WDBO (AM)

WDBO (580 AM) — branded ESPN 580 — is a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format. Licensed to Orlando, Florida, United States, the station is owned by Cox Media Group. Its studios are located in Orlando and the transmitter tower is in Lockhart.

This article is about the AM radio station. For the FM station which currently carries its previous news/talk format, see WDBO-FM.
WDBO
CityOrlando, Florida
Broadcast areaGreater Orlando
BrandingESPN 580 Orlando
Frequency580 kHz (HD Radio via WDBO-FM-HD2)
First air date1924
FormatSports
Power5,000 watts day
5,000 watts night
ClassB
Facility ID48726
Transmitter coordinates28°37′11.00″N 81°24′35.00″W
Call sign meaningWay Down By Orlando
Former frequencies1250 kHz (1927)
1040 kHz (1927-1928)
620 kHz (1928-1929)
1120 kHz (1929-1932)
AffiliationsESPN Radio
Westwood One Sports
Florida State Seminoles
Tampa Bay Lightning
Miami Dolphins
Jacksonville Jaguars.
OwnerCox Media Group
(Cox Radio, Inc.)
Sister stationsWCFB, WDBO-FM, WMMO, WPYO, WWKA
part of Cox cluster with TV station WFTV
WebcastListen Live
Listen Live (via TuneIn)
WebsiteESPN Orlando

History
Former logo used from 1997 through December 2001. Stylized similarly to the current logo for one-time sister station KFI in Los Angeles.
Former logo used until 2012.

WDBO was originally part of a cluster of AM, FM and TV stations all with the same callsign. In 1982, the company that owned all three at the time, The Outlet Company, sold the radio stations to Katz Broadcasting. The TV station eventually became WKMG-TV. When the stations were sold, WDBO-FM was re-formatted as a country music station, K92FM, with the callsign WWKA.

WDBO, at the time 58 WDBO, strayed from its original middle-of-the-road music format, joining ABC News Radio, and slowly adding more and more talk radio programs. By the 1990s, it had become NewsTalk 580 WDBO, which for years has been Greater Orlando's highest-rated AM news/talk station. In August 2011, Cox Communications took down its rock station, WHTQ, and gave it the callsign WDBO-FM, and became a simulcast of WDBO. WDBO was initially simulcast on that station's HD2 channel beginning in late February 2008. The news/talk station eventually re-branded with the FM frequency, NewsTalk 96-5 WDBO.

On November 12, 2012, WDBO ceased airing what had become the WDBO-FM feed, and re-launched as a sports talk radio station affiliated with ESPN Radio. That network had been dropped previously by WHOO, which chose to affiliate with NBC Sports Radio. It carries the full ESPN Radio schedule, save for a local program weekday afternoons hosted by Scott Anez.[1]

WDBO remained the radio home of the Orlando Magic even with the format change until WYGM became the flagship home of the Orlando Magic at the start of the 2018–2019 season.

On June 24, 2020, it was announced that WDBO will drop its sports programming, while WDBO-FM's news/talk programming relocated to the station and simulcast FM translator W297BB on June 29.[2]

References
  1. http://www.coxmediagroup.com/news/cmg-press-releases/espn-radio-returns-orlando-debuts-nov-12/nSYbh/
  2. "Cox Media To Launch Exitos 96.5 Orlando While WDBO Moves". RadioInsight. 24 June 2020.


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