WBAB
| Company type | Commercial radio station |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | August 27, 1958 |
| Headquarters | West Babylon, New York , United States |
Area served | Long Island (Western Suffolk County and parts of Nassau County) |
Key people | Roger Luce (morning show host), John Parise (morning show host), John Shea (former general manager), John Olsen (former program director) |
| Products | Classic rock radio programming |
| Owner | Cox Radio |
WBAB (102.3 FM) is a commercial broadcaster authorized to operate in Babylon, New York, and is under the ownership of Cox Radio. Its operational facilities and studios are located along Sunrise Highway in West Babylon. The morning program, "Roger & JP," featuring Roger Luce and John Parise, began airing in January 2000. WBAB, together with its affiliate WHFM (95.3 FM, Southampton), delivers a classic rock format across Long Island.
The station transmits at an effective radiated power of 6,000 watts from its transmitter situated in Dix Hills. Its broadcast range includes Western Suffolk County and portions of Nassau County, while WHFM serves the eastern regions of Long Island.
Top 40, Album Rock, Classic Rock
WBAB-FM commenced operations on August 27, 1958, initially simulcasting its AM counterpart WBAB (1440 AM), which was a daytime-only station. Originally owned by Bay Shore Broadcasting, the FM station started with a power output of 670 watts. During the 1970s, both WBAB AM and FM aired a Top 40 music format. The simulcast arrangement ended in September 1975 when AM 1440 changed its format to gospel and adopted the call sign WNYG. Subsequently, WBAB-FM shifted to album rock and by the early 2000s had adopted a classic rock playlist featuring hits from the 1960s through the 1980s.
2006 signal hijacking
On May 17, 2006, WBAB experienced an unauthorized takeover of its broadcast signal lasting approximately 90 seconds, during which the track "Nigger Hatin' Me" by Johnny Rebel—a white supremacist country artist from the 1960s—was aired. Roger Luce, who hosts the morning show, condemned the act as both unprecedented and racist. The incident was prominently featured on the front page of Newsday with the headline "JACKED FM." John Shea, recently appointed general manager at that time, remarked that this disruption happened just one week after he assumed his position. Former program director John Olsen highlighted that such an intrusion constitutes a serious violation under federal law.
The breach was likely executed by overpowering the studio transmitter link (STL) signal directed to the Dix Hills transmitter site. A comparable attack involving the same song had targeted WBAB’s sister station WBLI (106.1 FM) roughly two weeks earlier.
Discography
- WBAB Homegrown Album (1981)
- WBAB Son of Homegrown (1984)