WVEI (AM)

WVEI

Worcester, Massachusetts United States
Broadcast area	Central Massachusetts
Frequency	1440 kHz
Branding	1440 WEEI
Programming
Language	English
Format	Sports radio
Affiliations	WEEI Sports Radio Network Infinity Sports Network Boston Red Sox Radio Network Boston Bruins Radio Network Boston Celtics Radio Network Westwood One
Ownership
Owner	Audacy, Inc. (Audacy License, LLC)
Sister stations	WBGB WEEI WEEI-FM WMJX WWBX
History
First air date	February 27, 1927 (1927-02-27)
Former call signs	WBET (1927–29) WLEX (1929–31) WAAB (1931–76) WNCR (1976–77) WFTQ (1977–91) WVEI (1991–92) WBHT (1992) WVEI (1992–94) WWTM (1994–2000)
Call sign meaning	phonetically similar to WEEI
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	74466
Class	B
Power	5,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates	42°17′23.33″N 71°50′46.26″W / 42.2898139°N 71.8461833°W / 42.2898139; -71.8461833 (WVEI) (NAD83)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live (via Audacy)
Website	www.audacy.com/weei/network/weei-1440-am-worcester-ma

WVEI (1440 kHz) is an AM sports radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts, operating with 5,000 watts. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. Most programming is provided by Boston sister station WEEI-FM.

The station originated in Boston as the Boston Evening Transcript's WBET, which was licensed in 1926 and signed on in 1927. After the newspaper sold the station, it moved to Lexington as WLEX in 1929; two years later, John Shepard III bought the station and moved it back to Boston as WAAB, a sister station to the Yankee Network's WNAC. Anti-duopoly rules led Shepard to move WAAB to Worcester in 1942, shortly before his sale of the Yankee Network and its stations to General Tire & Rubber. After a series of ownership changes in the 1950s, WAAB became a top 40 station, shifting to news/talk in the 1970s before relaunching in 1976 as WNCR, a news and beautiful music station.

From 1977 until 1991, the station was WFTQ, a full-service station playing adult contemporary music. After simulcasting its FM sister station WAAF for most of 1991, WFTQ became WVEI, a simulcast of the sports radio programming of WEEI (590 AM). A separate sports format was launched in 1994 as WWTM, but the 1996 sale of the station to American Radio Systems (ARS) led to the addition of programming from WEEI (850 AM). Entercom, the predecessor of Audacy, acquired WWTM from CBS in 1998 as part of CBS's purchase of ARS; it changed the call sign back to WVEI in 2000.