WNAM

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WNAM
Currently silent
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Broadcast area
Appleton-Oshkosh
[[Frequency|FrequencTemplate:Pluralize from text]]1280 kHz
Branding1280 WNAM
Programming
FormatSoft oldies; adult standards
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Ownership
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History
First air date
May 23, 1947; 79 years ago (1947-05-23)
Call sign meaning
"Neenah and Menasha"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
50053
ClassB
Power5,000 watts
Links
Public license information
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Websitewww.1280wnam.com

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WNAM (1280 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Neenah-Menasha, Wisconsin, that serves the Appleton-Oshkosh radio market. The station is owned by Cumulus Media. Since December 31, 2025, the station is silent.

WNAM formerly used the "America's Best Music" radio format supplied by co-owned Westwood One, that combines soft oldies with a few adult standards and middle of the road songs each hour. The station also carried Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball. Most hours began with ABC News Radio.

History

The station signed on the air on May 23, 1947, with 1,000 watts of power.[2] WNAM was owned by Neenah-Menasha Broadcasting Company, with studios on Wisconsin Avenue in Neenah. The station was originally a daytimer, required to go off the air at night, when radio waves travel farther. In the 1960s, the station got authorization from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at night at 1,000 watts, with its daytime power raised to 5,000 watts.

Ron Ross began working at WNAM in 1973 as afternoon host and eventually became program director when WNAM was a Top 40 radio station. In 1976, Ross was named by Billboard one of the country's top five Top 40 personalities for markets with fewer than 1 million people. During his time at WNAM, the station achieved a 17.6 Arbitron rating.[3]

In the 1990s Value Radio Corp., owner of WOSH, purchased WNAM and WUSW in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, from Odon Communications Group.[4]

Cumulus Broadcasting already owned WNAM, WOSH, WVBO and WWWX when the company bought WPKR and WPCK from Midwest Dimensions Inc. in an $8.1 million deal announced July 2, 2003.[5]

"Mad Dog and Merrill" joined WNAM in 2008 for a cooking-related show airing weekdays from 10 to noon.[6]

In 2008, WNAM began carrying Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball games. The station's contract was extended through 2021.[7]

On December 17, 2025 the station announced that after 78 years, it would cease broadcasting at midnight on December 31. The station cited changing listener habits and economics as a reason it was signing off, with Cumulus taking silent a number of stations, mainly AM stations without inner-city translators, throughout 2025.[8][9][10]

The station signed off the air at midnight on January 1, 2026, with a special event that would celebrate the station’s history in separate 3-hour blocks on New Years Eve. The last song played was "We've Got Tonite" by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band.[11] With the sign-off, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers games would move to sister station WOSH.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Facility Technical Data for WNAM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1948 page 256
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Klister, Eric (May 15, 2003). "Play time nearly over for longtime Fox Valley radio fixture". The Post-Crescent.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Prestegard, Steve (February 4, 1997). "Changes in the air". Marketplace Magazine.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cumulus buying 2 radio stations in Fox Valley". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. July 3, 2003.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Mad Dog and Merrill return to airwaves". The Post-Crescent. April 4, 2008.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Sherry, Mike (March 2, 2016). "Pues named Zephyrs' new football coach". The Post-Crescent.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."WNAM Says Farewell". 1280WNAM.com. December 17, 2025.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cumulus to Shutter WNAM". RadioInsight. December 17, 2025. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ellis, Jon (December 17, 2025). "Cumulus to Silence Wisconsin AM Station at End of 2025". NorthPine: Upper Midwest Broadcasting. Retrieved December 18, 2025.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."WNAM Says Farewell". WNAM-AM.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."TIMBER RATTLERS ON WOSH". WOSH-AM. Retrieved January 1, 2026.

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