WAOB (AM)

WAOB
	FCC
Facility ID	60155
Class	B
Power	1,000 watts (Daytime); 830 watts (Nighttime);
Links
Public license information	Public file; LMS;
Webcast	Listen live
Website	www.waob.org

WAOB (860

talk and teaching radio format

.

Some shows are locally produced in cooperation with the

studios and offices are located on Ligonier Street in Latrobe, Pennsylvania

.

By day, WAOB transmits with 1,000 watts, but because 860 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A CJBC Toronto, WAOB must reduce power at night to 830 watts to avoid interference. It uses a directional antenna at all times.^[2] Programming is simulcast on 106.7 WAOB-FM in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and WPGR 1510 AM in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.

History

In 1948, the station

signed on as WHOD, and was licensed to Homestead, Pennsylvania.^[3]

It was originally owned by Steel City Broadcasting, Inc. (Pittsburgh is known as the "Steel City.)

Powered at only 250 watts, it was a

daytimer

station that was required to go off the air at night.

It changed its call sign to WAMO in 1956 (the AMO referred to the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers), and switched its city of license to Pittsburgh.

WAMO served the area's

R&B and soul music, with some Black talk and news programming during the week and religious programming on Sundays. During the 1950s, WAMO disc jockey Craig "Porky" Chedwick began airing a variety of what then came to be known as "the first oldies

." Scouring record bins and antique stores for lost R&B recordings, he built up a library of records, creating what came to be later known as "Pittsburgh's Oldies," using a style that was later imitated by other DJs in Pittsburgh and across the country. Many credit Chedwick with being the father of "Oldies" radio.

In 1960, the station added an FM

urban gospel

. During the 1990s, its signal was upgraded, and its city of license was changed from Pittsburgh to Millvale. For a time, during this period, the station bounced back and forth between the call letters WYJZ and WAMO.

On January 31, 2006, WAMO signed a deal with

syndicated Steve Harvey

and Bev Smith programs in mornings and late-nights, respectively.

Final logo for WAMO-AM, used until 2009.

On May 15, 2009, Sheridan announced the sale of WAMO-AM, WAMO-FM and WPGR-AM to St. Joseph Missions. On September 8, 2009, WAMO-AM and its FM sister station signed off the air, ending a sixty-one-year legacy of serving Pittsburgh's African-American community. The call letters were changed to WAOB and the station returned to the air in February 2010, as a non-commercial religious outlet.

Another AM station in the Pittsburgh radio market, on

FM translator

at 107.3 MHz.