WESX

WESX made its debut on December 10, 1939, at 1200 kHz on the AM band, with studios in Salem, Massachusetts; the transmitter was in Marblehead.^[4] The station's original owner was Charles W. Phelan, who had been the director of sales for the Yankee Network in Boston from 1928 to early 1939. The station's first program manager also came from the Yankee Network— Van D. Sheldon, who had most recently been in charge of the Artists Bureau, where he auditioned and hired the bands that performed on the air.^[5] The programming and advertising on WESX targeted the cities and towns north of Boston, the area known as the North Shore.^[6] But by 1949, Phelan was in poor health; in early November, he sold the station to James D. Asher and Joseph H. Tobin, who also owned radio station WJDA in Quincy.^[7]

After James D. Asher died in 1973,^[8] his son Jay ran the stations until May 2006, at which time they were sold to Otto Miller, who changed both stations from their full-service (news, talk, local sports, music) format to a Spanish-language format.^[9] In 2017, the Principle Broadcasting Network sold its stations — WESX, WJDA, and WLIE in Islip, New York — to Universal Stations for $2.3 million; Universal's principals were also associated with Principle.^[10] Universal Stations sold WESX and WJDA to Real Media Group effective August 9, 2018.^[11]