The history of this station can be traced back to 1928, when the FCC assigned the 1400kc frequency to be shared among five existing Brooklyn-based stations: WSGH, WSDA, WLTH, WCGU, and WBBC. By 1941, the four remaining stations, WVFW (formerly WSGH), WLTH, WARD (formerly WCGU), and WBBC merged to form WBYN, which started operating at 1430kc.
WBYN, "Brooklyn`s Own Station", was sold to the Newark Evening News in 1946 and the call letters were changed to WNJR in 1947. Alan Freed`s first NY area show was heard on WNJR, which featured rhythm & blues music from the early 50's through the early 90's.
The station switched from a multi-ethnic format to an Adult Standards format on 3/22/99, and the call letters were changed to WNSW on 6/11/99. The Adult Standards format was replaced by Chinese language programming on March 1, 2001.
On March 1, 2002, the Chinese language programming on WNSW moved to WZRC 1480 AM, while the Korean language programming heard on WZRC moved to WNSW. The Korean programming was replaced by Spanish Contemporary Christian programming in May, 2007.
The Newark Radio Series was established to produce and broadcast radio programs that will be placed back onto Newark's Only Commercial Radio Station. These Radio Shows are oriented to meet the needs of the greater Newark population.