WWDB

Last updated

WWDB
WWDB Talk860 logo.png
Broadcast area Greater Philadelphia (Delaware Valley)
Frequency 860 kHz
Branding"Talk 860"
Programming
Format Brokered programming
Ownership
Owner
WBEN-FM, WMGK, WMMR, WPEN, WTEL, WTMR, WXTU
History
First air date
December 6, 1926;97 years ago (1926-12-06)
Former call signs
  • WFKD (1926–1930)
  • WTEL (1930–1998; 2000)
Call sign meaning
William and Dolly Banks (former owners of FM station now known as WTDY-FM)
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 74085
Class D
Power 10,000 watts (day)
Transmitter coordinates
 40°9′16.38″N75°22′7.66″W / 40.1545500°N 75.3687944°W / 40.1545500; -75.3687944
Links
Public license information
Webcast Listen live
Website wwdbam.com

WWDB (860 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with its studios and offices in the "555 Building" on City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts mostly paid brokered programming. Shows on health, money, gardening, home repair, real estate, religion and politics are found on the schedule. Some programs are broadcast in Hungarian, Ukrainian, Yiddish, Italian and other languages. Hosts pay for their time on the air and may advertise their services or products during their programs.

Contents

WWDB is a daytimer radio station. Because AM 860 is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A CJBC Toronto, WWDB must go off the air at sunset to avoid interference. It is powered at 10,000 watts, using a directional antenna. The transmitter is off Foundry Road in East Norriton Township. [2] WWDB's tower site is also used by 950 WKDN for its nighttime operations.

History

On December 6, 1926, the station signed on as WFKD. [3] It became WTEL in 1930. It began operating on the 860 frequency in the late 1950s. Before that, it had shared time on AM 1340 with WHAT. Through most of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, WTEL was best known as a foreign language broadcaster, with programs in several languages. (The WTEL call sign is now used on AM 610.)

In October 1998, the call letters changed to WWDB. [4] The station began airing a talk format as a complement to sister station to WWDB-FM. Some of the FM station's older personalities were moved to the AM station in an attempt to increase the FM's appeal in younger demographics without alienating older listeners.

The strategy was not successful, and by February 2000, the WTEL call sign had returned, and the station switched to urban gospel music. [4] The gospel format lasted only until November 2000, when the call letters were changed back to WWDB and switched to business talk. [4] Business talk, sometimes augmented with general-interest talk from syndicated personalities such as Don Imus and Mancow Muller, was the station's format until the end of the broadcast day on August 1, 2010.

ESPN Deportes Radio took over the schedule on the next day. The Spanish-language sports programming was dropped after a year, and on June 13, 2011, WWDB began carrying a schedule of brokered programming, some previously heard on WNWR. [5]

The WWDB call letters, which stand for the names of former owners "William and Dolly Banks", were first used in Philadelphia at 96.5 on the FM band in the late 1960s. The station had previously been WHAT-FM. It operated with a jazz format that did not change when the call letters did. In the early 1970s, WWDB-FM tried an adult contemporary format during some hours, then reverted to jazz full-time, then adopted a talk format in 1975. The talk format was one of the first successful ones on the FM band in the United States, lasting until November 2000. Until WWDB-FM's debut, almost all American talk stations were found on AM radio.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WTDY-FM</span> Hot adult contemporary radio station in Philadelphia

WTDY-FM is a commercial radio station that is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format. WTDY features programming from Premiere Networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KTLK</span> News/talk radio station in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area

KTLK – branded News/Talk AM 1130 – is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota. It broadcasts a Conservative talk radio radio format to the Twin Cities radio market and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The radio studios are on Utica Avenue South in St. Louis Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KMNV</span> Regional Mexican radio station in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area

KMNV is a commercial AM radio station licensed to St. Paul, Minnesota, and serving the Twin Cities radio market. It is owned by Santamaria Broadcasting and broadcasts a Spanish-language radio format featuring Regional Mexican music with some weekday comedy shows. KMNV's radio studios and offices are in Richfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WEPN (AM)</span> ESPN Radio station in New York City

WEPN is an sports radio AM radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned-and-operated by Good Karma Brands and its transmitter site is located in North Bergen, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WTEL (AM)</span> Radio station in Philadelphia

WTEL — branded "Philadelphia's BIN 610" — is a commercial all-news AM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, the station is currently operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. as part of their Philadelphia cluster under a long-term local marketing agreement. The station services the Greater Philadelphia and Delaware Valley area as the market affiliate of the Black Information Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WOKI</span> Radio station in Oliver Springs, Tennessee

WOKI is a commercial radio station licensed to Oliver Springs, Tennessee, and serving the Knoxville metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and it broadcasts a news/talk format. The studios and offices are on Old Kingston Pike in the Sequoyah Hills section of West Knoxville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWNL</span> Radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

WWNL is a commercial radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format and is owned by Steel City Radio, Inc. Programming is supplied by the Wilkins Radio Network. WWNL features local and national religious leaders, including Charles Stanley, John MacArthur, David Jeremiah and Michael Youssef. WWNL is a brokered programming station, where hosts pay for time slots on WWNL and may seek donations to their ministries during their shows.

WNSW is a religious-formatted broadcast radio station, licensed to Newark, New Jersey, and serving the New York Metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WKDM</span> Radio station in New York City

WKDM is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting and broadcasts on weekdays in Mandarin Chinese. Most shows are brokered programming, where the host pays for the time and may sell commercials to support the broadcasts. On weekends, programming switches to Spanish language Christian radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WKOX (AM)</span> Radio station in Everett, Massachusetts

WKOX is a commercial AM radio station owned by the Delmarva Educational Association. It broadcasts a Spanish-language Christian radio format. The station is licensed to Everett, Massachusetts and targets Boston and its suburbs. It broadcasts from radio studios in Medford. The transmitter site is in Saugus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KNAI (AM)</span> Regional Mexican radio station in Phoenix

KNAI is a Regional Mexican-formatted AM radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. KNAI is owned by the Chavez Radio Group. Its studios are located in Phoenix near Piestewa Peak and its transmitter is in South Phoenix near Broadway and 27th Avenue.

WRDT is a commercial radio station licensed to Monroe, Michigan, and serving Metro Detroit. It is owned by Crawford Broadcasting and it broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format. The studios and offices are on Capitol Avenue near Burt Road in the Weatherby section of Detroit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WNWR</span> Radio station in Philadelphia

WNWR is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching format and is owned by Wilkins Broadcasting LLC. Program hosts include Jim Daly, John MacArthur, Greg Laurie and Charles Capps. The studios are at 200 Monument Road, Suite 6, in Bala Cynwyd.

WHNZ is a commercial radio station licensed to Tampa, Florida. The station's broadcast license is held by iHM Licenses, LLC, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia. The station airs a talk/business format. WHNZ is one of the eight stations in the Tampa Bay radio market owned by iHeartMedia. The station's studios are located on West Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa.

WBBF is a commercial AM radio station in Buffalo, New York. It airs a top 40 (CHR) radio format and is owned by Cumulus Media. The studios and offices are on James E. Casey Drive in Buffalo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KFNN</span> Radio station in Mesa, Arizona, United States

KFNN is a commercial radio station licensed to Mesa, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. It airs a financial news and talk radio format, broadcasting from studios in North Scottsdale. KFNN is owned by CRC Broadcasting Company, Inc., headed by Ronald Cohen and Brian DuBose. The company also owns sports radio 1580 KQFN, as well as KPSF and KXPS in the Palm Springs area, and a financial expo company called Financial Fest. KFNN has a lineup of local and national money related programs, with some nationally syndicated conservative talk show hosts. KFNN says it had the first full-time financial format of its kind in the U.S., starting in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WDTK</span> Radio station in Michigan, United States

WDTK is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan, and known as "The Patriot." It broadcasts a conservative talk radio format and is owned by Salem Communications. The studios and offices are on Radio Plaza in Ferndale, Michigan, shared with sister station 1500 WLQV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KRDO-FM</span> Radio station in Security, Colorado

KRDO-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Security, Colorado and serving the Colorado Springs-Pueblo media market. It is owned and operated by the News-Press & Gazette Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, through its licensee Pikes Peak Television, Inc. KRDO-FM airs a News/Talk radio format. All programming is simulcast on KRDO, and both radio stations share news resources with co-owned KRDO-TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KERN</span> Radio station in Wasco-Greenacres, California

KERN is a commercial radio station licensed to Wasco-Greenacres, California, and serving the Bakersfield metropolitan area. The station is owned by American General Media. The radio studios and offices are in the American General Media complex at 1400 Easton Drive, STE 134 in Bakersfield.

KGBN is a Korean Christian brokered time AM radio station licensed to Anaheim, California. It serves Orange County and Greater Los Angeles. Rev. Young Sun Lee serves as the president of the Korean Gospel Broadcasting Network, which owns the station. KGBN is one of four radio stations in the Los Angeles area that broadcast entirely in Korean. The others are 1230 KYPA, 1540 KMPC and 1650 KFOX in Torrance, although they have mostly secular formats.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WWDB". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Radio-Locator.com/WWDB
  3. ↑ "A Chronology of AM Radio Broadcasting (1900-1960)".
  4. 1 2 3 Call Sign History, FCC
  5. ↑ "NorthEast Radio Watch". June 20, 2011. Archived from the original on June 21, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.