WTOP-FM
Encyclopedia
WTOP is an all-news
formatted broadcast
radio station
licensed to Washington, D.C.
, serving Metropolitan Washington, DC area. WTOP is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.
WTOP is one of two all-news stations in the Washington, D.C.
area, the other being sister station WFED, which is aimed at federal government employees.
The station's primary signal is at 103.5, with simulcasts on WTLP 103.9 FM from Braddock Heights, Maryland
and WWWT 107.7 FM from Manassas, Virginia
. All stations in the WTOP "network" broadcast in monaural
to increase their coverage areas.
; pressure by the federal government on the Klan forced WTRC to move out of the New York area. Ironically, the station moved to the federal government's backyard; on August 2, 1927, WTRC migrated to Mount Vernon Hills, Virginia
as WTFF (which stood for the Klan's newspaper "The Fellowship Forum") at 1470 kHz. In November 1927, the power of WTFF was increased to 10,000 watts and the frequency changed to 1480 kilocycles.
On January 10, 1929, the call sign was changed to WJSV, reflecting the initials of James S. Vance, who was publisher of "The Fellowship Forum" and a Grand Wizard
in Virginia
. Realizing the expense of running a 10,000-watt radio station, Vance quickly worked out a deal with the nascent Columbia Broadcasting System to become the new network's primary station in Washington, DC. CBS took over all of WJSV's programming and engineering costs, with an option to renew or purchase the station after five years. Soon realizing they were affiliated with the Klan, negotiations began for CBS to purchase the station outright.
In June 1932, CBS
finally purchased WJSV and moved it from Mount Vernon Hills to Alexandria, Virginia
. After three months off the air, WJSV resumed broadcasting on October 20, 1932. Arthur Godfrey
, who later hosted a variety program on CBS Radio and CBS Television, hosted a program on WJSV called The Sundial on which he honed a laid-back, conversational style that was unusual on radio at the time but came to be common practice for disc jockey
s.
On September 21, 1939, WJSV recorded its entire broadcast day for posterity. The famous "One Day In Radio" tapes still exist and copies can be found at various Old Time Radio websites.
WJSV was also a key training ground for pioneering newsman Bob Trout
in the 1930s before he became a network correspondent. (One of his broadcasting mentors was Wells (Ted) Church, who later became a CBS News
executive.) Longtime Los Angeles
-area TV newscaster George Putnam
worked at WJSV in 1938 and continued to work in radio for seven decades until his death in 2008. Frank Blair, who later became an NBC News correspondent and later was a long time news anchor on the Today show during the 1960s and early 1970s, also worked at WJSV.
. (That site is still in use today.) On March 29, 1941, with the implementation of NARBA
, WJSV moved its broadcast frequency from 1460 to 1500 kHz.
On March 16, 1943, after paying the Tiffin, Ohio
police department $60,000, the calls were changed to the current WTOP because its new frequency was now at the "top" of the mediumwave
AM
band. The Washington Post
bought a 55% share in WTOP from CBS in February 1949 and took over the remainder of the station in December 1954. The WTOP callsign was a coincidence under the newspaper's partial ownership as the callsign never stood for WashingTOn Post.
, later on ABC-TV; Jim Bohannon
, who took Larry King
's place on his all-night radio network talk show after King went to CNN; and including Ralph Begleiter and Jamie MacIntyre, both of whom went to CNN.
WTOP studios were apparently a critical link in Emergency Broadcast System
activation scenarios during the Cold War era.
The Post
sold WTOP to The Outlet Company
company in June, 1978, in reaction to the FCC desire to break up the Post/WTOP cross-ownership arrangement. One month later, WTOP-TV was swapped with the Detroit News's WWJ-TV, and became WDVM-TV. The station is today WUSA-TV, owned by Gannett. The original FM frequency for WTOP-FM was 96.3 MHz, but that frequency was donated to Howard University
. That station became WHUR in 1971, a commercially run radio station.
began simulcasting the WTOP signal for better coverage in the sprawling Northern Virginia
suburbs. Shortly afterward, on October 10, 1997, Bonneville International Corporation purchased WTOP.
On April 1, 1998, that frequency was swapped for a stronger signal at 107.7, also licensed to Warrenton
. (The 94.3 facility now relays the air feed for sports station WTEM
.) Then in December 2000, WTOP gained another simulcast in Frederick, Maryland
with WXTR at 820 kHz, establishing the "WTOP Radio Network."
In 2005, the station began providing podcasts of selected broadcast programs, and in 2006, WTOP began broadcasting in digital "HD Radio
", utilizing iBiquity Digital Corp.'s
IBOC (in-band on-channel
) technology.
On January 4, 2006, Bonneville International announced that WTOP would move to a new primary frequency of 103.5 FM, then held by classical station WGMS (which would move to 103.9 and 104.1 FM). The frequencies long-used by WTOP, 1500 AM and 107.7 FM (and the low-powered 104.3 FM translator in Leesburg
), would be reassigned to the new "Washington Post Radio
" for a March 30, 2006 launch date. Fittingly, this new partnership also signaled the Post
s re-emergence into the radio scene on the very same dial spot WTOP once held. The station has been dominant in the 25-54 demographics since moving to FM.
The stations' respective call signs were changed as of January 11, 2006: the former WTOP pair became WTWP (The Washington Post) and WTOP's new primary stations (formerly WGMS-FM and WXTR) assumed the WTOP calls. HD Radio
digital subchannel
s of the 103.5 carrier originally had broadcast Bonneville International's "iChannel" music format, which features unsigned, independent rock bands on the HD2 channel, and the HD3 channel aired continuous traffic and weather updates. Later iChannel was dropped for an LMA of the HD2 to a group that currently airs programming aimed at the South Asian community in the Washington area. About June 1, 2009, the HD3 dropped the traffic and weather programming for Bonneville's 'The Mormon Channel'.
In 2006, WTOP dropped its long-standing association with The Weather Channel and began airing weather reports exclusively from WJLA-TV (ABC-7) all day long. Previously, WTOP had used weather reports from WJLA chief meteorologist Doug Hill
during morning and evening rush hours and The Weather Channel all other times. The station now uses all WJLA meteorologists, not just Doug Hill. WJLA's "Live Super Doppler 7" has and continues to be featured in weather reports as necessary.
In 2007, the WTOP radio configuration was realigned once again. WTLP-FM (formerly WGYS) at 103.9 picked up the WTOP simulcast on April 6, 2007 after the adult hits "George 104" simulcast with WXGG (now WPRS-FM
, since sold to Radio One) was broken up, and adopted the WTLP calls on July 5, 2007.
Also in 2007, WTOP began broadcasting on WJLA-TV
's "Weather Now" digital sub-channel, which is carried on cable systems well beyond WTOP's broadcast area, though this was ended in late July 2009.
In May 2007, WTOP sold the naming rights to its "Glass Enclosed Nerve Center" (its nickname for its studio) to area business Ledo Pizza
. That sponsorship concluded at the end of 2007. Other sponsorship continues, with sportscasts being "fed" by Ledo Pizza.
WTOP-AM (which was now on 820 in Frederick) changed its calls to WTWT and switched to the Washington Post Radio simulcast on June 28, 2007. On September 20, 2007, the 1500/107.7/820 multicast changed format over to a general talk format as "Talk Radio 3WT" under the WWWT/WWWT-FM/WWWB call letters, which was cancelled on August 11, 2008. WWWT and WWWB took over the "Federal News Radio" format (and for the 1500 kHz facility, the WFED calls), while WWWT-FM went back to simulcasting WTOP-FM. The former WFED took over the WTOP callsign on the AM dial and became a simulcast of WTOP, with preemptions for sporting events. On June 13, 2009, the 1050 AM frequency changed to a separate news/talk
format, operated by Air America Radio
as WZAA
. On January 26, 2010, following the shutdown of Air America Radio, WZAA returned to the WTOP simulcast. It took back the WTOP call letters on February 1, 2010. WTOP-AM left the simulcast on June 23, 2010, as Bonneville rented the station to United Media Group. United Media changed the call letters to WBQH and aired what they called a "regional Mexican" format.
In March 2008 WTOP completed a year-long, $2.5-million state-of-the-art renovation of its newsroom and studios, the first since 1989 when the station moved into the building it presently occupies in northwest Washington.
In 2008, WTOP generated $51.75-million in revenue, the sixth-highest total for any radio station in the United States and the only station not based in New York City or Los Angeles to crack the top ten. In 2009, the station generated $51-million in revenue, good for second among all radio stations in the United States, trailing only KIIS-FM
in Los Angeles. In 2010, WTOP generated $57.225-million in revenue, making it tops among radio station in the United States.
In 2010, WTOP's coverage of the record Washington-area snowfalls in early February earned it record ratings as the only local media outlet on the air and covering the storm live all day and night. During the week of the storms, which dropped two feet of snow in the area, WTOP had a 16.9% share of the area's radio audience, far exceeding its typical weekly average of around 10%. Consumer research company Arbitron
estimated a total of 1.49 million people tuned in at some point during the week, 39% of the total local radio audience of 3.8 million.
Bonneville announced the sale of WTOP-FM, WTLP, and WWWT-FM, as well as 14 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.
In 2011 WTOP brought their traffic reporting
in-house, ending their relationship with Metro Networks
. This meant that Lisa Baden, the longtime "voice of D.C.-area traffic" and a Metro Networks employee, was forced to leave the station in what WTOP's Vice President of News and Programming Jim Farley said was strictly a business decision. Farley said WTOP tried to bring Baden and other Metro Networks employees to WTOP, but they have clauses in their contracts prohibiting them from working for competitors for one year. Baden said she was "devastated".
, and reports from several of WTOP's correspondents (including Neal Augenstein, Hank Silverberg and Tom Foty) are played on CBS's network. WTOP's basic format and hourly broadcast schedule, as noted above, is similar to that used by the CBS-owned-and-operated all-news stations, such as WCBS
from New York City. WTOP is also affiliated with CNN and the Bloomberg Radio
Network.
, Wolf Blitzer
, and Gwen Ifill
, among many others, at specific times during the week.
ratings among radio stations in the Washington area.
All-news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcast of news.All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried in some form on both major US satellite radio networks...
formatted broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, serving Metropolitan Washington, DC area. WTOP is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.
WTOP is one of two all-news stations in the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
area, the other being sister station WFED, which is aimed at federal government employees.
The station's primary signal is at 103.5, with simulcasts on WTLP 103.9 FM from Braddock Heights, Maryland
Braddock Heights, Maryland
Braddock Heights is a census-designated place in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,627 at the 2000 census. Braddock Heights is part of the Middletown, Maryland School District...
and WWWT 107.7 FM from Manassas, Virginia
Manassas, Virginia
The City of Manassas is an independent city surrounded by Prince William County and the independent city of Manassas Park in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Its population was 37,821 as of 2010. Manassas also surrounds the county seat for Prince William County but that county...
. All stations in the WTOP "network" broadcast in monaural
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
to increase their coverage areas.
1920s: Born in Brooklyn
WTOP's origins trace back to Brooklyn, New York, as station WTRC (operated by the Twentieth [District] Republican Club), going to air September 25, 1926, on 1250 kilocycles with a power of 50 watts. The Twentieth Republican Club, and the station, were run by the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
; pressure by the federal government on the Klan forced WTRC to move out of the New York area. Ironically, the station moved to the federal government's backyard; on August 2, 1927, WTRC migrated to Mount Vernon Hills, Virginia
Mount Vernon, Virginia
Mount Vernon is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Nearby CDPs are Fort Belvoir , Groveton, Virginia and Hybla Valley, Virginia , and Fort Hunt, Virginia...
as WTFF (which stood for the Klan's newspaper "The Fellowship Forum") at 1470 kHz. In November 1927, the power of WTFF was increased to 10,000 watts and the frequency changed to 1480 kilocycles.
On January 10, 1929, the call sign was changed to WJSV, reflecting the initials of James S. Vance, who was publisher of "The Fellowship Forum" and a Grand Wizard
Grand Wizard
Grand Wizard was the title given to the leader of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan which existed from 1866 to 1871.In 1915, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was created, initially as a fraternal organization. The highest-ranking leader of the latter organization was the Imperial Wizard. National...
in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Realizing the expense of running a 10,000-watt radio station, Vance quickly worked out a deal with the nascent Columbia Broadcasting System to become the new network's primary station in Washington, DC. CBS took over all of WJSV's programming and engineering costs, with an option to renew or purchase the station after five years. Soon realizing they were affiliated with the Klan, negotiations began for CBS to purchase the station outright.
1930s: CBS O&O
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
finally purchased WJSV and moved it from Mount Vernon Hills to Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
. After three months off the air, WJSV resumed broadcasting on October 20, 1932. Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
, who later hosted a variety program on CBS Radio and CBS Television, hosted a program on WJSV called The Sundial on which he honed a laid-back, conversational style that was unusual on radio at the time but came to be common practice for disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s.
On September 21, 1939, WJSV recorded its entire broadcast day for posterity. The famous "One Day In Radio" tapes still exist and copies can be found at various Old Time Radio websites.
WJSV was also a key training ground for pioneering newsman Bob Trout
Robert Trout
Robert "Bob" Trout was an American broadcast news reporter, best known for his radio work before and during World War II...
in the 1930s before he became a network correspondent. (One of his broadcasting mentors was Wells (Ted) Church, who later became a CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
executive.) Longtime Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-area TV newscaster George Putnam
George Putnam (newsman)
George Putnam was an American television news reporter and talk show host based in Los Angeles. He was known for his catchy phrase "See ya at ten, see ya then" intro prior to a broadcast of the news.-Biography:...
worked at WJSV in 1938 and continued to work in radio for seven decades until his death in 2008. Frank Blair, who later became an NBC News correspondent and later was a long time news anchor on the Today show during the 1960s and early 1970s, also worked at WJSV.
1940s
In 1940, WJSV's operating power was increased to 50,000 watts, with a new transmitter site built in Wheaton, MarylandWheaton, Maryland
Wheaton is an unincorporated, urbanized area in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, north of Washington, D.C., northwest of Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton , a career officer in the United States Army and volunteer from Rhode Island in the Union Army who rose to the rank of...
. (That site is still in use today.) On March 29, 1941, with the implementation of NARBA
North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement, usually referred to as NARBA, is a treaty that took effect in March 1941 and set out the bandplan and interference rules for mediumwave AM broadcasting in North America. Although mostly replaced by other agreements in the 1980s, the basic bandplan...
, WJSV moved its broadcast frequency from 1460 to 1500 kHz.
On March 16, 1943, after paying the Tiffin, Ohio
Tiffin, Ohio
Tiffin is a city in and the county seat of Seneca County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,135 at the 2000 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Tiffin as a Tree City USA....
police department $60,000, the calls were changed to the current WTOP because its new frequency was now at the "top" of the mediumwave
Mediumwave
Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. For Europe the MW band ranges from 526.5 kHz to 1606.5 kHz...
AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
band. The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
bought a 55% share in WTOP from CBS in February 1949 and took over the remainder of the station in December 1954. The WTOP callsign was a coincidence under the newspaper's partial ownership as the callsign never stood for WashingTOn Post.
1960s and 70s: All-news
In the 1960s, after a series of failed music formats, WTOP phased out its music programming for a combination of newscasts and phone-in talk shows; eventually the call-in shows were dropped in favor of an all-news format. Among those working for WTOP during this time were Sam DonaldsonSam Donaldson
Samuel Andrew "Sam" Donaldson, Jr. is a reporter and news anchor, serving with ABC News from 1967 to the present, best known as the network's White House Correspondent and as a panelist and later co-anchor of the network's Sunday Program "This Week."-Early life and career:Donaldson was born in El...
, later on ABC-TV; Jim Bohannon
Jim Bohannon
James E. "Jim" Bohannon is an American broadcaster who has worked in both television and radio.During the 1980s he was a fill-in for Larry King when King had his popular nighttime national radio program. He also does much work with the Smithsonian Associates...
, who took Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
's place on his all-night radio network talk show after King went to CNN; and including Ralph Begleiter and Jamie MacIntyre, both of whom went to CNN.
WTOP studios were apparently a critical link in Emergency Broadcast System
Emergency Broadcast System
The Emergency Broadcast System was an emergency warning system in the United States, used from 1963 to 1997, when it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System.-Purpose:...
activation scenarios during the Cold War era.
The Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
sold WTOP to The Outlet Company
The Outlet Company
The Outlet Company was a corporation based in Providence, Rhode Island, which owned holdings in both retail and broadcasting. The centerpieces of the group was its flagship Providence store and WJAR radio and television, also in Providence....
company in June, 1978, in reaction to the FCC desire to break up the Post/WTOP cross-ownership arrangement. One month later, WTOP-TV was swapped with the Detroit News's WWJ-TV, and became WDVM-TV. The station is today WUSA-TV, owned by Gannett. The original FM frequency for WTOP-FM was 96.3 MHz, but that frequency was donated to Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
. That station became WHUR in 1971, a commercially run radio station.
1990s and 2000s: Move to FM
Outlet re-organized and sold WTOP to Chase Broadcasting in 1989, who in turn sold it to Evergreen Media (which eventually became Chancellor Broadcasting) in November 1992. During this period, Evergreen started WTOP's move to the FM dial on April 1997, when Evergreen's newly acquired 94.3 MHz facility in Warrenton, VirginiaWarrenton, Virginia
Warrenton is a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census, and 14,634 at the 2010 estimate. It is the county seat of Fauquier County. Public schools in the town include Fauquier High School, Warrenton Middle School, Taylor Middle School and two...
began simulcasting the WTOP signal for better coverage in the sprawling Northern Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
suburbs. Shortly afterward, on October 10, 1997, Bonneville International Corporation purchased WTOP.
On April 1, 1998, that frequency was swapped for a stronger signal at 107.7, also licensed to Warrenton
Warrenton, Virginia
Warrenton is a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census, and 14,634 at the 2010 estimate. It is the county seat of Fauquier County. Public schools in the town include Fauquier High School, Warrenton Middle School, Taylor Middle School and two...
. (The 94.3 facility now relays the air feed for sports station WTEM
WTEM
WTEM — branded ESPN 980 — is a sports radio station licensed to Washington, D.C. and serving the Washington metro area. It is the flagship of a sports talk trimulcast with WWXT in Prince Frederick, Maryland and WWXX in Buckland, Virginia, all affiliated with ESPN Radio and owned by Red Zebra...
.) Then in December 2000, WTOP gained another simulcast in Frederick, Maryland
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in north-central Maryland. It is the county seat of Frederick County, the largest county by area in the state of Maryland. Frederick is an outlying community of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a greater...
with WXTR at 820 kHz, establishing the "WTOP Radio Network."
In 2005, the station began providing podcasts of selected broadcast programs, and in 2006, WTOP began broadcasting in digital "HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
", utilizing iBiquity Digital Corp.'s
IBiquity
iBiquity Digital Corporation is a company formed by the merger of USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio, with the goal of creating an in-band on-channel digital radio system for the United States and around the world...
IBOC (in-band on-channel
In-band on-channel
In-band on-channel is a hybrid method of transmitting digital radio and analog radio broadcast signals simultaneously on the same frequency....
) technology.
On January 4, 2006, Bonneville International announced that WTOP would move to a new primary frequency of 103.5 FM, then held by classical station WGMS (which would move to 103.9 and 104.1 FM). The frequencies long-used by WTOP, 1500 AM and 107.7 FM (and the low-powered 104.3 FM translator in Leesburg
Leesburg, Virginia
Leesburg is a historic town in, and county seat of, Loudoun County, Virginia, United States of America. Leesburg is located west-northwest of Washington, D.C. along the base of the Catoctin Mountain and adjacent to the Potomac River. Its population according the 2010 Census is 42,616...
), would be reassigned to the new "Washington Post Radio
WTWP
WFED is a full-power radio station in the Washington, D.C. region, broadcasting from just outside the District line in Wheaton, Maryland. The signal is relayed on WWFD on 820 kHz in Frederick, Maryland. The stations broadcast a news, talk and information format targeted towards U.S...
" for a March 30, 2006 launch date. Fittingly, this new partnership also signaled the Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
s re-emergence into the radio scene on the very same dial spot WTOP once held. The station has been dominant in the 25-54 demographics since moving to FM.
The stations' respective call signs were changed as of January 11, 2006: the former WTOP pair became WTWP (The Washington Post) and WTOP's new primary stations (formerly WGMS-FM and WXTR) assumed the WTOP calls. HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
s of the 103.5 carrier originally had broadcast Bonneville International's "iChannel" music format, which features unsigned, independent rock bands on the HD2 channel, and the HD3 channel aired continuous traffic and weather updates. Later iChannel was dropped for an LMA of the HD2 to a group that currently airs programming aimed at the South Asian community in the Washington area. About June 1, 2009, the HD3 dropped the traffic and weather programming for Bonneville's 'The Mormon Channel'.
In 2006, WTOP dropped its long-standing association with The Weather Channel and began airing weather reports exclusively from WJLA-TV (ABC-7) all day long. Previously, WTOP had used weather reports from WJLA chief meteorologist Doug Hill
Doug Hill
Doug Hill is the Chief Meteorologist for ABC 7 News/WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C. He is the meteorologist for ABC 7 News at 5, 6, and 11. He has been awarded the "Seal of Approval" from the American Meteorological Society. Hill has also been honored with a Washington Emmy Award for broadcast...
during morning and evening rush hours and The Weather Channel all other times. The station now uses all WJLA meteorologists, not just Doug Hill. WJLA's "Live Super Doppler 7" has and continues to be featured in weather reports as necessary.
In 2007, the WTOP radio configuration was realigned once again. WTLP-FM (formerly WGYS) at 103.9 picked up the WTOP simulcast on April 6, 2007 after the adult hits "George 104" simulcast with WXGG (now WPRS-FM
WPRS-FM
WPRS-FM is an Urban Gospel formatted radio station in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The station broadcasts from Waldorf, Maryland, at 104.1 MHz....
, since sold to Radio One) was broken up, and adopted the WTLP calls on July 5, 2007.
Also in 2007, WTOP began broadcasting on WJLA-TV
WJLA-TV
WJLA-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Washington, D.C.. It is the flagship station of the Allbritton Communications Company, which also operates local cable station NewsChannel 8. The two stations share broadcast facilities in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia...
's "Weather Now" digital sub-channel, which is carried on cable systems well beyond WTOP's broadcast area, though this was ended in late July 2009.
In May 2007, WTOP sold the naming rights to its "Glass Enclosed Nerve Center" (its nickname for its studio) to area business Ledo Pizza
Ledo Pizza
Ledo Pizza is a pizzeria restaurant chain in the Southeastern United States, with the heaviest concentration in Maryland and Virginia. Their first pizzeria was opened in Adelphi, Maryland, in 1955 on University Boulevard in Adelphi Shopping Center near the University of Maryland, College Park...
. That sponsorship concluded at the end of 2007. Other sponsorship continues, with sportscasts being "fed" by Ledo Pizza.
WTOP-AM (which was now on 820 in Frederick) changed its calls to WTWT and switched to the Washington Post Radio simulcast on June 28, 2007. On September 20, 2007, the 1500/107.7/820 multicast changed format over to a general talk format as "Talk Radio 3WT" under the WWWT/WWWT-FM/WWWB call letters, which was cancelled on August 11, 2008. WWWT and WWWB took over the "Federal News Radio" format (and for the 1500 kHz facility, the WFED calls), while WWWT-FM went back to simulcasting WTOP-FM. The former WFED took over the WTOP callsign on the AM dial and became a simulcast of WTOP, with preemptions for sporting events. On June 13, 2009, the 1050 AM frequency changed to a separate news/talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format, operated by Air America Radio
Air America Radio
Air America was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk programming...
as WZAA
WZAA
WBQH is a radio station in the Washington, D.C. region, licensed to Silver Spring, Maryland. It broadcasts a Regional Mexican format.-History:...
. On January 26, 2010, following the shutdown of Air America Radio, WZAA returned to the WTOP simulcast. It took back the WTOP call letters on February 1, 2010. WTOP-AM left the simulcast on June 23, 2010, as Bonneville rented the station to United Media Group. United Media changed the call letters to WBQH and aired what they called a "regional Mexican" format.
In March 2008 WTOP completed a year-long, $2.5-million state-of-the-art renovation of its newsroom and studios, the first since 1989 when the station moved into the building it presently occupies in northwest Washington.
In 2008, WTOP generated $51.75-million in revenue, the sixth-highest total for any radio station in the United States and the only station not based in New York City or Los Angeles to crack the top ten. In 2009, the station generated $51-million in revenue, good for second among all radio stations in the United States, trailing only KIIS-FM
KIIS-FM
KIIS-FM is a Los Angeles, California, USA-based radio station with a partial Top 40 musical format. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications. KIIS is also simulcasted on KVVS in Rosamond, at 105.5 MHz...
in Los Angeles. In 2010, WTOP generated $57.225-million in revenue, making it tops among radio station in the United States.
In 2010, WTOP's coverage of the record Washington-area snowfalls in early February earned it record ratings as the only local media outlet on the air and covering the storm live all day and night. During the week of the storms, which dropped two feet of snow in the area, WTOP had a 16.9% share of the area's radio audience, far exceeding its typical weekly average of around 10%. Consumer research company Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
estimated a total of 1.49 million people tuned in at some point during the week, 39% of the total local radio audience of 3.8 million.
Bonneville announced the sale of WTOP-FM, WTLP, and WWWT-FM, as well as 14 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.
In 2011 WTOP brought their traffic reporting
Traffic reporting
Traffic reporting is the distribution of information about road conditions such as traffic congestion, detours, and traffic accidents, generally as part of a radio or television broadcast program. The reports help commuters anticipate and avoid traffic problems. Many reports mention alternate...
in-house, ending their relationship with Metro Networks
Metro Networks
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/files/2011/04/Metro_Logo_bigger.jpgMetro Networks is a broadcasting outsourcing company based in Houston, Texas. It was a subsidiary of Westwood One until its sale to Clear Channel Communications in 2011...
. This meant that Lisa Baden, the longtime "voice of D.C.-area traffic" and a Metro Networks employee, was forced to leave the station in what WTOP's Vice President of News and Programming Jim Farley said was strictly a business decision. Farley said WTOP tried to bring Baden and other Metro Networks employees to WTOP, but they have clauses in their contracts prohibiting them from working for competitors for one year. Baden said she was "devastated".
Station profiles
| Callsign | Frequency Frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency... |
City of license City of license A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.... |
ERP Effective radiated power In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains... |
Class | HAAT | Facility ID Facility ID The facility ID number or FIN is a unique positive integer assigned by the United States Federal Communications Commission to each domestic and international broadcast station in its Common Database System . Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and... |
Former Callsigns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WTOP-FM | 103.5 MHz | Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution.... |
44,000 watt Watt The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:... s |
B | 158 meters | 11845 | WGMS (1951–2006) WQQW (1948–1951) |
| WTLP | 103.9 MHz | Braddock Heights, Maryland Braddock Heights, Maryland Braddock Heights is a census-designated place in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,627 at the 2000 census. Braddock Heights is part of the Middletown, Maryland School District... |
350 watt Watt The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:... s |
A | 292 meters | 47105 | WGYS (2006–2007) WWVZ (1996–2006) WXVR (1995–1996) WZYQ (1980–1995) |
| WWWT-FM | 107.7 MHz | Manassas, Virginia Manassas, Virginia The City of Manassas is an independent city surrounded by Prince William County and the independent city of Manassas Park in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Its population was 37,821 as of 2010. Manassas also surrounds the county seat for Prince William County but that county... |
29,000 watt Watt The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:... s |
B | 197 meters | 21626 | WTWP-FM (2006–2007) WTOP-FM (1998–2006) WUPP (1997–1998) WRCY (1992–1997) WMJR (1984–1992) WWWK (1982–1984) |
| W282BA | 104.3 MHz | Leesburg, Virginia Leesburg, Virginia Leesburg is a historic town in, and county seat of, Loudoun County, Virginia, United States of America. Leesburg is located west-northwest of Washington, D.C. along the base of the Catoctin Mountain and adjacent to the Potomac River. Its population according the 2010 Census is 42,616... |
100 watt Watt The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:... s |
D | 0 meters | 138906 | none |
Affiliations
WTOP is affiliated with the CBS Radio NetworkCBS Radio Network
The CBS Radio Network provides news, sports and other programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by CBS Corporation, and operated by CBS Radio ....
, and reports from several of WTOP's correspondents (including Neal Augenstein, Hank Silverberg and Tom Foty) are played on CBS's network. WTOP's basic format and hourly broadcast schedule, as noted above, is similar to that used by the CBS-owned-and-operated all-news stations, such as WCBS
WCBS (AM)
WCBS , often referred to as "WCBS Newsradio 880" , is a radio station in New York City. Owned by CBS Radio, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network...
from New York City. WTOP is also affiliated with CNN and the Bloomberg Radio
WBBR
WBBR is a radio station broadcasting at 1130 AM in New York City. It airs Bloomberg Radio, a service of Bloomberg L.P. WBBR's format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market updates and interviews with corporate executives,...
Network.
Schedule
The station's basic schedule includes playing CBS News reports at the hour and half hour, followed by local reports. "Traffic and Weather Together" are played on the 8s (:08, :18, :28, :38, etc.). Sports news is played at :15 and :45 past each hour and business news is played at :25 and :55 past each hour. Live interviews are played at :25 and :55 past most hours. The station also features regular commentaries from figures such as Cal ThomasCal Thomas
John Calvin "Cal" Thomas is an American conservative syndicated columnist, pundit, author and radio commentator.-Life and career:...
, Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
, and Gwen Ifill
Gwen Ifill
Gwendolyn L. "Gwen" Ifill is an American journalist, television newscaster and author. She is the managing editor and moderator of Washington Week and a senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, both of which air on PBS. She is a political analyst, and moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice...
, among many others, at specific times during the week.
Ratings
As of July 2009, WTOP is ranked #1 in the ArbitronArbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
ratings among radio stations in the Washington area.
Awards
- 2002 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Large Market Radio News Website
- 2003 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Large Market Radio News Website
- 2003 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Radio Large Market Spot News Coverage - "Serial Sniper"
- 2006 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Radio Large Market Feature Reporting - "Scary Clown"
- 2006 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Radio Large Market Spot News Coverage - "Capital Chaos"
- 2008 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Large Market Radio News Website
- 2009 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Radio Large Market Feature Hard News - "Hidden Hunter"
- 2009 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Radio Large Market Use of Sound - "Cathedral Bells"
- 2009 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Radio Large Market Writing - "Core Values"
- 2009 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Best Large Market Radio News Website
- 2009 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award (National) for Large Market Radio News Overall Excellence
- 2010 National Association of BroadcastersNational Association of BroadcastersThe National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
Marconi Award for Major Market Station of the Year.
See also
- WJSV schedule for September 21, 1939
- Free mp3s of 19 hours of the broadcast day of WJSV for September 21, 1939
- Information on WJSV Broadcast Day
- History of WTOP