 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Baltimore metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1090kHz |
| Branding | WBAL Newsradio 1090 and FM 101.5 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | News/talk |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Hearst Communications |
| WBAL-TV,WIYY | |
| History | |
First air date | November 2, 1925; 100 years ago (1925-11-02) |
Former frequencies | |
Call sign meaning | Baltimore |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 65679 |
| Class | A |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°22′33.38″N76°46′19.91″W / 39.3759389°N 76.7721972°W /39.3759389; -76.7721972 |
| Translator | See § Translators |
| Repeater | 97.9 WIYY-HD2 (Baltimore) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
WBAL (1090kHz) is acommercialAM radio stationlicensed toBaltimore, Maryland. It is owned by thebroadcasting division ofHearst Communications and broadcasts anews/talkradio format.[3] The station shares its studios and offices withsister stationsWBAL-TV (channel 11) andWIYY (97.9 FM) on Television Hill in Baltimore'sWoodberry neighborhood. WBAL and WIYY are the only two radio stations owned by Hearst, which is primarily a publishing and television company.
WBAL is a 50,000-watt,Class A,clear-channel station. Itstransmitter is on Winands Road inRandallstown, Maryland.[4] Listeners in and around Baltimore can also hear the station on 136-wattFMtranslator station W268BA on 101.5MHz.[5] WBAL isnon-directional by day but uses adirectional antenna at night to protect the other Class A stations on1090 AM,KAAY inLittle Rock andXEPRS inRosarito, Mexico. With a good radio, WBAL's nighttime signal can be heard in much of Eastern North America, reaching as far asNova Scotia andBermuda. Its daytime signal easily covers most ofMaryland as well as theWashington metropolitan area, and parts ofDelaware,Virginia andPennsylvania. WBAL is Maryland's designated primary entry point for theEmergency Alert System.
WBAL is the co-flagship station with WIYY forBaltimore Orioles baseball,Baltimore Ravens football, andNavy Midshipmen football.
Since the Baltimore Orioles began their inaugural season in 1954, WBAL has been their flagship station for most of that team's history, though not continuously. For example, it carried Orioles games every season from 1987 to 2006, after which the team's games were broadcast on crosstownsports radio stationWJZ-FM. Orioles games returned to WBAL from 2011 to 2014 before the team switched back to WJZ-FM in 2015. On January 5, 2022, it was announced that the Orioles would be returning to WBAL and sister station WIYY beginning with the 2022 season.[6] The games are also streamed on the respective stations' websites and apps, but with MLB-required georestrictions limiting the broadcast to the entire states of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Washington DC, the Pennsylvania counties of York, Harrisburg and Lancaster, the West Virginia counties of Grant, Hardy, Mineral, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson, and most of North Carolina excluding Asheville (which is in theAtlanta Braves' broadcast territory). Ravens games have been broadcast on WBAL and WIYY since the 2006 season.
Other teams whose games have been broadcast on WBAL include theBaltimore Colts, theUniversity of Maryland Terrapins and theTowson Tigers.
WBAL began broadcasting after being dedicated on November 2, 1925. It was a subsidiary of the Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Company, a predecessor ofConstellation Energy.[7] The initial broadcasting studio was located at the utility's offices on Lexington Street. In the 1930s, WBAL became theflagship station for the international broadcast ofradio evangelistG. E. Lowman, whose shows originated in Baltimore until 1959.[8]
WBAL was anaffiliate ofNBC'sBlue Network.[7] On January 12, 1935, with radio becoming more commercialized, there was little justification for apublic service company to own a radio station. WBAL was sold to the Hearst-controlled American Radio News Corporation, which operated it along with two daily newspapers,The Baltimore News-Post andThe Baltimore American (later merged as theBaltimore News-American).[7]
As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950, WBAL switched to afull service,middle of the road (MOR) music format stressing personality, sports and news. The station played a mix ofpop standards with some softer songs from theTop 40.
By the early 1970s, the station had a full-serviceadult contemporary music format with the exception of weekday evenings, where the station aired talk programming.[9]
Among its personalities during that period were program host Jay Grayson, Harley Brinsfield, who had a long-running Saturday nightjazz music program,The Harley Show, andWhite House-accredited newsman Galen Fromme. In the early 1980s, WBAL began running talk shows evenings and overnights, and continued to play some music during the day.
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Music gradually decreased and talk programs were added. In the fall of 1985, WBAL transitioned to its current news-talk format, winning 19 nationalEdward R. Murrow Awards since then, the most of any local U.S. radio station.[9] Since the mid-1990s, the station has become increasinglyconservative, both in its on-air personalities and its editorial direction.
In 2010, WBAL switched its morning and afternoondrive time shows to an all-news format, titledMaryland's Morning News andAfternoon News Journal respectively. The shows were renamed toMaryland's News Now and later to "WBAL News Now". The all-news blocks included national newscasts fromABC News every 30 minutes. Previously, the national feed had been provided byCBS at the top of each hour until 2014. Also in 2014, the station was re-branded asWBAL News Radio 1090, to better reflect its status as Maryland's radio news leader. By the 2020s, the news blocks had been scaled back, with talk shows taking their place.
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In addition to its analog 1090 kHz signal, WBAL is also heard on 97.9 WIYY-HD2.[10] In 2021, the station added anFM translator at 101.5MHz, W268BA, so the station could be heard on FM radios in and around Baltimore.
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | HAAT | Class | Transmitter coordinates | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W268BA | 101.5 FM | Baltimore, Maryland | 154255 | 136 | 190 m (623 ft) | D | 39°20′5″N76°39′2″W / 39.33472°N 76.65056°W /39.33472; -76.65056 (W268BA) | LMS |
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