WWFD

WWFD
City Frederick, Maryland
Branding The Gamut
Frequency 820 kHz (also on HD Radio) (digital only)
Translator(s) 94.3 W232DG (Frederick)
98.3 W252DC (Reston, VA)
First air date December 15, 1960 (1960-12-15) (as WMHI at 1370)
Format Freeform, Federal News Network sports programming
Power 4,300 watts day
430 watts night
Class B
Facility ID 74104
Transmitter coordinates 39°24′42.0″N 77°28′20.0″W / 39.411667°N 77.472222°W / 39.411667; -77.472222 (WWFD)Coordinates: 39°24′42.0″N 77°28′20.0″W / 39.411667°N 77.472222°W / 39.411667; -77.472222 (WWFD)
Callsign meaning FeDeral (disambiguation of WFED)
Former callsigns WMHI (1960–1975)
WZYQ (1975–1988)
WQSI (1988–1996)
WXTR (1996–2006)
WTOP (2006–2007)
WTWT (May–September 2007)
WWWB (2007–2008)
Former frequencies 1370 kHz (1960–1987)
Owner Hubbard Broadcasting
(Washington DC FCC License Sub, LLC)
Sister stations WTLP
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.thegamut.fm

WWFD (820 AM HD Radio) is a radio station licensed to Frederick, Maryland. The station simulcasts a freeform music format known as "The Gamut", which originates on the HD3 subchannels of WTOP and its full-power rebroadcasters (WTLP and WWWT). WWFD also carries Washington Capitals, Washington Nationals, and Navy Midshipmen sports programming originating on WFED.[1]

Sunday syndicated programming on The Gamut includes Music and the Spoken Word (with WFED),[2] Anything Anything with Rich Russo and Little Steven's Underground Garage.

WWFD is the only licensed radio station in the United States that does not broadcast a traditional analog signal. Instead, the station only runs an HD Radio signal under experimental authorization from the Federal Communications Commission.[3]

History

From 1975 through 1988, WZYQ was contemporary hit radio (CHR) station "Z104", with a brand emphasizing its simulcast on WZYQ-FM (103.9 FM).[4] In 1988, 820 AM split from the simulcast, becoming country "The Big Q" WQSI with Frederick Keys baseball.[5] 103.9 FM dropped the "-FM" suffix from its callsign (becoming WZYQ) and continued with CHR. Both stations were purchased by Liberty Broadcasting, the ownership of oldies WXTR (104.1 FM, Waldorf, Maryland), in 1995.[6] Liberty's interest was in pairing WZYQ with WXTR, as WXTR's signal did not cover the northwestern Washington metropolitan area. All three stations were sold to Bonneville International the following year, who revived the "Z104" brand on the FM pair and built a successful CHR outlet focused on the Washington market. 103.9 FM is now WTLP, a simulcast partner for WTOP-FM.

Although the callsign WXTR moved over from 104.1 FM, Bonneville continued with country music on 820 AM.[7] As with 103.9 FM, starting in 2000 Bonneville used 820 AM to bolster the coverage of one of their Washington-market stations to the northwest. Local programming ended on WXTR when it began simulcasting WTOP on December 18.[8] The WTOP callsign was "parked" on the station when it was moved off of its historical home at 1500 AM on January 11, 2006. On March 30, 2006, the station joined Washington Post Radio, continuing with its successor Talk Radio 3WT (under the callsigns WTWT and WWWB, respectively) until the network was shut down on September 15, 2008. The station then became a simulcast of Federal News Radio, taking the current callsign WWFD to match.[9] Bonneville sold its entire Washington cluster to Hubbard Broadcasting in 2011.[10]

The Gamut began as an eclectic hobby Internet radio station run by WTOP-FM engineer Dave Kolesar. WTOP management took an interest in the project, and after retooling the music and coming up with the name The Gamut, it began broadcasting on the HD3 subchannel of WTOP-FM on December 5, 2011. WWFD was the first analog home of the format, beginning its simulcast on March 20, 2013.[1] The Gamut later added a translator on 104.3 (W282BA) in Leesburg, Virginia that was previously used to repeat the main signal of WTOP-FM. This translator was given a power boost, becoming W283CD at 104.5, and relocated to Sterling in 2015. In February 2016, independently-owned translator W252DC signed on from Great Falls, Virginia on 98.3.

W283CD has since been reassigned to WBQH, which temporarily left W252DC as the sole analog FM signal.[11] A construction permit has been issued to move W252DC to Bethesda, Maryland for metro-wide coverage. This translator relays The Gamut continuously as it is fed by WTOP-FM-HD3.[12] Hubbard signed on FM translator W232DG in the Frederick area on July 11, 2017. The translator was moved under the FCC's AM revitalization rules and must rebroadcast the 820 AM signal, including when it joins WFED for sports coverage.[13]

On June 30, 2018, Hubbard applied for experimental authorization to convert to all-digital HD Radio broadcasts for one year.[14] Although WWFD was by far The Gamut's largest analog signal, Kolesar stated that he felt growing The Gamut's audience through analog AM was not viable. Previous experimental all-digital signals had a larger listenable coverage area than analog or an in-band on-channel hybrid digital signal, although this will be the first long-term experiment. The station will continue to feed W232DG and W252DC to preserve analog coverage to its core listening area. WWFD shut off its analog signal at noon on July 16.[3]

Translators

The Gamut is also broadcast on the HD3 subchannels of WTOP-FM, WWWT, and WTLP.

Call signFrequency
(MHz)		City of licenseFacility
ID		ERP
W		ClassTransmitter coordinatesFCC infoNotes
W232DG94.3Frederick, Maryland139260160D39°27′53.0″N 77°29′43.0″W / 39.464722°N 77.495278°W / 39.464722; -77.495278 (W232DG)FCCOwned by Hubbard Broadcasting
W252DC98.3Reston, Virginia138737250D38°59′56.0″N 77°17′32.0″W / 38.998889°N 77.292222°W / 38.998889; -77.292222 (W252DC)FCCOwned by Reston Translator, LLC
Carries "The Gamut" via WTOP-FM HD3


References

  1. 1 2 Crowe, Katie. "Mixing it up". The Frederick News-Post. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "WWFD Community Commitment Report" (PDF). FCC Public Inspection File.
  3. 1 2 "WWFD 820 AM Becomes First All-Digital AM Station". Radio-Online. 16 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1984" (PDF). pp. B-118.
  5. ↑ Hendrickson, Paul (14 June 1993). "These Keys are minor". Washington Post.
  6. ↑ "WWFD Facility Data". FCCData.
  7. ↑ Hughes, Dave (September 22, 2000). "TOP To Add 820 AM". DCRTV.
  8. ↑ Hughes, Dave (December 18, 2000). "TOP Adds Frederick Simulcast". DCRTV.
  9. ↑ Hughes, Dave (September 15, 2008). "WFED Makes Move To 1500". DCRTV.
  10. ↑ "$505M sale: Bonneville sells Chicago, D.C., St. Louis and Cincinnati to Hubbard". Radio-Info.com. January 19, 2011. Archived from the original on January 21, 2011.
  11. ↑ Hughes, Dave (November 29, 2016). "Gamut's 104.5 Goes Away". DCRTV.
  12. ↑ "W252DC". FCCData.
  13. ↑ Hughes, Dave (July 12, 2017). "Gamut Adds 94.3". DCRTV.
  14. ↑ "WWFD(AM) Experimental Authority Request".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.