| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Mobile metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 660kHz |
| Branding | Jox Mobile 660 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Sports |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | 1964; 61 years ago (1964) (as WMOO Mobile) |
Former call signs | |
Former frequencies | 1550 kHz (1964–1988) |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 2541 |
| Class | D |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 30°35′50.7″N87°52′58″W / 30.597417°N 87.88278°W /30.597417; -87.88278 |
| Repeater | 104.1 WDLT-FM HD3 (Saraland) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www |
WXQW (660AM) is asports radio stationlicensed toFairhope, Alabama, and serving theMobile metropolitan area. The station is owned byCumulus Media with studios and offices on Dauphin Street in Midtown Mobile. WXQWsimulcasts many of the Alabama-centered sports shows fromsister stationWJOX-FM inBirmingham.[4] Nights and weekends, it carriesESPN Radio programming.
By day, WXQW broadcasts at 10,000 wattsnon-directional, covering parts ofAlabama,Mississippi and theFlorida Panhandle. But at night, it reduces power to 19 watts to avoid interfering with other stations on660 kHz, aclear-channel frequency. WXQW'stransmitter is on Pollard Road at Newman Road inDaphne, Alabama.[5]
The station began as acountry & western outlet in 1964, later broadcastingcontemporary Christian music,children's radio,urban contemporary gospel,all-news radio fromCNN Headline News,blues music, and syndicated talk formats in its years on the air.[1][6][7][8]
In the early 1960s, Springhill Broadcasting, Inc., applied to theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) for a newAM radio station in Mobile which would be powered at 50,000 watts. It would broadcast on 1550 kHz as adaytime-only station, required to go off the air at sunset.[1] The FCC granted the company aconstruction permit to build this new station and assignedcall sign WMOE while construction was under way. Springhill Broadcasting was initially led by Marvin Burton as president and Samuel R. David as both vice president and general manager.[1]
Assigned the new call letters WMOO, the station began licensed broadcast operations in 1964 with acountry & western music format.[2][7][9] By 1969, Samuel R. David took over as president of license holder Springhill Broadcasting.[10] Under his leadership, Springhill Broadcasting reached a deal to sell WMOO to Trio Broadcasters, Inc. (George Beasley, president) which was consummated on December 17, 1969.[11] The new owners flipped the format from country tosouthern gospel music with someChristian talk and teaching programs. This format was maintained through the 1970s and into the 1980s.[11]
In March 1981, Trio Broadcasters, Inc., applied to the FCC to make extensive changes to thebroadcast license for WMOO.[12] The company applied to change thecommunity of license from Mobile to Fairhope, to convert fromdaytimer status to a 24-hour operation with reduced daytime power plus nighttime service at 1,000 watts, to change broadcast frequency from 1550 kHz to 660 kHz, and to move the reconfigured antenna system to a new location just outside Daphne, Alabama.
The FCC accepted the filing on May 15, 1981, and finally granted a construction permit for these changes on September 26, 1984. This permit was scheduled to expire one year later, on September 2, 1985.[12] After a long series of modifications and extensions, the station completed construction and applied for alicense to cover these changes in August 1988.[13][14][15][16][17][18] The FCC granted this request and the station began licensed operation on the new frequency from the new location with new operating hours and power levels on November 10, 1988.[18] As part of these changes, the station requested a new call sign from the FCC. It became WLIT on January 24, 1988. That change proved short-lived as the station switched its call sign to WBLX on July 4, 1988.[2]
The new WBLX was sold shortly after it was completed. Trio Broadcasters, Inc., reached a deal to sell the station to Central Life Broadcasting of Alabama, Inc., in September 1988. The FCC approved the sale on November 2, 1988, and the transaction was formally consummated on May 11, 1989.[19]
Less than a year later, in April 1990, a deal was reached to sell WBLX to April Broadcasting, Inc. The FCC approved the sale on July 23, 1990, and the transaction was formally consummated on October 31, 1990.[20]
On October 4, 1996, the station's call sign was changed to WHOZ when the station flipped tochildren's radio as anetwork affiliate ofRadio AAHS. The new format made its formal debut with a promotion atBayfest on October 5, 1996.[8] WHOZ became the first radio station in theMobile metropolitan area to air aradio format designed for children.[8] Unable to compete withRadio Disney, the entire Radio AAHS network discontinued programming in January 1998.[21]
On January 21, 1998, the FCC assigned this station the WDLT call sign.[2]Cumulus Media agreed to purchase WDLT from April Broadcasting, Inc., in November 1999. After a legal challenge to the sale was dismissed, the FCC approved the sale on November 30, 1999, and the transaction was formally consummated the same day.[22]
Nine years later, the station was briefly assigned the call letters WWFF on September 21, 2007. It switched to the current WXQW on December 31, 2007.[2] This WXQW call sign was most recently used by asister station (nowWHRP, 94.1FM) in theHuntsville, Alabama, market.
On October 12, 2015, WXQW changed its format fromurban gospel (simulcastingWGOK 900 AM in Mobile) totalk radio. It mostly carriednationally syndicatedconservative talk shows fromWestwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. They includedDan Bongino,Chris Plante,Ben Shapiro,Mark Levin,Michael J. Knowles,Red Eye Radio,America in The Morning andFirst Light. FromFox News Talk,Brian Kilmeade was heard in middays. National news fromCBS News Radio began each hour.
On January 20, 2016, WXQW was granted an FCCconstruction permit to decrease the night power to 180 watts.[23] On January 4, 2017, WXQW filed an application for a construction permit to decrease night power to 19 watts. The application was accepted for filing on January 20, 2017.[24]
In July 2025, WXQW changed its format from conservative talk tosports radio as "Jox Mobile". It carries Alabama-centered sports shows from co-ownedWJOX-FM inBirmingham, withESPN Radio airing nights and weekends.
After many delays, including even a change in call letters, WMOO, Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate, went on the air here recently to give Mobile its first high-power radio station. The 50,000-watt daytimer plays all country music.