 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Central Georgia |
| Frequency | 940kHz |
| Branding | News Talk 940 WMAC |
| Programming | |
| Format | News/talk |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | October 30, 1922; 103 years ago (1922-10-30) (experimental 1910–1922) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Macon" (also disambiguation of original call sign) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 46998 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 32°53′06″N83°43′50″W / 32.88500°N 83.73056°W /32.88500; -83.73056 |
| Repeater | 93.7WPEZ-HD2 (Jeffersonville) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
WMAC (940AM, "News Talk 940") is acommercialClass Bradio station inMacon, Georgia. It is owned byCumulus Media and airs anews/talkformat. The studios and offices are on Mulberry Street in Macon. It is one of the oldest radio stations in Georgia. WMAC is a primary entry point for theEmergency Alert System (EAS).
WMAC is aClass B radio station, powered at 50,000 watts by day with anon-directional signal. It can be heard fromAlbany to the suburbs ofAtlanta. But because it broadcasts onAM 940, aclear channel frequency reserved forXEQ inMexico City, WMAC reduces its power at night to 10,000 watts, and uses adirectional five-tower array, concentrating the signal inCentral Georgia. Thetransmitter is located on Forsyth Road (U.S. Route 41) in Macon.[2]
Much of WMAC's schedule is made up ofnationally syndicatedconservative talk radio shows, most of them from the co-ownedWestwood One Network. Weekdays begin with two information shows,America in the Morning andFirst Light, followed byChris Plante,Mark Levin,Michael Savage, andRed Eye Radio. FromPremiere Networks, WMAC carriesSean Hannity in late evenings. On weekends, WMAC carries tech expertKim Komando and consumer advocateClark Howard. Some weekend hours are paidbrokered programming. Most hours begin with world and national news fromFox News Radio. Local news and weather updates are provided by Channel 13WMAZ-TV.
This station started out as part of a radio experiment byMercer University professor C.R. Fountain's physics class in 1910. On October 30, 1922, Mercer obtained a commercial license under thecall sign WMAZ. The university soon found itself in over its head operating a radio station. In 1927, it sold WMAZ to the Macon Junior Chamber of Commerce, forerunner of the MaconJaycees.
A group of Macon businessmen formed the Southeastern Broadcasting Company and leased the station in 1929, before buying it outright in 1935.[3] In the 1930s, WMAZ was adaytimer, broadcast on 1180kilocycles, first at 500 watts, and later at 1,000 watts, but required tosign off at sunset to protectWCAU inPhiladelphia. In 1937, WMAZ became aCBS Radionetwork affiliate, carrying its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports,soap operas,game shows, andbig band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio". It broadcast theSoap Box Derby live. By the late 1930s, WMAZ was permitted to remain on the air after sundown, but at reduced power to protect WCAU.
In 1941, with the enactment of theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), WMAZ moved to its current 940 kHz, a better spot on the dial.[4] The power was boosted to 5,000 watts around the clock, and by 1950, it increased to 10,000 watts.
In 1947, Macon's first FM stationsigned on, 99.1 WMAZ-FM (nowWDEN-FM).[5] WMAZ-FM mostlysimulcast its AMsister station for its first couple of decades. In 1953, the Southeastern Broadcasting Company added Macon's firstVHF TV station, Channel 13WMAZ-TV.[6] Because 940 WMAZ was a CBS affiliate, WMAZ-TV also ran CBS TV shows, with a secondary affiliation withABC and theDuMont Television Network.
In the 1950s, as network programming moved from radio to TV, WMAZ-AM-FM switched to afull servicemiddle of the road format of popular adult music, news, and sports. In the late 1950s, WMAZ-AM-FM-TV produced middle Georgia's first radio-televisionsimulcast for the 24th AnnualBibb County Spelling Bee. In 1958, 940 WMAZ's daytime power was boosted to 50,000 watts.[7] That made it the second-most powerful station in Georgia, afterWSB 750 in Atlanta, powered at 50,000 watts around the clock. In the 1960 edition ofBroadcasting Yearbook, an advertisement said 50,000 watt WMAZ is "the only station to cover completely the rich, 31-county Middle Georgia market".
Southeastern sold WMAZ-AM-FM-TV to Southern Broadcasting Corporation in 1963, which merged with the News-Piedmont Company to formMultimedia, Inc. in 1967. In 1974, WMAZ-AM-FM-TV moved to a new studio facility on Gray Highway in Macon. Throughout the 1980s, the station had anadult contemporary format until 1989, when it switched back to its former MOR format.
Multimedia merged withGannett in 1995. Gannett had by this time decided to pull out of radio, concentrating on its TV stations and newspapers. It sold off the radio stations in 1996. The new owners changed AM 940's call sign to WMWR on August 23, (standing for Macon-Warner Robins), but a year later, the station was sold as part of a group purchase by U.S. Broadcasting. On July 1, 1998, the station changed to its current call sign, WMAC. The call sign not only stands for Macon, but are a nod to the heritage call letters the station used for 3-quarters of a century.
In 2002, U.S. Broadcasting sold this station as part of a group purchase byCumulus Media. In 2015, WMAC switched toWestwood One News fromABC News Radio due to a corporate change by Cumulus Media. In August 2020,Westwood One News shut down; so WMAC aligned withFox News Radio for national news. As the news department was scaled back due to budget cuts, news, and weather updates began to be supplied by former sister station WMAZ-TV Channel 13.