Most New Jerseyans who have driven along the New Jersey Turnpike in Hudson County have no doubt seen what appears to be a lonely radio station and transmission tower out in the swamp.
The tiny, art deco-style building sports the radio call letters WMCA.
Many state residents say that they have theorized what goes on inside the tiny building.
In his autobiography “Born to Run,” Bruce Springsteen writes that he recalls seeing the building from the train as a teen and wondered “if all my favorite DJs were crowded” inside.
But the building is actually just a transmitter site, as well as the office to WMCA engineer Stu Engleke.
“This is the transmitter. Back in Bruce Springsteen’s day, the transmitter would have taken up the whole room,” Engleke says.
WMCA is now a Christian radio station. But in the 1950s and 1960s, it was a Top 40 radio station known for being the first New York station to play The Beatles. WMCA’s signal has been beamed from the Meadowlands transmitter site since it was built in 1940.
Engleke’s job is to make sure that the transmitter keeps going.
The site is also shared by WNYC, New York City’s public radio station.
The neon WMCA call letters haven’t worked since the site was damaged by Superstorm Sandy. Radio officials say that they hope to have the letters relit some time soon.