Serving the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, Maine, 1470 WLAM Lewiston is licensed for 5kW day/night using a directional antenna pointing to the north-east. For that reason, and being near the New England coast, WLAM has consistently been one of the most commonly-heard US stations on 1470 here in the UK. RadioInsight reports that the station “will sign off permanently” on Monday 14th April at 0359 UTC. It will close along with 750 WJTO Bath, ME. The station stated that “the cost of operating and maintaining the stations has just become too much”.
WLAM has long been an oldies station with the emphasis on pre-1970s oldies as distinct from 70s-90s classic hits. I have a recording from March 2006 of the station identifying as “Maine’s Memory Station” adding “This is where you can always come to find the great songs you can’t hear anywhere else. Music and lyrics you know and love” . Some time later in 2006 WLAM became ESPN sport, then changed back to oldies in the first days of February 2009 as “The Oldies Channel” and then to an affiliate of “The True Oldies Channel” whose slogan was reported here from 2013 onwards. True Oldies Channel appears to have been dropped in 2014 but oldies continues to the present day with the slogan “The Memories Station”. Since early 2019, the station began closing between midnight and 5 a.m. Eastern.
WLAM has not been heard here in 2025. It has not been reported in 2025 in DX Loggings, nor in the Arctic Radio Club’s MV-Eko. This may be because it is an under-reported “common” station. A check of Brent Taylor’s PEI Kiwi this morning heard WLAM sign on at 1000. It would be nice to see at least one log of it in DX Loggings before it closes in a week’s time.
Andrew Brade to MWCircle iog (2025-04-05)