WWFD
kHz (HD Radio )
(digital only) | |
Branding | The Gamut |
---|---|
Programming | |
Freeform, Federal News Network sports programming | |
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
WTOP-FM/WTLP/WWWT-FM, WBQH, WFED | |
History | |
First air date | December 15, 1960 | (as WMHI at 1370)
Former call signs |
|
Former frequencies | 1370 kHz (1960–1987) |
Call sign meaning | "Federal" (disambiguation of WFED) |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 74104 |
Class | B |
Power | 4,300 watts day 430 watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°24′42.37″N 77°28′1.0″W / 39.4117694°N 77.466944°W |
Repeater(s) |
|
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | www |
WWFD (820
WWFD also carries
WWFD was the first licensed radio station in the United States to discontinue its traditional analog signal and operate solely in digital HD Radio, which it began under experimental authorization from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2018.[4] WWFD's experiments with digital-only operation led to the FCC authorizing it on a voluntary basis for AM stations nationwide in 2020.[5]
History
This station signed on in May 1961 as
Although the callsign WXTR moved over from 104.1 FM, Bonneville continued with country music on 820 AM.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] Bonneville sold its entire Washington cluster to Hubbard Broadcasting in 2011.[12]
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.[2] 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
On June 30, 2018, Hubbard applied for experimental authorization to convert to all-digital HD Radio broadcasts for one year.[16] Although WWFD was by far The Gamut's largest analog signal, Kolesar stated that 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 was the first long-term experiment. The station continued to feed translator W232DG to preserve analog coverage to Frederick, its city of license. WWFD shut off its analog signal at noon on July 16.[4]
Hubbard and Xperi, the current developer of HD Radio, have used WWFD to test new features and operating modes; it notably experimented with a multiplexed signal, the first of its kind for an AM station in North America, in December 2019.[17] The FCC subsequently approved voluntary all-digital AM operation nationwide on October 27, 2020.[5] After several yearly extensions of its digital authorization to continue testing with Xperi, Hubbard filed to take WWFD permanently all-digital effective August 10, 2023.[18] Translator W232DG was sold to Manning Broadcasting to relay WWEG-HD2 the following month, with digital experimentation having been completed and the translator's legal requirement to rebroadcast WWFD having expired in 2021. According to Kolesar, the "vast majority" of The Gamut's listenership in Frederick was already on the digital signal.[19]
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WWFD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ a b Crowe, Katie (May 3, 2013). "Mixing it up". The Frederick News-Post. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ^ "WWFD Community Commitment Report" (PDF). FCC Public Inspection File.
- ^ a b "WWFD 820 AM Becomes First All-Digital AM Station". Radio-Online. July 16, 2018.
- ^ a b "FCC AUTHORIZES ALL-DIGITAL AM RADIO" (PDF). fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. October 27, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
- ^ "Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1984" (PDF). pp. B-118.
- ^ a b "WWFD Facility Data". FCCData.
- ^ Hendrickson, Paul (June 14, 1993). "These Keys are minor". Washington Post.
- ^ Hughes, Dave (September 22, 2000). "TOP To Add 820 AM". DCRTV.
- ^ Hughes, Dave (December 18, 2000). "TOP Adds Frederick Simulcast". DCRTV.
- ^ Hughes, Dave (September 15, 2008). "WFED Makes Move To 1500". DCRTV.
- ^ "$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.
- ^ Hughes, Dave (November 29, 2016). "Gamut's 104.5 Goes Away". DCRTV.
- ^ Venta, Lance (March 3, 2021). "WHUR Adds Translator For The Quiet Storm Station". RadioInsight.
- ^ Hughes, Dave (July 12, 2017). "Gamut Adds 94.3". DCRTV.
- ^ "WWFD(AM) Engineering STA, Exhibit 13: Request for Experimental Authority". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. June 28, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (December 6, 2019). "HD2 arrives on AM radio". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
- ^ "AM Digital Notification Application (LMS File No. 218678)". FCC LMS. July 31, 2023.
- ^ "Look Ma, No Translator: Hubbard Maryland AM To Broadcast Solely In All-Digital Mode". Insideradio.com. July 10, 2023.
External links
- Official website
- WWFD in the FCC AM station database
- WWFD in Nielsen Audio's AM station database