| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Washington Metropolitan Area |
| Frequency | 105.9MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | 105.9 FM WMAL |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Conservative talk radio |
| Subchannels | HD2:WSBNsimulcast |
| Network | Fox News Radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WSBN | |
| History | |
First air date | December 25, 1958; 66 years ago (1958-12-25) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | Martin A. Leese, founder of WMAL (630 AM), nowWSBN |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 70037 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | Horizontal: 28,000 watts Vertical: 25,000 watts |
| HAAT | 198 meters (650 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°52′28.4″N77°13′22.9″W / 38.874556°N 77.223028°W /38.874556; -77.223028 |
| Links | |
| Webcast |
|
| Website | www |
WMAL-FM (105.9 MHz) – branded105.9 FM WMAL – is a radio stationlicensed toWoodbridge, Virginia, serving theWashington, D.C. Metro area. WMAL-FM airs aconservative talk radio format and is owned and operated byCumulus Media.[2] The station's studios are located at 4400 Jenifer Street NW in Washington, two blocks from the city's border withMaryland, and thetransmitter site is inFalls Church, Virginia, offLee Highway. WMAL-FM is co-owned withsports radio stationWSBN at 630kHz; the WMAL call sign and talk format originated on that station, and the two stationssimulcast from 2011 to 2019.
Weekday mornings on WMAL-FM start withO'Connor & Company withLarry O'Connor. At 9 a.m.,Chris Plante hosts anationally syndicated show, based at WMAL-FM. Vince Coglianese is heard in afternoondrive time. The rest of the schedule featuresnationally syndicated programs:The Dan Bongino Show,The Mark Levin Show,The Ben Shapiro Show,CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor andRed Eye Radio.
Weekends feature shows on money, health, real estate and gardening, many of which are paidbrokered programming, along with repeats of weekday shows. Most weekday hours feature local news at the beginning of each hour.Fox News Radio is carried at the beginning of most hours during nights and weekends.
Before the existing station was founded, an earlier station, called WHIP, broadcast on 105.9 FM in the Washington area. The station was on the air between 1948 and 1950, and licensed toSilver Spring, Maryland; therefore it is unrelated to the existing station, which is licensed toWoodbridge.[3][4][5] The call sign WMAL-FM was also used in the Washington market on the 107.3 MHz facility, known asWLVW, from 1948 through 1977.
On December 25, 1958, the station that would become WMAL-FM firstsigned on as WBVA.[6] After several callsign changes, this station became known as WXRA, and during most of its early history it ran a mix ofcountry music andSouthern gospel music daily from 6 a.m. until midnight. Beginning in September 1967, it simulcast withWPIK, a co-owned station on 730 AM. Although WXRA was run from the sameAlexandria studios as WPIK, WXRA's city of license has always been Woodbridge.
On December 31, 1967, WXRA debuted a full-time country format in response to listener requests.[7][8] The station was assigned thecall sign WVKX on September 9, 1980, followed by WPKX-FM on December 9, 1981. It kept the country format but began calling itself "Kix 106". On January 27, 1986, the station changed its call sign to WCXR-FM and instituted its firstclassic rock format, known as "Classic Rock 105.9".[9] The classic rock format, which was just beginning to take hold in 1986, was considered experimental and debuted to high interest and ratings before eventually falling to more normal levels.[10] The simulcast with 730 AM, now known as WTNT, was broken off around this time.
In 1989, WCXR's owners, the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation, sold ten stations including WCXR toGroup W.[11] Just four years later, in mid-1993, Group W sold WCXR toViacom. This fueled rumors of a format change. Viacom elected to keep the format but fired the station's entire air staff, with company officially taking control on November 1, 1993.[12][13]
A newsmooth jazz format, called "Smooth Jazz 105.9", debuted on September 30, 1994. This was spurred on, at least in part, by the format changes of WLTT (nowWIAD) to classic rock and of WJZE (nowWBIG-FM) tooldies.[14][15] The call letters became WJZW on October 17.
In February 1997, Viacom sold 10 stations, including WJZW, to Chancellor Broadcasting. To comply with FCC limits on the number of radio stations that can be owned by one company, Chancellor sold WJZW on April 14, 1997, toABC Radio, which was part of theWalt Disney Company.[16]Citadel Broadcasting bought ABC Radio from Disney in 2007.
At 3:00 p.m. on February 29, 2008, after a brief statement was read thanking the staff and listeners of "Smooth Jazz 105.9", Citadel Broadcasting changed the format of WJZW to oldies. All on-air employees were fired as a part of the format shift.[17][18][19] The first song on the new format was "Respect" byAretha Franklin. Initially, no local live on-air talent was utilized, with the station instead relying on a satellite delivered service,Scott Shannon'sThe True Oldies Channel.[20]Imus in the Morning was added as the new morning show after his move to Citadel'sWABC.[21]
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On August 26, 2009, at 10 a.m., WJZW reverted its format back to classic rock, this time as "105.9 The Edge".[22] The last song played on "True Oldies" was "Windy" byThe Association, while the first song on "The Edge" was "Livin' on the Edge" byAerosmith.[23] The format shift made 105.9 as the DC market's only classic rock station, thoughWBIG-FM broadcast a lighter "classic hits" format. On September 17, 2009, the station changed its call letters to WVRX. On July 7, 2010, WVRX added a local morning drive program with Washington/Baltimore radio veterans Kirk McEwen andMike O'Meara calledKirk and Mike.[24]
Citadel merged withCumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[25] Three days later, on September 19, 2011, at noon, the station flipped to a simulcast of co-owned talk stationWMAL.[26] With amedia market as concerned with news and politics as Washington, management believed the AM station's news/talk format would be strengthened by simulcasting on the powerful FM signal of 105.9. Additionally, simulcasting on FM filled in a significant gap in the AM station's nighttime coverage; WMAL must power down to 2,700 watts at sundown. The last songs on "105.9 The Edge" were "The Song Is Over" bythe Who and "Hello, Goodbye" bythe Beatles.[27] The station filed a request to change its call sign to WMAL-FM, which became official on September 26, 2011.[28]
On June 13, 2019, it was announced that WMAL would switch toESPN Radio on July 1, 2019, leaving the news/talk format exclusive to WMAL-FM.[29][30]
In April 2020, WMAL took the #1 spot in the ratings for the first time since the fall of 1986, beating competitorsWAMU andWTOP-FM, while achieving a 10% audience share. The figure counts WMAL's history on 630 AM, then its transfer to FM, not the ratings on 105.9 FM at the time.[31]