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WFTL

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Coordinates:26°32′31.2″N80°44′29.2″W/ 26.542000°N 80.741444°W/26.542000; -80.741444
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, seeWFTL (disambiguation).
WFTL
Broadcast areaSouth Florida
Frequency850kHz
Branding850 WFTL
Programming
FormatNews/talk
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WRMF,WEAT,WIRK,WMBX,WMEN
History
First air date
February 14, 1948;76 years ago(1948-02-14)
Former call signs
  • WEAT (1948–1984)
  • WCGY (1984–1985)
  • WEAT (1985–1998)
  • WDJA (1998–2003)
Call signmeaning
"Fort Lauderdale"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID29490
ClassB
Power
  • 50,000wattsday
  • 20,000 watts night
Repeater(s)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Website850wftl

WFTL(850AM) is acommercialradio stationinWest Palm Beach, Florida,serving parts ofPalm Beach County,Broward County,andMiami-Dade County.[2]The station airs anews/talkformatand is owned byHubbard Broadcasting,through licensee WPP FCC License Sub, LLC.

By day, WFTL is powered at 50,000watts,the maximum for commercial AM stations. As850 AMis aclear channel frequency,to avoid interference to other stations, WFTL reduces power at night to 20,000 watts. It uses adirectional antennawith a six-tower array.Thetransmitteris nearU.S. Route 27inOkeelanta.[3]

Programming

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Weekdays on WFTL begin withThe South Florida Morning Showwith Jennifer Ross and Bill Adams. In middays, Joyce Kaufman is heard. The rest of the schedule isnationally syndicatedconservative talkprograms:Brian Kilmeade,Dan Bongino,Ben Shapiro,Matt Walsh,Bill O'Reilly,Joe Pags,Lars Larson,America in the MorningandRed Eye Radio.

On weekends, the station airs specialty shows on health, money, real estate and the law. Weekend hosts includeBill Handel,Michael Brown,Bill Cunninghamand Markley, Van Camp & Robbins. Most hours begin with an update fromABC News Radio.WFTL is the South Florida home ofFlorida State Seminoles football.

History

[edit]

WEAT

[edit]

The stationsigned onthe air on February 14, 1948.[4]Its originalcall signwas WEAT, and it was owned by the Lake Worth Broadcasting Corporation, headed by Robert Rounsaville. Itscity of licensewasLake Worthand it broadcast on 1490 kHz with 100 watts of power.[5]

WEAT was anaffiliateof theNBC Radio Network,carrying NBC's dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio".Programming ranged from NBC Theater toEddie Cantor.[6]In a few years, the power increased to 250 watts.

In 1954, WEAT changed its community of license to West Palm Beach and moved to850 AM.That allowed it to increase to 1,000 watts of power.

For many years, WEAT was owned by billionaireJohn D. MacArthur.In 1969, WEAT added an FM counterpart,WEAT-FM(Easy 104.3). The FM played quarter hour sweeps ofeasy listeningmusic. In the 1970s, the AM station switched to acountry musicformat, with national news supplied by the ABC Information Radio Network.[7]On October 1, 1982, WEAT moved to atalk radioformat. On April 16, 1984, it becameadult contemporarystation WCGY, emphasizing 1960s and 1970s music; it would devote 25 percent of its playlist to current music.[8]By April 1985, the station was once again known as WEAT, and was simulcasting WEAT-FM.[9]

In October 1986, sportscasterCurt Gowdysold WEAT-AM-FM to J.J. Taylor Companies Inc. of North Dartmouth, Mass., for an undisclosed price.[10]In May 1992, WEAT-FM switched to an adult contemporary format. According to theSun-Sentinel,on the AM side, WEAT adopted a more conservative easy listening format to keep the station's 45-and-older listeners. The studios were re-equipped for digital sound, with all the music on compact disc and all the commercials run from a computer hard drive.[11]In July 1994, WEAT switched to anall-newsformat[12]

In October 1995, WEAT-AM-FM were sold to OmniAmerica Group ofClevelandfor an estimated $18 million.[13]In May 1996, WEAT was sold with seven other stations for $178 million to Chancellor Broadcasting Co.[14]WEAT was sold again in June of that year, along with WEAT-FM andWOLL (94.3 FM),toAmerican Radio SystemsofBoston.

WDJA

[edit]

In April 1998, the station was sold to James Hilliard's James Crystal Enterprises for $1.5 million and changed its call letters to WDJA. The call sign represented "Dow JonesAverages ", with WDJA becoming a business talk station.[15]In November 2000, Jack Cole, formerly ofWJNO,began a daily hour-long show.[16]Cole left the station in October 2001 because of a brain tumor;[17]he died three months later.[18]

WFTL

[edit]

In October 2003, the station relaunched as "Live 85" with call letters WFTL, swapping with aFort Lauderdale station at 1400."Live 85" featured an all-news format.[19]In August 2005, after the all-news format failed, the station became "NewsTalk 8-5-oh WFTL".

WFTL and co-owned stationsKBXD,WFLL, andWMEN,were purchased out ofbankruptcyfrom James Crystal Enterprises by Mark Jorgenson's ACM JCE IV B LLC in a transaction that was consummated on August 6, 2015. The purchase price was $5.5 million.[20]The station was operated by Palm Beach Broadcasting until that company was acquired byAlpha Mediain February 2016. Alpha announced its intent to purchase the station outright in February 2017. Alpha's purchase of WFTL and WMEN, at a price of $2 million, was consummated on April 27, 2017.

On September 27, 2018, Alpha Media agreed to sell the West Palm Beach cluster toHubbard Radio.[21]The sale, at a price of $88 million, was consummated on January 23, 2019.

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for WFTL".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^"Contact - 850 WFTL".850wftl.Archivedfrom the original on March 21, 2018.RetrievedApril 26,2018.
  3. ^Radio-Locator /WFTL
  4. ^Broadcasting Yearbook1950page 112.Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  5. ^"Special Observance Marks WEAT Opening"(PDF).Broadcasting. February 23, 1948.RetrievedNovember 8,2014.
  6. ^Passy, Charles, "Live From Belle Glade It's Sweet 'Sugar 900'",The Palm Beach Post,October 4, 1997
  7. ^Broadcasting Yearbook1973page B-47.Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  8. ^Thornton, Linda, "Radio Station Does It With Doo-Wop Ditties",The Miami Herald,December 6, 1984
  9. ^"TV, Radio To Offer Multitude Of Games",The Miami Herald,April 7, 1985
  10. ^Pounds, Marcia H., "Curt Gowdy Sells Two Radio Stations",Sun-Sentinel,October 11, 1986
  11. ^Curry, Pat, EAT Changes Format, Pursues 25-To-54 Market ",Sun-Sentinel,March 26, 1992
  12. ^Curry, Pat, "WEAT Changes to News Format",Sun-Sentinel,July 30, 1994
  13. ^McKenney, Mitch, "A Wave Of Radio Sales Echoes The Sound Of Money",The Palm Beach Post,October 23, 1995
  14. ^McKenney, Mitch, "Firm Buys 8 OmniAmerica Stations",The Palm Beach Post,May 16, 1996
  15. ^Waresh, Julie,Fairbanks Selling Six Local Radio Stations,The Palm Beach Post,April 22, 1998
  16. ^Smith, Thom, "Dershowitz Finds Recount Saga Positively Biblical",The Palm Beach Post,November 14, 2000
  17. ^"Boss Called, and Clemonds Went - to N.Y.",Palm Beach Post,October 2, 2001
  18. ^Smith, Thom, "Jack Cole Reigned Over Local Radio Since the '80s - 1938-2002",Palm Beach Post,January 9, 2002
  19. ^Betcher, Bob, "WFTL shifts to all news",Fort Pierce Tribune(FL), October 9, 2003
  20. ^At the Chapter 11 auction of four James Crystal stations, the “credit bid” won.Tom Taylor Now,April 1, 2015.
  21. ^Hubbard To Acquire Alpha Media West Palm Beach
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26°32′31.2″N80°44′29.2″W/ 26.542000°N 80.741444°W/26.542000; -80.741444

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