Short answers, pulled from the story.
WABC began broadcasting in early October 1921 under the call letters WJZ, operating from a rooftop shack at a Westinghouse meter factory in Newark, New Jersey. The station's first major broadcast was a relay of the 1921 World Series. It became WABC on the 1st of March 1953, after ABC's merger with United Paramount Theatres was approved by the FCC.
WABC broadcasts at 770 kHz on AM radio with a 50,000-watt non-directional clear-channel signal. At night, when AM radio waves travel farther, the signal can be heard throughout much of the Eastern United States and Eastern Canada. Its transmitter is located in Lodi, New Jersey.
WABC officially ended its music format at 10:45 p.m. on the 9th of May 1982, after a 22-year run as a Top 40 station. The last song played was 'Imagine' by John Lennon. The new talk format launched on the 10th of May 1982, with a farewell music show hosted by Dan Ingram and Ron Lundy.
WABC is owned by John Catsimatidis through his company Red Apple Media. Cumulus Media announced the sale on the 27th of June 2019, for $12.5 million in cash, and the transaction closed on the 2nd of March 2020. Catsimatidis stated he grew up with the station and considered it iconic.
Both Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity launched their nationally syndicated talk shows at WABC. Limbaugh's program was produced at WABC from 1988 until the early 2000s and served as the station's anchor program for two decades. Both Limbaugh and Hannity departed WABC at the end of 2013 and their shows moved to crosstown rival WOR.
During The Beatles' second visit to New York City in August 1964, several WABC disc jockeys broadcast from a window of The Beatles' hotel room at the Hotel Delmonico. Disc jockey Dan Ingram, from the studio, played WABC jingles to thousands of teenagers gathered in the streets below. The stunt was later acknowledged to have violated FCC rules, though the station's staff did not know it at the time.