WOL (AM)

WOL
City Washington, D.C.
Broadcast area Washington, D.C.
Branding Newstalk 1450 & 95.9 WOL
Slogan Where Information Is Power
Frequency 1450 kHz
Translator(s) 95.9 MHz (W240DJ) (Washington)
Repeater(s) 93.9-2 WKYS-HD2
102.3-3 WMMJ-HD3
104.1-2 WPRS-FM-HD2
First air date 1941
Format Urban Talk
Power 370 watts
Class C
Facility ID 54713
Former callsigns WWDC (1941-1950)
Affiliations Syndicated One
Owner Urban One
Sister stations WKYS, WMMJ, WPRS-FM, WYCB
Webcast Listen Live
Website woldcnews.com

WOL is an urban talk radio station in Washington, D.C. Broadcasting on 1450 AM, this is the flagship radio station of Radio One. It is co-owned with WKYS, WMMJ, WPRS and WYCB and has studios located in Silver Spring, Maryland. The transmitter site is in Fort Totten in Washington.

History

The original WOL was known as WRHF, which first went on the air on December 22, 1924. It was owned by an insurance agent named Leroy Mark operating as the American Broadcasting Company, unrelated to the ABC Radio Network begun in the 1940s. Its broadcasting equipment was said to have been rebuilt from a transmitter formerly located at the Y.M.C.A. building at 17th and G Streets NW. Its studios were on the third floor of the Radio Parlor building at 525 11th Ave. NW. Power was 150 watts and the call letters stood for Washington Radio Hospital Fund.[1]

The station changed call letters to WOL on November 11, 1928 under a reallocation by the Federal Radio Commission,[2] moving to 940 kilocycles. At the start of 1930, it was broadcasting at 1310 kcs. and at the start of 1940 at 1230 kcs.

WWDC was granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission on October 29, 1940 to broadcast at 250 watts on 1420 kcs. It signed on at 1450 kcs. at 8 p.m. on May 3, 1941, airing programming from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m., and promising newscasts five minutes before every hour.[3] Studios were at 1000 Connecticut Avenue.

On January 26, 1950, the F.C.C. approved the transfer of WWDC by Capital Broadcasting to People's Broadcasting Corp., having bought WOL, and announced the two stations would be swapping call letters.[4] The change took place February 20, 1950. WOL morning man Art Brown moved to the new station while WWDC morning man Milton Q. Ford, who co-hosted with a talking parrot, was shunted to a 10 a.m. shift. The old WOL lost its affiliation with the Mutual Broadcasting System in the process to a station in Arlington, Virginia.[5]

The new WOL was Washington's top rated rhythm and blues music station through the 1960s and 1970s. Originally simulcast for extensive coverage on its FM sister station, they later changed the FM sister station WMOD to an oldies format. The station slowly deemphasized its music programming and evolved into an African-American based talk station.

For many years the pair was owned by Sonderling Broadcasting, who later sold its assets to Viacom Broadcasting. (After Viacom took over, WMOD-FM became country station WMZQ-FM)

In the 1980s, Cathy Hughes and then-husband Dewey (once the station's program director) purchased the station as the flagship for her new company, Radio One Broadcasting.[6]

During the 1960s and 1970s, WOL was home to Petey Greene, a former convict turned popular talk show host, comedian, and activist, who began his professional broadcasting career at WOL. His story was portrayed in the 2007 film Talk To Me.

Translators

WOL is simulcasted on the HD sub-channels of sister stations WKYS, WPRS-FM and WMMJ. In addition, it has one analog translator:

Call signFrequency
(MHz)		City of licenseFacility
ID		ERP
W		ClassFCC info
W240DJ95.9Washington, D.C.139772100DFCC

References

  1. ↑ Washington Post, Dec. 23, 1924, pg. 18
  2. ↑ Washington Post, November 9, 1928, pg. 11.
  3. ↑ Washington Post, May 3, 1941, pg. 22
  4. ↑ Broadcasting magazine, Jan. 30, 1950, pg. 26
  5. ↑ Washington Post, Feb. 19, 1950, pg. L1
  6. ↑ The Reeler (July 9, 2007): "Talking the Talk - Is the biopic over? Talk to Me's Don Cheadle on life, liberties and pursuing a hero", by S.T. VanAirsdale
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