WWL (AM)
kHz | |
Branding | The Big 870 |
---|---|
Programming | |
Format | News - Talk - Sports |
Affiliations | |
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
Power | 50,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | |
Repeater(s) | 105.3 WWL-FM (Kenner) |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
Website | www |
WWL (870
WWL is a
WWL is the Louisiana Primary Entry Point for the Emergency Alert System (EAS). With sister station 101.9 WLMG, it is responsible for activation of the Southeast Louisiana EAS plan.[4]
Programming
News - Talk
The weekday schedule features news and talk programming mornings and early afternoons, shifting to sports talk and live play-by-play after 4 pm. All weekday programming from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. is hosted by local WWL personalities and reporters. The only nationally syndicated programs are Infinity Sports Network shows at 8 pm, family finances expert Dave Ramsey at 1 a.m. and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal, at 4 am.
Weekend programming includes shows on money, law, gardening, home improvement and the outdoors before sports takes over the schedule. WWL is a long-time
Sports
Sports shows begin during afternoon
For many years, WWL has been the
WWL-AM-FM are also the flagships for
WWL-AM-FM serve as the New Orleans outlets of the
History
Early years
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Advertisement_for_New_Orleans%2C_Louisiana_radio_station_WWL_%281947%29.jpg/250px-Advertisement_for_New_Orleans%2C_Louisiana_radio_station_WWL_%281947%29.jpg)
Effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce, which controlled radio at the time, adopted regulations formally establishing a broadcasting station category. It set aside the wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) for entertainment broadcasts, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for farm market and weather reports.[8]
On March 31, 1922, Loyola University in New Orleans was issued a "Limited Commercial License" for a new station on the 360-meter "entertainment" wavelength.[9] The station call letters, WWL, were randomly assigned from a roster of available call signs.[1] WWL was the second broadcasting station licensed in Louisiana, following WGV, also in New Orleans, licensed 10 days earlier.[10] However, WWL was the first station in the state to begin broadcasting operations.
Loyola University
Starting before
WWL received authorization by
Frequency changes
In mid-1923, the station was reassigned to 1070 kHz.
In 1929, Loyola University decided that WWL would include commercial operations, with the station profits providing an endowment for the university. Loyola is owned and operated by
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/RCA_advertisement_featuring_New_Orleans%2C_Louisiana_radio_station_WWL_%281939%29.jpg/250px-RCA_advertisement_featuring_New_Orleans%2C_Louisiana_radio_station_WWL_%281939%29.jpg)
In 1932, the station upgraded to 10,000 watts, with new studios in the Roosevelt Hotel.[20] In 1934, WWL's contentious application to gain fulltime use of 850 kHz was granted, which resulted in its timeshare partner, KWKH, being moved to 1100 kHz.[21] WWL's attainment of fulltime operations made the station attractive to the national radio networks, and it began an affiliation with the CBS Radio Network on November 1, 1935, which had been previously held by WDSU.[22] This also greatly increased the profits being transferred to the university.[23]
50,000 watts
On November 30, 1938, WWL formally dedicated a power increase to 50,000 watts.[24] On March 29, 1941, with the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), stations on 850 kHz, including WWL, moved to 870 kHz.[25]
In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the station was famous for the live broadcasts of local
TV and FM stations
An FM companion station, WWLH at 100.3 MHz, debuted on September 11, 1946, but ended operations on February 28, 1951. Station management stated "we have been unsuccessful in establishing in New Orleans a sufficient audience of FM listeners to justify continued operation."[26] A television partner WWL-TV came on the air on September 7, 1957, which was also affiliated with CBS. A new FM companion station, WWL-FM at 101.9 MHz (now WLMG), debuted on March 15, 1970, with its own music format.[27]
WWL was mentioned in an opening scene of "The Swan Bed" (October 21, 1960) episode of the
Starting on March 14, 1971, WWL was home to a long-running overnight
WWL's transmitter site was moved from Kenner, Louisiana, on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, to Estelle, Louisiana, in 1975.
New Orleans Saints
WWL has been the radio home of the
provided commentary on WWL's Saints coverage from his retirement as a player in 1985 through 1997.Former Saint Deuce McAllister succeeded Gajan as Henderson's color commentator in 2016. Longtime Saints offensive tackle Stan Brock was Henderson's commentator in 1998 and 1999.
Changes in ownership
Loyola sold WWL, WLMG, and WWL-TV to separate companies in 1989. The sales price helped to build the university's endowment. That same year, the university began operating carrier current station "WLDC". Using the electrical grid as an antenna, this station's power was low enough to be limited to campus reception, so it did not need an FCC license. It was subsequently replaced by Crescent City Radio, an internet radio station broadcasting from the Communications/Music Complex on the corner of Calhoun and Saint Charles Avenue.
Keymarket Communications of Greenville, South Carolina, became the new owner of WWL and WLMG. Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group assumed ownership of both stations in 1996. Most of Sinclair's radio stations, including WWL and WLMG, were acquired by Entercom Communications of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania in 1999.
WWL has been "monogrammed" into the
In April 2006, WWL programming returned to the FM band, via simulcasting on
Hurricanes Katrina and Ida
WWL's emergency round-the-clock coverage was
The company also dispatched staffers from stations throughout the country to help WWL, and to provide their own stations coverage from the hurricane ravaged New Orleans area. For some time after Hurricane Katrina, WWL was simulcast on shortwave outlet WHRI, owned by World Harvest Radio International.
When Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans in 2021, WWL was ready from what it learned 16 years earlier. It simulcast its Hurricane Ida coverage on all of its Audacy sister stations in the New Orleans cluster.
References
- ^ a b "The [WWL] letters, unlike many special combinations requested by later stations, had no special significance in themselves to Loyola University. They were simply transferred to the New Orleans institution on a luck of a draw basis." (Enterprise in Radio: WWL and the Business of Broadcasting in America by C. Joseph Pusareti, 1980, page 19.)
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WWL". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/WWL-AM
- ^ "New Orleans' WWL on Full Alert with BE Messagecasting". bdcast.com. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "Saints Radio Network Stations". New Orleans Saints. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ RadioInsight.com "WWL Extends Rights Deal, Adds NBA Pelicans" June 5, 2024
- ^ WWL (25th anniversary advertisement), Broadcasting, September 8, 1947, page 30.
- ^ "Amendments to Regulations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10.
- ^ "New stations", Radio Service Bulletin, April 1, 1922, page 3. Limited Commercial license for station WWL, serial No. 592, issued March 31, 1922, for a three-month period to Loyola University, for operation on 360 meters.
- ^ "New stations", Radio Service Bulletin, April 1, 1922, page 3. Limited Commercial license for station WGV, serial No. 352, issued March 21, 1922, for a three-month period to Interstate Electric Company, for operation on 360 meters. WGV was deleted in June 1924.
- ^ Pusareti (1980) pages 14-15, 18.
- ^ Pusareti (1980) pages 19-20.
- ^ "Alterations and corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, August 1, 1923, page 8.
- ^ "Alterations and corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, February 2, 1925, page 10.
- ^ "Alterations and corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, November 30, 1927, page 9.
- ^ "Revised list of broadcasting stations, by frequencies, effective 3 a. m., November 11, 1928, eastern standard time", Second Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission for the Year Ended June 30, 1928, Together With Supplemental Report for the Period From July 1, 1928, to September 30, 1928, page 202.
- ^ "Alterations and corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, March 30, 1929, page 13.
- ^ Pusareti (1980) pages 83-87.
- ^ RCA advertisement (featuring WWL), Broadcasting, January 1, 1939, page 76.
- ^ "Station Notes", Broadcasting, November 15, 1932, page 31.
- ^ "Commission Settles WWL-KWKH Case", Broadcasting, June 15, 1934, page 39.
- ^ "CBS Will Welcome WWL As New Orleans Outlet". Broadcasting. November 1, 1935. p. 16. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ Pusareti (1980) page 173.
- ^ "Celebrities Join WWL In 50 Kw. Ceremonies", Broadcasting, December 15, 1938, page 20.
- ^ "Assignments of United States Standard Broadcast Stations Listed by Frequency"' page 1425.
- ^ "WWL Drops FM Outlet", Broadcasting, February 26, 1951, page 82.
- ^ "Directory of AM and FM Radio Stations in the U.S.: Louisiana: New Orleans", Broadcasting Yearbook (1971 edition), page B-91.
- ^ Fishman, J. & Schwarz, S. Nonprofit Organizations. New York: Foundation Press, 2006, page 684.
External links
- Official website
- WWL in the FCC AM station database
- WWL in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- FCC History Cards for WWL (covering 1922–1979)
Further reading
- Enterprise in Radio: WWL and the Business of Broadcasting in America by C. Joseph Pusareti, 1980.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)