![]() | |
| |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Baltimore metropolitan area |
Frequency | 680 kHz |
Branding | Talk Radio 680 WCBM |
Programming | |
Format | Talk |
Network | |
Affiliations | |
Ownership | |
Owner | WCBM Maryland, Inc. |
WQLL | |
History | |
First air date | March 28, 1924 |
Call sign meaning | Randomly assigned from a sequential list |
Technical information [1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 4759 |
Class | B |
Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 39°22′27.38″N76°51′27.92″W / 39.3742722°N 76.8577556°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | wcbm |
WCBM (680 AM) is a Baltimore, Maryland commercial radio station. It is owned by WCBM Maryland, Inc., and broadcasts a talk radio format, calling itself "Talk Radio 680 WCBM". Studios and offices are on York Road in Lutherville, off the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695). [2]
By day, WCBM transmits with 50,000 watts, the maximum allowed for United States AM stations. To protect other stations on 680 AM at night, it reduces power to 20,000 watts. It uses a directional antenna at all times, with a six-tower array. The transmitter site is off Marriottsville Road in Randallstown. [3]
Weekdays on WCBM, local hosts are heard from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The morning drive time show is "Casey and Company" with Sean Casey and Bruce Elliot. They are followed by Derek Hunter and Rob Carson. The rest of the schedule is made up of nationally syndicated shows: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Todd Starnes, Bill O'Reilly and Frank Morano from WABC New York City.
Weekends feature shows on money, health, gardening, cars, movies, technology, travel, veterans affairs, real estate and religion. They include The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show, The Lutheran Hour, The RM Travel Show with Rudy Maxa and The Kim Komando Show . Some weekend shows are paid brokered programming. Most hours begin with an update from Townhall News.
WCBM was first licensed in March 1924 to Charles Schwarz on 1310 kHz. [5] After a short series of test transmissions, it made its formal debut on the evening of March 28th. [6] The original studios were in the Hotel Chateau, located at the northwest corner of Charles Street and North Avenue. The call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential list of available call signs, although they also could be rendered as standing for "Chateau Baltimore Maryland", the hotel's name.
Following the establishment of the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) in 1927, stations were initially issued a series of temporary authorizations starting on May 3, 1927. [7] In addition, they were informed that if they wanted to continue operating, they needed to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard. [8] On May 25, 1928, the FRC issued General Order 32, which notified 164 stations, including WCBM, that "From an examination of your application for future license it does not find that public interest, convenience, or necessity would be served by granting it." [9] However, the station successfully convinced the commission that it should remain licensed.
On November 11, 1928, the FRC implemented a major reallocation of station transmitting frequencies, as part of a reorganization resulting from its implementation of General Order 40, and WCBM was assigned to 1370 kHz. [10] In the 1930s, WCBM had moved to the Hearst Tower Building in Baltimore. [11] It broadcast with 500 watts by day, 250 watts at night, while competitor WBAL ran 50,000 watts. WCBM was the NBC Blue Network affiliate for Baltimore, carrying its dramas, comedies, news and sports, during the "Golden Age of Radio". The Blue Network later became ABC.
WCBM changed transmitting frequencies numerous times. With the 1941 implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), it switched from 1370 to 1400 kHz. In 1949, it relocated to its current frequency, 680 kHz, which allowed the station to increase its power to 10,000 watts in the daytime and 5,000 watts at night. [12] As network programming shifted from radio to television in the 1950s, WCBM gradually became a full service, middle of the road music and personality station. In 1960 WCBM added an FM station, WCBM-FM at 106.5 MHz, which simulcast the AM station. It was sold to the owner of Channel 2 WMAR-TV in 1968, becoming WMAR-FM and today is WWMX, owned by Audacy.
WCBM-AM-FM were sold in 1963 to Metromedia, a large New York City-based broadcasting company. Metromedia also owned WTTG — Washington, D.C.; WNEW, WNEW-FM and WNEW-TV — New York City; WHK and WHK-FM — Cleveland; and WIP and WIP-FM — Philadelphia. The studios were moved to Owings Mills, Maryland.
Metromedia helped WCBM establish a reputation for radio news reporting. It affiliated the station with CBS Radio News and maintained a staff of professional reporters and anchors. An advertisement in the 1964 Broadcasting Yearbook boasted that WCBM aired 32 hours of news each week, and that "WCBM listeners hear it first! WCBM's staff of legmen are first on the scene . . . in Baltimore . . . surrounding counties . . . and at the state capital in Annapolis." [13]
But WCBM had a hard time competing with Hearst Corporation-owned WBAL, which also had a large news-gathering staff, as well as a powerful 50,000-watt signal. By the 1970s, WCBM evolved into more of an Adult Contemporary music format.
In 1981, WCBM began running talk programming in the evening, while keeping its music and news in the daytime. As fewer people listened to music on AM radio, WCBM evolved to all talk by 1983. It was also the flagship radio station of the Baltimore Colts football team. Chuck Thompson and Vince Bagli called the action in the broadcast booth.
The station was sold in 1987 to local owners using the corporate name "Magic 680 Inc." [14] WCBM returned to an adult contemporary format, dropping talk abruptly. After several months, it began playing oldies music, with a playlist of hits from 1955 to 1969. In 1987, when the radio broadcast rights for the Baltimore Orioles baseball team became available, WCBM outbid both WBAL and WFBR which had been the radio home of the Orioles for the previous eight years. Considered to be a major coup at the time, WCBM's tenure as the Orioles flagship lasted only one season, as the station faced severe financial difficulties. By 1988, WCBM had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, went dark soon after, and was put up for sale.
At about the same time that WCBM was in the middle of bankruptcy, rival AM station 1300 WFBR was sold in 1988 and changed its format from news/talk to 1950s' rock & roll. With the format flip, WFBR let go most of the station's talk show hosts that summer. In October 1988, WCBM was bought by Baltimore area businessman and philanthropist Nick Mangione, Sr. who resurrected it from bankruptcy. A World War II veteran, Mangione was an avid listener of talk radio and a fan of WFBR's former talk radio format. Once he acquired the station, Mangione brought most of WFBR's former talk radio line-up to WCBM, including Frank Luber, Joe Lombardo, Tom Marr, Ken Maylath, Les Kinsolving and Stan "The Fan" Charles.
WCBM originally had The Rush Limbaugh Show on its weekday schedule in the early 1990s, but lost it to competitor 1090 WBAL in 1994. With its stronger signal and higher ratings, Limbaugh's syndicator put the program on WBAL. At the time, WCBM was broadcasting at 10,000 watts by day and 5,000 watts night. WCBM had to scramble to replace Limbaugh in the Noon to 3 p.m. slot, choosing Zoh Heironimus to fill the role. Despite having a following, Zoh Heironimus didn't capture the listeners as well as Limbaugh. So WCBM added Dr. Laura Schlessinger to the 12–3 spot but her ratings dropped further. After WJFK (1300 AM) discontinued his program, WCBM added the syndicated G. Gordon Liddy Show . Liddy improved the ratings numbers for WCBM, although was not as successful as Limbaugh. By the end of 2001, The Sean Hannity Show was added to the 3–6 p.m. time slot, replacing Bob Scherr.
In 2001, WCBM completed construction on a new six-tower transmitter array in Randallstown, Maryland. [15] WCBM went to a daytime power of 50,000 watts in 2004. The nighttime power increased to 20,000 watts. At the end of his contract with WBAL, on July 1, 2006, Limbaugh returned to WCBM. WBAL did not renew its contract with Premiere Networks due to the high cost. The station decided to go with a local host and use the extra money to win back the broadcast rights to the Baltimore Orioles and to go after the rights to the Baltimore Ravens football team. Limbaugh's show replaced G. Gordon Liddy in the early afternoon time slot. The Mark Levin Show , syndicated by Westwood One, debuted on the same day as Limbaugh's return, airing from 7 to 9 p.m.
In 2009, WCBM dropped the ABC News Radio Network and switched to Fox News Radio for its world and national news coverage. This change coincided with competitor 1090 WBAL's change to an all news morning show. For both WCBM and WBAL, new station sweepers, imaging, station IDs and music accompanied the changes in programming. WCBM's imaging now centers on its affiliation with Fox News. During the end of 2020, WCBM changed national news affiliation from Fox News to Townhall News, part of the Salem Radio Network.
On October 31, 2019, veteran personality Frank Luber retired after 31 years with WCBM, 27 of them hosting "Maryland's Wake Up Call." [16] Luber's co-host, Sean Casey, was teamed with former late morning host Bruce Elliott for "The Morning Drive with Casey & Elliott". Derek Hunter, formerly of 1090 WBAL, took Elliott's time slot, 9 to 11:45 a.m. Derek Hunter has been with WCBM since 2019.
With the death of syndicated host Rush Limbaugh in February 2021, WCBM management decided to replace his popular early afternoon show with local programming. Derek Hunter was moved to Limbaugh's early afternoon time slot, with Elliott relocated to late mornings and Casey remaining as the wake-up host.
KKSF is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Oakland, California and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and has an all-news radio format, with programming from the co-owned Black Information Network (BIN). The studios are located on Townsend Street in San Francisco's SoMa district.
WJZ-TV is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with several other Baltimore broadcast outlets.
WRKO is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by iHeartMedia, WRKO is a Class B AM station that provides secondary coverage to portions of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine during the day, but is highly directional at night to protect a number of clear-channel stations on adjacent frequencies. WRKO serves as the Boston affiliate for ABC News Radio, Coast to Coast AM and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal; syndicated personalities Joe Pags, John Batchelor and Bill Cunningham; the flagship station of The Howie Carr Show, and the home of radio personality Jeff Kuhner. The WRKO studios are located in the Boston suburb of Medford, while the station transmitter resides in nearby Burlington. Besides its main analog transmission, WRKO simulcasts over the HD2 subchannel of sister station WZLX, and streams online via iHeartRadio.
KMBZ is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Kansas City, Missouri. KMBZ is owned by Audacy, Inc. and it airs a talk radio format. Its studios and transmitter tower are in suburban Mission, Kansas, at separate locations.
WTIC is a commercial AM radio station in Hartford, Connecticut. It airs a news/talk format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios and offices are on Executive Drive in Farmington.
WBAL is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Baltimore, Maryland. It is owned by the broadcasting division of Hearst Communications and broadcasts a news/talk radio format. The station shares its studios and offices with sister stations WBAL-TV and WIYY on Television Hill in Baltimore's Woodberry neighborhood. WBAL and WIYY are the only two radio stations owned by Hearst, which is primarily a publishing and television company.
WJZ is a commercial AM radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts a sports betting radio format, carrying the BetQL Network during the day and evening, with Infinity Sports Network heard nights and weekends. Its studios are on Clarkview Road in Baltimore, off Jones Falls Expressway.
WWIN-FM is an urban adult contemporary radio station in Baltimore owned by Urban One. It is known as "Magic 95.9", playing a variety of urban adult contemporary music from the 1960s to present. Its transmitter is located along I-695 in Hawkins Point near Curtis Bay, and its studios are located in Gwynn Oak.
WASH is a commercial FM radio station owned and operated by iHeartMedia and located in Washington, D.C. Known on-air as "WASH-FM," the station airs an adult contemporary radio format. Studios and offices are on Rockville Pike in Rockville, Maryland. The station has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 17,500 watts, broadcasting from a tower at 242 metres (794 ft) in height above average terrain (HAAT). The transmitter site is on Chesapeake Street NW off Wisconsin Avenue in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. With a good radio, WASH coverage extends from Baltimore to Fredericksburg, Virginia.
WTEM is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Washington, D.C. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station services the Washington metropolitan area as the flagship station of the Washington Wizards. WTEM is also the co-flagship station of the Maryland Terrapins, and is the Washington affiliate of Fox Sports Radio.
WWMX, known on-air as Mix 106.5, is a commercial radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. It broadcasts a hot adult contemporary radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. The studios and offices are on Clarkview Road off Jones Falls Expressway.
WILM is a news/talk AM radio station broadcasting in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. The station is owned by iHeartMedia. WILM is known as the station where radio and television talk show Joe Pyne developed the confrontational style now standard in radio and TV talk shows. Another well-known WILM personality was Tom Mees (ESPN) who worked at the station in the 1970s.
WGDJ is a commercial radio station licensed to Rensselaer, New York, and serving the Capital District. It airs a talk radio format and is owned and operated by Capital Broadcasting, Inc. The transmitter is off River Road in Rensselaer. Programming is also heard in Albany and Rensselaer on 80-watt FM translator W254DA at 98.7 MHz.
WJET branded as Jet Radio 1400 is a commercial AM radio station in Erie, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. WJET's studios are in the Boston Store building in downtown Erie.
WPTF is a commercial radio station broadcasting a news/talk radio format. Licensed to Raleigh, the station serves the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. It is owned by the Curtis Media Group, with studios located on Highwoods Boulevard in Raleigh. WPTF's transmitter site is a three-tower facility off East Chatham Street, near Maynard Road NE, in Cary, North Carolina.
WDCH-FM – branded Bloomberg 99.1 – is a commercial business news radio station licensed to Bowie, Maryland, and serving the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station is operated by Bloomberg L.P. as the market network affiliate for Bloomberg Radio. WDCH-FM often airs D.C. United soccer and Washington Wizards NBA basketball games whenever sports radio sister station WJFK-FM is carrying a different game.
Thomas Aquinas Marr was an American talk radio host on WCBM (680-AM) in Baltimore, Maryland, known for his conservative political views. He spent nearly 20 years as a newsman and sportscaster, including eight seasons as a radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Baltimore Orioles before he embarked on a trail blazing political talk-radio career. His full broadcasting career spanned close to fifty years, mostly in Baltimore, although he worked in other major markets, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City.
WQLL is a radio station broadcasting an all-news radio format. Licensed to Pikesville, Maryland, United States, a northwest suburb of the city in Baltimore County, it serves the Baltimore metropolitan area.
WJZ-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Catonsville, Maryland, and serving the Baltimore metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. through licensee Audacy License, LLC, and it broadcasts a sports radio format. Local shows are heard on weekdays, with programming from the Infinity Sports Network airing nights and weekends. The station's studios and offices are located in Towson.
Antonino Mangione is an American politician from the Republican Party who is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 42A since 2023, and District 42B from 2019 to 2023. He also served as a Baltimore County co-chair for the state's Trump Victory Leadership County team.