hours, which still featured "Music 'til Dawn." Prominent talk hosts during this period included Paul Benzaquin, Howard Nelson, and Len Lawrence.

In 1974, WEEI abandoned its talk format in favor of CBS's standard all-news format, and this continued even after Helen Broadcasting purchased the station in 1983. The FM sister station of WEEI remained owned by CBS.

In 1991, the Boston Celtics became the owners of WEEI and introduced sports programming into the station's schedule. The remaining news programs eventually got canceled, making WEEI an all-sports station. The station also took over operations of WVEI in Worcester to simulcast its programming in Central Massachusetts.

In 1994, American Radio Systems (ARS) acquired the intellectual property of WEEI. However, due to FCC regulations, ARS couldn't take over the actual 590 AM frequency. As a result, the station was spun off and became WBNW, while ARS merged the old WHDH radio into WRKO and moved WEEI's programming to the 850 frequency. WVEI was sold and renamed WWTM but was later repurchased by WEEI and changed back to WVEI.

WBNW adopted a new business format, primarily supplied by Bloomberg, but failed to gain traction. The station was then sold to Salem Communications in 1996. Salem moved the religious programming and call letters of WEZE 1260 to WBNW, which remains on the station today. The 1260 frequency became WPZE and was later spun off as WMKI. [*]