WTDY-FM

Coordinates: 40°02′30.4″N 75°14′9.6″W / 40.041778°N 75.236000°W / 40.041778; -75.236000 (WTDY-FM)
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

WTDY-FM
(CP)
  • 105.3 MHz (1947–58)
  • Call sign meaning
    "Today" (previous format)
    Technical information[1]
    Licensing authority
    FCC
    Facility ID51434
    ClassB
    ERP
    • 9,600 watts (analog)
    • 460 watts (digital)
    HAAT337.8 meters (1,108 ft)
    Transmitter coordinates
    40°02′30.4″N 75°14′9.6″W / 40.041778°N 75.236000°W / 40.041778; -75.236000 (WTDY-FM)
    Links
    Public license information
    WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
    Websitewww.audacy.com/new965philly

    WTDY-FM (96.5

    hot adult contemporary format.[2] WTDY features programming from Premiere Networks
    .

    WTDY's studios are co-located with located within Audacy's corporate headquarters in

    Roxborough section of Philadelphia, a site where other local FM and TV towers are located.[4]

    History

    1945-1958: Early years

    Independence Broadcasting Company, the owners of WHAT (1340 AM), applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a construction permit for a new FM station on 103.5 MHz on October 5, 1945. The FCC granted the permit on July 10, 1947, while reassigning the station to 105.3 MHz. The FCC granted permission on December 2, 1948 for the station to begin broadcasting, by which time it had been assigned the WHAT-FM call sign.[5]

    In 1956, a young disc jockey known as Sid Mark took the airwaves for the first time in Philadelphia on WHAT-AM-FM, beginning a multi-decade career.

    On July 24, 1957, Independence Broadcasting applied to the FCC for a construction permit to change the station's frequency to 96.5 MHz. The FCC granted the permit on October 30, 1957, followed by a new license effective September 26, 1958.[5]

    1958-1975: Jazz

    WHAT-FM became a full-time jazz station in 1958, the first of its kind on the FM dial. On November 18, 1968, the call sign was changed to WWDB,[5] referring to the brother and sister owners of the station, William and Dolly Banks. In the early 1970s, WWDB experimented with playing adult contemporary music, but eventually went back to jazz.

    1975-2000: Talk

    In 1975, the station's format was changed to

    syndicated
    shows, but came to air the syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show in the early 1990s. Nearly all twenty-four hours a day of talk radio programming with local and national news updates, came from the WWDB programming staff. Meanwhile, WHAT-AM continued on as one of Philadelphia's radio stations aimed at the local African-American community.

    After her brother William died in 1979, Dolly Banks took over as general manager. William Banks had no children, so several distant relatives filed lawsuits, fighting for ownership of twin stations WWDB/WHAT. In 1985, Dolly Banks retired after the African-American employees of sister station WHAT, along with the Black Media Caucus in Washington, D.C., sued the estate, receiving millions of dollars and forcing an estate sale of WWDB. The sale, which was overseen by the

    U.S. Federal Communications Commission
    (FCC), required the stations to be sold to a Black owner. WWDB was sold to Ragan Henry, a Black Philadelphia attorney, for an undervalued amount of $6 million. Henry's law firm had worked for the Banks family. Irv Homer had to testify before the FCC.

    After a few months of ownership, in 1986, Regan Henry flipped WWDB, selling it to the decidedly not Black Charles Schwartz, who ran it under the name of Panache Broadcasting. Ten years later, Mercury Broadcasting purchased WWDB for $48 million.

    After having been nearly 100% local programming, WWDB under Mercury ownership, added more nationally syndicated personalities such as

    Dr. Laura
    .

    2000-2003: 1980s hits

    Microsoft Mary
    's computer-generated voice counting down to 5 p.m. that day.

    At that time, WWDB's format was changed to

    hot adult contemporary in early 2003. The format tweak did little to improve the station's ratings. (WPTP's closest rival with the format, WMWX
    , also had low ratings during this time.)

    2003-2015: Rhythmic

    On November 17, 2003, at 7:50 a.m., WPTP began stunting with

    Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz;[9] however, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), owners of the copyrighted "Wild" moniker, threatened Beasley with a lawsuit for copyright infringement. To avoid this, in February 2004, WLDW became "Wired 96.5" and the call sign changed to WRDW-FM. (The -FM suffix was necessary because of the existence of AM station WRDW in Augusta, Georgia
    , which was also owned by Beasley.)

    During its tenure as "Wired", the station would occasionally shift back and forth between Rhythmic and Mainstream Top 40, while still placing an emphasis on Rhythmic and Dance currents/recurrents, and avoiding most rock-leaning product.

    On October 2, 2014, Beasley Broadcast Group announced that it would trade five radio stations located in

    Tampa and Charlotte. Because CBS already owned two AM stations in Philadelphia, Beasley would acquire WIP, which today is WTEL.[10]
    The swap was completed on December 1, 2014. Shortly after the trade was consummated, WRDW-FM shifted to a more Mainstream Top 40 direction, though still favoring Rhythmic and Dance currents/recurrents.

    2015-2017: Top 40

    During and after the trade, rumors abounded online that CBS would flip the station to

    all-news, this time as a simulcast of KYW. This was partially due to WRDW-FM's continued low ratings; in the February 2015 Philadelphia PPM ratings report, WRDW-FM held a 2.4 share of the market, as compared to direct competitor WIOQ's 4.1 share. In the spring of 2015, CBS registered domain names towards a possible rebranding as "96.5 AMP Radio", joining similar stations in New York, Detroit, Boston, Orlando and Los Angeles with the "AMP" name. On April 5, 2015, WRDW-FM began running without airstaff and promoting a significant change using the hashtag #965Friday5PM to come at 5 p.m. on April 10. At that time, after playing "Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men, the rebrand to "AMP Radio" took place. The first song on "AMP" was "Get Low" by Dillon Francis and DJ Snake. The changeover also resulted in morning host Chunky and afternoon host/program director Buster being released.[11][12]
    On April 20, 2015, WRDW-FM changed its call sign to WZMP to match the "AMP" moniker.

    During its tenure as "AMP", the station's ratings improved, mostly to a low to mid-3 share of the market, but did not dethrone WIOQ. In the December 2016 Philadelphia PPM ratings report, WZMP held a 3.0 share as compared to WIOQ's 3.6 share. Around Christmas of 2016, morning host Jason Cage and afternoon host Mike Adam left the station.

    2017-2018: Adult contemporary

    WTDY-FM's first logo from January 5, 2017 to March 16, 2018

    On January 5, 2017, at 10 a.m., after playing "

    rhythmic AC five months later.)[14]
    On January 13, 2017, WZMP changed its call sign to WTDY-FM to better match the new format.

    On February 2, 2017, CBS announced that it would merge its radio division (which included WTDY-FM) with

    Entercom.[15] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[16][17]

    2018-present: Hot AC; return to CHR, and return to Hot AC

    On March 16, 2018, the station rebranded as 96.5 TDY, shifting to a hot adult contemporary format with a larger emphasis on current music. The switch also restored a hot AC-formatted station to the market for the first time since WISX's aforementioned flip, and returned the format to the 96.5 frequency since the flip to rhythmic in 2003.[18]

    On November 12, 2018, WTDY-FM launched a new morning show, Coop & Casey in the Morning, hosted by Sean ‘Coop’ Tabler and Casey Reed.[19] The station also shifted back to a Top 40/CHR format, a move that followed Entercom's acquisition of former AC competitor WBEB.[20]

    In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and cost cutting measures, Casey Reed of Coop & Casey in the Morning was let go, with longtime radio and morning show host Sean "Coop" Tabler remaining.

    For the weekend of May 11 through 15, 2023, the station temporarily rebranded as "96.5 TAY" (pronounced "Ninety-Swift-Five T-A-Y"), playing only music by

    Eras Tour stopping in Philadelphia for that period, promoting that the station would broadcast on site from her performances at Lincoln Financial Field. WTDY-FM also began running sweepers announcing that at 9 a.m. on May 15, "96.5 will begin a new era."[21] At that date and time, WTDY-FM shifted back to hot adult contemporary and re-branded as "The New 96.5", with “I'm Good (Blue)” by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha
    being the first song played.

    HD Radio

    WTDY-FM HD2

    In 2007, WRDW added an

    electronic dance music. In 2015, the WirEDM name was phased out with the rebranding to AMP Radio, with the HD2 subchannel rebranding as "Pulse". The format aired mainly dance music from 2005 to 2012 with a few current songs in the mix. In November 2017, the HD2 format flipped to acoustic rock with a few alternative songs mixed in as "Alt 96.5 HD2". Roughly a year later, the format was shifted to a more traditional alternative rock
    playlist. The HD3 format soon moved over to HD2.

    WTDY-FM HD3

    In September 2015, WTDY-HD3 aired Popecast, a temporary station produced by

    Pope Francis's visit to North America (which concluded in Philadelphia).[22][23][24]

    In August 2019, WTDY-HD3 began airing programming from "Channel Q", Entercom's Talk/EDM service for the LGBTQ community. Previously, it aired a travelers' information loop as "Hear Philly". The HD3 subchannel has moved to HD2 and has since been turned off.

    References

    1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WTDY-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
    2. ^ "Playlist". 96.5 TDY. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
    3. ^ "Todays965.CBSlocal.com". cbslocal.com. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
    4. ^ "WTDY-FM Radio Station Coverage Map". radio-locator.com. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
    5. ^ a b c "History Cards for WTDY-FM". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
    6. ^ Retrieved on 2009-03-12.
    7. ^ American Radio History[dead link]
    8. ^ Irv Homer YouTube
    9. ^ American Radio History[dead link]
    10. ^ CBS And Beasley Swap Philadelphia/Miami For Charlotte/Tampa from Radio Insight (October 2, 2014)
    11. ^ "96.5 AMP Radio Debuts In Philadelphia" from Radio Insight (April 10, 2015)
    12. ^ "Wired 96.5 Becomes Amp Radio - Format Change Archive". formatchange.com. April 10, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
    13. ^ "WZMP Philadelphia Flips To AC "Today's 96.5"". RadioInsight. January 5, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
    14. ^ "WISX Philadelphia Gets Real With Throwbacks". RadioInsight. June 29, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
    15. ^ "CBS Radio To Merge With Entercom". radioinsight.com. February 2, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
    16. ^ Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio
    17. ^ Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger
    18. ^ "Today's 96.5 Philadelphia Flips To Hot AC 96.5 TDY". RadioInsight. March 16, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
    19. ^ Venta, Lance (November 13, 2018). "Coop & Casey Take Mornings At 96.5 TDY Philadelphia". RadioInsight. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
    20. ^ Venta, Lance (November 19, 2018). "A Year In, Has Entercom's Massive Revamps of CBS Radio Stations Paid Off?". RadioInsight. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
    21. ^ WTDY Goes All Taylor Swift for Four Days
    22. ^ "Philly Gets Pop-Up Pope Station". Insideradio.com. September 15, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
    23. ^ "iHeart To Launch Philadelphia Papal Pop-Up Format". RadioInsight. September 13, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
    24. ^ "Papal Visit Prompts WDAS-A (Smooth Jazz 'JJZ)/Philadelphia To Air 'Pope Info Radio' 9/19-27". All Access. Retrieved August 30, 2019.

    External links