WULM-AM
Encyclopedia
WULM "Radio Maria
" 1600-AM (for "Under (Our) Lady's Mantle") is an American
non-commercial AM
radio station
licensed in Springfield, Ohio
serving the Springfield
and Dayton
area with Catholic insprational programming . It operates at 1600 kHz with a power output of 1,000 watts daytime and with a reduced power of 34 watts nighttime. It is a repeater of KJMJ
580 kHz in Alexandria, Louisiana
,the originating English language station of Radio Maria USA.
. Country music singer Donnie Bowser (Bowshier), a Springfield resident performed frequently on WJEL's live Saturday night program. In 1954, the station was moved to Springfield and was given new call letters: WBLY,which previously had been used by the present-day WIMA
in Lima, Ohio
. The BLY in WBLY stood for Bailey, Lucas and Yontz. The Initials of the Three principal owners. The stations move was nearly coincidental with the move of Springfield station WWSO to Dayton, where it became WAVI (now known as the AM incarnation of WDAO
formerly at 107.7 FM). WBLY's studios were first located in the Chamber of Commerce building at the corner of Spring and High streets in the early 1950s then moving to a more modern facility at 1711 West Main Street along with sister WBLY-FM which would later become WAZU (formerly WJEM,the FM sister to the original WJEL.)
The station used the call letters WBLY from 1954 to 2002. It was owned and operated by Champion City Broadcasting which in the mid 1980s moved its studios to the restored (original) city building located downtown along with WAZU-FM prior to being sold off in the 1990s leaving WBLY without an FM. Bob Yontz sold the remaining AM station to son Ronald- hence Champion City Broadcasting became RAY (Ronald A. Yontz) Broadcasting operated by Jerry Staggs as part of a local marketing agreement
with WIZE
which he briefly owned and moving the WBLY studios to the WIZE site until 2002 when it was sold to Urban Light Ministries, a local non-denominational Christian charity in April 2002 which adopted the WULM call letters in August of that same year. Urban Light's purchase of the station kept it a locally owned and operated community citizen and was intended to help provide operating funds and a medium for the local ministry to reach out to pre-believers and to families in need. WULM remained the last locally owned/operated commercial radio station licensed by the FCC to Springfield still operating with studios and offices in Springfield until May 31, 2008.
John Hall(John Stalder), a long time Springfield radio broadcast legend was the first station manager of WULM from 2002 to 2003. After Hall's passing in 2004 ,the on-air studio originally used by WIZE
was renovated in 2005 and dedicated in his memory by his longtime friend Bob Pitsch who was station manager from 2003 to 2006. Hall was best known as the long time morning personality at WIZE
and later a personality at WKSW, WLW
, WGRR
, WBNS (AM)
and the former WCLR
/WZLR
"Oldies 95" in addition to doing voice-over work for the former WTJC-TV (now WBDT
) and for numerous radio commercials and announcements in the Dayton-Springfield area.
(Hot 102.9), WBLY-FM was founded in 1958 and broadcast at 102.9 on the dial. It was a simulcast of WBLY-AM from 1958–1979 and played the same middle of the road format as WBLY-AM. It was also owned by Champion City Broadcasting. In 1979 they changed the call letters to WAZU ("FM-103 The Zoo...From A to Z to You") and stopped simulcasting WBLY-AM and began playing adult contemporary music aimed at the Dayton audience. At that time it was licensed to Springfield and had the same studios as WBLY. In the late 1980s, one of the principal owners died. The heirs had the station appraised and found it to be worth millions of dollars. The station went on the market and was sold to Osborne Communications. From 1988-1995 the station competed fiercely with WTUE-FM but in 1995 it was sold to Great Trails Broadcasting and its call letters where changed to WING and it played classic rock from 1995-2001. It was known as WING-FM and had the same format until 2001 when it was sold to Radio One and changed changed to its current call sign WDHT
and its urban format, "Blazin Hip Hop and R&B". Mainline Broadcasting took over the station in 2007.
The WING call letters are still in use (and were in use before WING-FM) by "ESPN Radio 1410", or WING
-AM
WBLY switched the format to a news/sports/talk format in the early 1990s. WBLY did mostly Catholic Central games until WIZE
went under and then began airing all teams in Clark County. It was famous for not only having 1 game but in football and basketball it aired one game live and one game on tape delay. It also did Wittenberg football and basketball games along with a show during the week. It also had a high school sports talk show during the week and a popular show on Saturday morning called "Sports Scene". During the tournament it would air all local teams' games, and sometimes there would be so many teams playing that they would go until 2:00 am. They also had great news coverage, and the news director was Darrel Bauer, who is now at WHIO.
In 2002 WBLY was sold to Urban Light Ministries. After they changed the call letter to WULM they continued to have a news/sports/talk format but added more programming including a local morning talk show and a late-morning talk show that talked about the issues in Clark County. After that sports director Marty Bannister continued his "Sports Scene" show that he aired during the week and had done before when it was WBLY. They also added more network programming, including Bill O'Reilley.
Unable to attract new listeners (and advertisers) with a talk format, WULM went to a unique "Rock n' Soul Classics" format. It spotlighted the vintage hits from the first generation of the Top 40 and R&B genres. During this time, its weekend programs along with NASCAR
coverage included The Motown Show, Dennis Mitchell's Breakfast With The Beatles, Oldies Coast To Coast, Little Walter's Time Machine
, Glenn Sauter's Hits of Yesteryear and Cool Bobby B's Doo Wop Stop
. That format ran from the summer of 2003 to the spring of 2006.
On-air personalities included Marco Simmons(who also did high school sports play by play), Dale Grimm (also Sales Manager),Joe Madigan (then a student intern from John Carroll University
and its campus FM station WJCU
) and Bob Roberts (Bob Pitsch, General Manager). Michelle Phillips (Michelle Smart)
worked with a news background as Darrel Bauer's replacement and later as Bob's on-air sidekick,Brad Lovett was sales associate and live remote broadcast personality and Jim Linthicum did freelance voice-over work for the oldies format.
They then switched to "Springfield's Sunshine Station" with a format of "The Fun Hits of the 70s and More" featuring primarily Top 40 hits of the 70s and early 80s, anchored by "The Bubba and Bubbey Morning Show" (Rich Mellott and Brad Lovett.) On-air, traffic, sales and production staff included Linda Mellott, Natalia Mendez, and Bob Blindauer. During this time billings and long term contracts increased, and many on-air promotions and giveaways were done. In October 2006, the morning show and other staffers went on tours of haunted houses all over Southwest and Central Ohio, and gave away tickets to listeners. Winners were able to attend shows featuring the Blue Man Group, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Kenny Loggins, at Nationwide Arena and the Nutter Center, as well as performances of "Beauty and the Beast", "Cats" and a Rat Pack tribute show at Victoria Theatre and the Schuster Center in Downtown Dayton. The fun continued as WULM's format was flipped to Christmas music of all genres in November and December 2006, with staffers and winners having the opportunty to visit the Christmas Story House in Cleveland and the Clifton Mill holiday lights.
1600 WULM (as "Springfield's Community Station" from 2007 to 2008) aired Chrstian-oriented News/Talk from the USA Radio Network
. They carried nearly all of their entire talk programming schedule as well as their news and sports updates.
Besides the USA Radio Network WULM continued providing great local sports coverage. It aired a sports program on Saturday morning from 9:00-10:30, which is hosted by long time WULM sports personalities Dave Williams, (The Coach) Jim Scoby, and John Derr. The "Saturday Morning Sports Show" (formally The Springfield Sports Show) had local high school sports talk along with Ohio State and Wittenberg talk in college sports. In professional, the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals are covered in the NFL and the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds are covered in the MLB. The program also featured interviews with local sports personalities (most recently James Laurnitis of the Buckeyes). During Ohio State football they aired an Ohio State football show live on Thursday nights from Joe's 40 US Highway Grille in Springfield as well as carrying all the Buckeye games through The Ohio State Football Radio Network. WULM also carried Ohio State basketball through the Ohio State Basketball Radio Network. They also, of course (as they have for over 15 years), WULM featured live play-by-play coverage of local high school sports with Williams doing the play-by-play calling and Scoby covering the commentator duties.
WULM had a history of sending their sports department people a long way. Former sports director Marty Bannister is now a sideline reporter on the Ohio State Football Radio Network and is also the voice of Ohio State Women's basketball. Scott Leo, a former play-by-play man and talk show host for four years at WULM, is now the voice of the Columbus Clippers and does play-by-play high school football for WONE/WIZE in the fall. He also covers Wittenberg football, basketball, and baseball for Wittenberg's campus radio
station. (WUSO
-FM 89.1)
WULM also had local programming. One such program was Urban Light Ministries president Rev. Eli Williams' mid-morning (10:00) talk program "Crossing Over" dealing with local people and issues from a Christian and local community perspective. Rev. Williams is also the host of "Urban Light Radio" a contemporary gospel music program which aired on WULM during Sunday morning programming. It still can be heard on Saturdays on Cedarville University's WKCD and on its "CDR Radio" network of repeaters and translators as well as its online stream.
WULM also served the community with Speak Out a locally produced community forum/on air town meeting on Saturday mornings after The Saturday Morning Sports Show for 10:30 to 12:00 which invited listeners input to local issues. The show, hosted and moderated by Larry Spicer has had guests such as political figures such as Steve Austria and Ross Megregor and countless others as well as people from local events ranging from the Enon Apple Butter Festival to Shawnee's High School Band Festival to the Farmer's Market at the Heritage Center.
From 2002 until July 2009, WULM's(and predecessor WBLY's) studios and offices were located on Miracle Mile in Springfield, at the transmitter site and former studios of WIZE
which simulcast the programming of WONE
in Dayton
until the spring of 2011 when WIZE switched to a satellite country music format being fed from Clear Channel Dayton. WULM's transmitter is located on Miller Road off State Route 41 West which is also the transmitting site of WDHT
-FM..originally the site of the former WBLY-AM and WAZU-FM, which was the former WBLY-FM, when both stations were owned by Champion City Broadcasting.
story dated March 10, 2008,the station was purchased by Radio Maria
,an Italian-based Catholic radio network which owns and operates KJMJ
,it's originating USA English language station in Alexandria, Louisiana
. The sale and transfer of license of WULM was filed on February 15, 2008 and was later approved on April 16, 2008 by the FCC. The switchover to Radio Maria
programming took place at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time on Saturday May 31, 2008. The WULM signal not only reaches the Dayton, Springfield and Miami Valley area, but reaches east towards Columbus, south towards Wilmington and Middletown,north towards Urbana and Bellefontaine and west towards Richmond, Indiana during daylight hours.
An audiostream can also be accessed from its website (and from this article) for its listeners during evening hours (and outside its signal area) when WULM must power down just before local sunset to 34 watts in order to avoid interference with 25,000 watt KRVA (AM)
a Spanish language station in the Dallas/Fort Worth market and with urban progressive talker WWRL
in New York City also with a 25,000 watt signal.
Originating station KJMJ
has been on the air as the US flagship station of Radio Maria since May 2000. Originally, the 580 frequency was home to KALB (AM) sister station to KALB-TV
channel 5.
Radio Maria was founded at first with humble beginnings as a small parish operated station in Como, Italy in 1983 before its subsequent international growth in the 1990s which gave birth to the World Family in 1998. Emanuele Ferrario is Radio Maria's founder and president.
-FM licensed in Anna (serving the Upper Miami Valley and greater Lima area) for the most part is a repeater of KJMJ
, there are several locally originating programs including "Living With Mary" which airs on Friday afternoons,Francesca Franchina's "From The Tummy To The Heart" and "Francesca and Friends" from The University of Dayton's Marian Library. Future plans will include some local programs from the new Springfield studio and from Dayton's U.D. studio. The Miracle Mile studios were only used for broadcasting the originating network feed from Alexandria's KJMJ
from May 2008 until February 2009. Due to satellite reception problems incurred early-on when its receiving dish was re-aligned,a new dish was installed at the Miller Rd. transmitting site in February 2009. In July 2009,Radio Maria and St. Vincent DePaul Society volunteers from the Dayton area moved the WULM studio facilities from the Miracle Mile location to a new studio which is located on the second floor of the Rev. John P. Boyle Memorial Center (the former parish convent also known as The Father Boyle Center) at 920 Lagonda Avenue next to St. Bernard Parish and the adjacent school east of downtown Springfield. The new studio location now feeds locally originating programs from Springfield to originator KJMJ and its repeater network. One such program which is produced locally from the Dayton area in neighboring Centerville, Ohio
is The Young Saints Club geared to elementary school age youth which airs on Saturday mornings from 11 to 11:30 am local time.
In addition to the Springfield studio at the Father Boyle Center,a Dayton studio with administrative offices opened in the summer of 2011 in the Marianist Center at Mount Saint John(the rear entrance to Bergamo Center) at 2235 East Patterson Road in Beavercreek where more live local programs will air. The current mailing address for WULM remains as P.O. Box 3339 Dayton, Ohio 45401 where inquiries for station donations and needed local volunteers will be referred to.
WULM listeners can also access the Radio Maria audiostream through the iPhone
, BlackBerry
, and Android mobile phone devices during the night time hours outside of Clark County and outside its regular daytime signal area. Downloads for the respective mobile device apps are found in the links below and at the Radio Maria USA website.
Aside from the WIZE transmitter still located at Miracle Mile,the studio facilities are now vacant.
A Spanish language program "Peublo De Dios" (People of God) geared to the local Hispanic community is aired on Saturdays from 12 noon until 1pm local time. Overnight programming airs from the New York City area originated by Radio Maria New York on WSNR
620 am licensed in Jersey City, New Jersey
.
Mary Pyper is national board president,Joshua Danis is national and local coordinator, Alicia Risko is volunteer coordinator, Jim Linthicum is local audio production and remote broadcast technician, Todd Caylor is Springfield audio technician,Greg Forsthoefel is Dayton audio technician. Father Duane Stenzel O.F.M. was national program director,spiritual director,teacher and Mass celebrant from 2000 until his passing in January 2011. Frank Hare is national studio/production manager in Alexandria's base at KJMJ
.
The WBLY calls are currently used by a low-power FM station in Sycamore, Georgia.
The WJEL calls are currently used by a high school FM station in Indianapolis, Indiana
Radio Maria
Radio Maria is an international Catholic radio broadcasting service founded in Erba, province of Como, in the diocese of Milan in 1983. The World Family of Radio Maria was formed in 1998 and today has branches in 55 countries around the world...
" 1600-AM (for "Under (Our) Lady's Mantle") is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
non-commercial 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...
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 in Springfield, Ohio
Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg...
serving the Springfield
Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg...
and Dayton
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
area with Catholic insprational programming . It operates at 1600 kHz with a power output of 1,000 watts daytime and with a reduced power of 34 watts nighttime. It is a repeater of KJMJ
KJMJ
KJMJ "Radio Maria" is an American AM radio broadcasting stationin Alexandria, Louisiana where the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana is also headquartered and is the originating English language station of Radio Maria USA airing Catholic programming.-History:Originally founded in 1935 as KALB ,...
580 kHz in Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
,the originating English language station of Radio Maria USA.
History
WULM's history dates back to 1946 when it was founded as commercial daytime station WJEL. At the time of its founding, the station was licensed in nearby Dayton, OhioDayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
. Country music singer Donnie Bowser (Bowshier), a Springfield resident performed frequently on WJEL's live Saturday night program. In 1954, the station was moved to Springfield and was given new call letters: WBLY,which previously had been used by the present-day WIMA
WIMA (AM)
WIMA "The Talk Station" is a commercial AM broadcasting station operating at 1150 kHz in Lima, Ohio owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications which also operates FM sister stations WIMT, WLWD, WZRX-FM and WMLX from its studio and office location on West Market Street. Its transmitter...
in Lima, Ohio
Lima, Ohio
Lima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
. The BLY in WBLY stood for Bailey, Lucas and Yontz. The Initials of the Three principal owners. The stations move was nearly coincidental with the move of Springfield station WWSO to Dayton, where it became WAVI (now known as the AM incarnation of WDAO
WDAO
WDAO "The Real Rhythm Of The City" is a daytime-only commercial AM radio station in Dayton, Ohio operating on the frequency of 1210 kHz with a power of 1,000 watts...
formerly at 107.7 FM). WBLY's studios were first located in the Chamber of Commerce building at the corner of Spring and High streets in the early 1950s then moving to a more modern facility at 1711 West Main Street along with sister WBLY-FM which would later become WAZU (formerly WJEM,the FM sister to the original WJEL.)
The station used the call letters WBLY from 1954 to 2002. It was owned and operated by Champion City Broadcasting which in the mid 1980s moved its studios to the restored (original) city building located downtown along with WAZU-FM prior to being sold off in the 1990s leaving WBLY without an FM. Bob Yontz sold the remaining AM station to son Ronald- hence Champion City Broadcasting became RAY (Ronald A. Yontz) Broadcasting operated by Jerry Staggs as part of a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
with WIZE
WIZE
WIZE — branded WIZE AM 1340 — is a commercial radio station in Springfield, Ohio owned by Clear Channel Communications as part of their Dayton cluster...
which he briefly owned and moving the WBLY studios to the WIZE site until 2002 when it was sold to Urban Light Ministries, a local non-denominational Christian charity in April 2002 which adopted the WULM call letters in August of that same year. Urban Light's purchase of the station kept it a locally owned and operated community citizen and was intended to help provide operating funds and a medium for the local ministry to reach out to pre-believers and to families in need. WULM remained the last locally owned/operated commercial radio station licensed by the FCC to Springfield still operating with studios and offices in Springfield until May 31, 2008.
John Hall(John Stalder), a long time Springfield radio broadcast legend was the first station manager of WULM from 2002 to 2003. After Hall's passing in 2004 ,the on-air studio originally used by WIZE
WIZE
WIZE — branded WIZE AM 1340 — is a commercial radio station in Springfield, Ohio owned by Clear Channel Communications as part of their Dayton cluster...
was renovated in 2005 and dedicated in his memory by his longtime friend Bob Pitsch who was station manager from 2003 to 2006. Hall was best known as the long time morning personality at WIZE
WIZE
WIZE — branded WIZE AM 1340 — is a commercial radio station in Springfield, Ohio owned by Clear Channel Communications as part of their Dayton cluster...
and later a personality at WKSW, WLW
WLW
WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
, WGRR
WGRR
WGRR is a Classic Hits radio station in the Cincinnati, Ohio market on the FM dial at 103.5, owned by Cumulus Media.-History:Originally WHOH when founded in the 1950s by Fort Hamilton Broadcasting which aired middle of the road and beautiful music through the 1960s...
, WBNS (AM)
WBNS (AM)
WBNS — branded 1460 ESPN — is a radio station that broadcasts from Columbus, Ohio. The station, which originally went on the air as WCAH in 1922, currently broadcasts a sports talk format and carries ESPN talk programming. WBNS is also the flagship of the Ohio State Buckeyes radio network. It is...
and the former WCLR
WHIO-FM
WHIO-FM is a news/talk radio station licensed to serve the community of Pleasant Hill, Ohio.Until October 30, 2006, WHIO-FM was known as WDPT "95.7 The Point." The station now simulcasts the programming of News/Talk 1290 WHIO in Dayton...
/WZLR
WZLR
WZLR known as "The New 95.3 The Eagle" is a radio station broadcasting a 80's Hits format. Licensed to Xenia, Ohio, USA, it serves the Dayton area. According to the FCC's website, the station has transmitted at 6,000 watts since 1998. The studio and offices are located at 1611 South Main Street...
"Oldies 95" in addition to doing voice-over work for the former WTJC-TV (now WBDT
WBDT
WBDT is the CW-affiliated television station for Ohio's Miami Valley. Licensed to Springfield, the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter in the Frytown section of Dayton. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 13 and in high...
) and for numerous radio commercials and announcements in the Dayton-Springfield area.
WBLY FM
Now WDHTWDHT
WDHT, "Hot 102.9", is an Rhythmic Contemporary radio station in Urbana, Ohio serving the Dayton/Springfield area that broadcasts on the 102.9 frequency. WDHT is currently owned by Main Line Broadcasting which also owns WING-AM, WROU-FM, WCLI-FM and WGTZ-FM...
(Hot 102.9), WBLY-FM was founded in 1958 and broadcast at 102.9 on the dial. It was a simulcast of WBLY-AM from 1958–1979 and played the same middle of the road format as WBLY-AM. It was also owned by Champion City Broadcasting. In 1979 they changed the call letters to WAZU ("FM-103 The Zoo...From A to Z to You") and stopped simulcasting WBLY-AM and began playing adult contemporary music aimed at the Dayton audience. At that time it was licensed to Springfield and had the same studios as WBLY. In the late 1980s, one of the principal owners died. The heirs had the station appraised and found it to be worth millions of dollars. The station went on the market and was sold to Osborne Communications. From 1988-1995 the station competed fiercely with WTUE-FM but in 1995 it was sold to Great Trails Broadcasting and its call letters where changed to WING and it played classic rock from 1995-2001. It was known as WING-FM and had the same format until 2001 when it was sold to Radio One and changed changed to its current call sign WDHT
WDHT
WDHT, "Hot 102.9", is an Rhythmic Contemporary radio station in Urbana, Ohio serving the Dayton/Springfield area that broadcasts on the 102.9 frequency. WDHT is currently owned by Main Line Broadcasting which also owns WING-AM, WROU-FM, WCLI-FM and WGTZ-FM...
and its urban format, "Blazin Hip Hop and R&B". Mainline Broadcasting took over the station in 2007.
The WING call letters are still in use (and were in use before WING-FM) by "ESPN Radio 1410", or WING
WING
WING "ESPN 1410" is a commercial AM radio station in Dayton, Ohio operating with 5,000 watts at 1410 kHz with studios, offices and transmitter located on David Road in Kettering. It is the first full-time commercial radio station in Dayton...
-AM
Past Programming
WULM has had many different formats over the years since it started broadcasting. Originally country(as WJEL) when it was founded, when it was sold to a group of local businessmen and the call letters were changed to WBLY for the principals - Bailey, Lucas and Yontz. The station operated at 1600 kHz with 1000 watts of power from sunrise to sunset. During winter months, WBLY was authorized to operate at 250 watts from 6:00 AM until sunrise. The format was changed to talk in the morning along with music, with its host Smilin' Bob (Bob Yontz) and was a MOR station (Middle of the Road) the rest of the day. Smilin Bob remained a personality on the station through the 70's and into the early 90's. He became greatly known all around the valley. He was famous for giving all of his callers a nickname, and he handed out many. WBLY also aired a Sunday morning big band program hosted by Roger Sharp that was the top rated program in its time slot for the Dayton area. Upon Sharp's death in 1989, the Sunday morning progam was hosted by Tom Eipper (airname Tom James). In 1981 WBLY changed its format to classic country and switching to oldies in 1987 and the following year it was "sold" to Yontz's son Ron, who operated RAY broadcasting. In 1988 WBLY moved its tower from its former AM-friendly location off West First Street to a more FM-friendly location on Miller Road. The tower move increased WAZU's coverage in the Dayton area, but was detrimental to the AM station. Also in 1988 WBLY (which was a "daytime" station) received authorization to operate 24 hours per day. The authorized power from sunset to sunrise was 30 watts. To celebrate, and in keeping with the format, staff members Dale Grimm and Jim Mosier were on the air for 24 continuous hours, operating from the station's "street studio" on the first floor of the Marketplace on South Fountain Avenue.WBLY switched the format to a news/sports/talk format in the early 1990s. WBLY did mostly Catholic Central games until WIZE
WIZE
WIZE — branded WIZE AM 1340 — is a commercial radio station in Springfield, Ohio owned by Clear Channel Communications as part of their Dayton cluster...
went under and then began airing all teams in Clark County. It was famous for not only having 1 game but in football and basketball it aired one game live and one game on tape delay. It also did Wittenberg football and basketball games along with a show during the week. It also had a high school sports talk show during the week and a popular show on Saturday morning called "Sports Scene". During the tournament it would air all local teams' games, and sometimes there would be so many teams playing that they would go until 2:00 am. They also had great news coverage, and the news director was Darrel Bauer, who is now at WHIO.
In 2002 WBLY was sold to Urban Light Ministries. After they changed the call letter to WULM they continued to have a news/sports/talk format but added more programming including a local morning talk show and a late-morning talk show that talked about the issues in Clark County. After that sports director Marty Bannister continued his "Sports Scene" show that he aired during the week and had done before when it was WBLY. They also added more network programming, including Bill O'Reilley.
Unable to attract new listeners (and advertisers) with a talk format, WULM went to a unique "Rock n' Soul Classics" format. It spotlighted the vintage hits from the first generation of the Top 40 and R&B genres. During this time, its weekend programs along with NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
coverage included The Motown Show, Dennis Mitchell's Breakfast With The Beatles, Oldies Coast To Coast, Little Walter's Time Machine
Little Walter DeVenne
Little Walter DeVenne is an American radio personality who was for many years based in Boston, Massachusetts. He now lives in New Hampshire and is the host of the syndicated retro oldies program Little Walter's Time Machine focusing on the pop, doo-wop, blues, R&B and early rock n' roll hits of the...
, Glenn Sauter's Hits of Yesteryear and Cool Bobby B's Doo Wop Stop
Cool Bobby B
Cool Bobby B is a radio disc jockey who hosts a doo-wop oldies radio program called Cool Bobby B's Doo Wop Stop. This show is syndicated on local radio stations throughout the United States and can also be heard on the Sirius XM Satellite Radio channel '50s on 5...
. That format ran from the summer of 2003 to the spring of 2006.
On-air personalities included Marco Simmons(who also did high school sports play by play), Dale Grimm (also Sales Manager),Joe Madigan (then a student intern from John Carroll University
John Carroll University
John Carroll University is a private, co-educational Jesuit Catholic university in University Heights, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland. The university was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesus as Saint Ignatius College.The university was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesus, as...
and its campus FM station WJCU
WJCU
WJCU is a non-commercial FM radio station at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, United States, broadcasting at 88.7 MHz. WJCU broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in the Cleveland area and online...
) and Bob Roberts (Bob Pitsch, General Manager). Michelle Phillips (Michelle Smart)
worked with a news background as Darrel Bauer's replacement and later as Bob's on-air sidekick,Brad Lovett was sales associate and live remote broadcast personality and Jim Linthicum did freelance voice-over work for the oldies format.
They then switched to "Springfield's Sunshine Station" with a format of "The Fun Hits of the 70s and More" featuring primarily Top 40 hits of the 70s and early 80s, anchored by "The Bubba and Bubbey Morning Show" (Rich Mellott and Brad Lovett.) On-air, traffic, sales and production staff included Linda Mellott, Natalia Mendez, and Bob Blindauer. During this time billings and long term contracts increased, and many on-air promotions and giveaways were done. In October 2006, the morning show and other staffers went on tours of haunted houses all over Southwest and Central Ohio, and gave away tickets to listeners. Winners were able to attend shows featuring the Blue Man Group, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Kenny Loggins, at Nationwide Arena and the Nutter Center, as well as performances of "Beauty and the Beast", "Cats" and a Rat Pack tribute show at Victoria Theatre and the Schuster Center in Downtown Dayton. The fun continued as WULM's format was flipped to Christmas music of all genres in November and December 2006, with staffers and winners having the opportunty to visit the Christmas Story House in Cleveland and the Clifton Mill holiday lights.
1600 WULM (as "Springfield's Community Station" from 2007 to 2008) aired Chrstian-oriented News/Talk from the USA Radio Network
USA Radio Network
The USA Radio Network is a syndicator of talk radio programming established in 1985. It provides programming to approximately 1,100 radio stations around the world, plus the American Forces Network and XM Satellite Radio, and can be heard on the internet from USA Radio's website.On March 5, 2008,...
. They carried nearly all of their entire talk programming schedule as well as their news and sports updates.
Besides the USA Radio Network WULM continued providing great local sports coverage. It aired a sports program on Saturday morning from 9:00-10:30, which is hosted by long time WULM sports personalities Dave Williams, (The Coach) Jim Scoby, and John Derr. The "Saturday Morning Sports Show" (formally The Springfield Sports Show) had local high school sports talk along with Ohio State and Wittenberg talk in college sports. In professional, the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals are covered in the NFL and the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds are covered in the MLB. The program also featured interviews with local sports personalities (most recently James Laurnitis of the Buckeyes). During Ohio State football they aired an Ohio State football show live on Thursday nights from Joe's 40 US Highway Grille in Springfield as well as carrying all the Buckeye games through The Ohio State Football Radio Network. WULM also carried Ohio State basketball through the Ohio State Basketball Radio Network. They also, of course (as they have for over 15 years), WULM featured live play-by-play coverage of local high school sports with Williams doing the play-by-play calling and Scoby covering the commentator duties.
WULM had a history of sending their sports department people a long way. Former sports director Marty Bannister is now a sideline reporter on the Ohio State Football Radio Network and is also the voice of Ohio State Women's basketball. Scott Leo, a former play-by-play man and talk show host for four years at WULM, is now the voice of the Columbus Clippers and does play-by-play high school football for WONE/WIZE in the fall. He also covers Wittenberg football, basketball, and baseball for Wittenberg's campus radio
Campus radio
Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...
station. (WUSO
WUSO
WUSO is a student run college radio station broadcasting an Album Oriented Rock radio format. Licensed to Springfield, Ohio. 89.1 WUSO, has started simulcasting the Dayton classical music station WDPR Monday through Friday mornings from 6 am until 10 am. Its studios are located in the basement of...
-FM 89.1)
WULM also had local programming. One such program was Urban Light Ministries president Rev. Eli Williams' mid-morning (10:00) talk program "Crossing Over" dealing with local people and issues from a Christian and local community perspective. Rev. Williams is also the host of "Urban Light Radio" a contemporary gospel music program which aired on WULM during Sunday morning programming. It still can be heard on Saturdays on Cedarville University's WKCD and on its "CDR Radio" network of repeaters and translators as well as its online stream.
WULM also served the community with Speak Out a locally produced community forum/on air town meeting on Saturday mornings after The Saturday Morning Sports Show for 10:30 to 12:00 which invited listeners input to local issues. The show, hosted and moderated by Larry Spicer has had guests such as political figures such as Steve Austria and Ross Megregor and countless others as well as people from local events ranging from the Enon Apple Butter Festival to Shawnee's High School Band Festival to the Farmer's Market at the Heritage Center.
From 2002 until July 2009, WULM's(and predecessor WBLY's) studios and offices were located on Miracle Mile in Springfield, at the transmitter site and former studios of WIZE
WIZE
WIZE — branded WIZE AM 1340 — is a commercial radio station in Springfield, Ohio owned by Clear Channel Communications as part of their Dayton cluster...
which simulcast the programming of WONE
WONE (AM)
WONE is an AM radio station in Dayton, Ohio operating on 980 kHz with a Sports Talk format. It carries programming from Fox Sports Radio, as well as the Jim Rome Show and the Dan Patrick Show .-History:The station took the air in 1949, licensed to Skyland Broadcasting Corp...
in Dayton
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
until the spring of 2011 when WIZE switched to a satellite country music format being fed from Clear Channel Dayton. WULM's transmitter is located on Miller Road off State Route 41 West which is also the transmitting site of WDHT
WDHT
WDHT, "Hot 102.9", is an Rhythmic Contemporary radio station in Urbana, Ohio serving the Dayton/Springfield area that broadcasts on the 102.9 frequency. WDHT is currently owned by Main Line Broadcasting which also owns WING-AM, WROU-FM, WCLI-FM and WGTZ-FM...
-FM..originally the site of the former WBLY-AM and WAZU-FM, which was the former WBLY-FM, when both stations were owned by Champion City Broadcasting.
Switchover to Radio Maria
According to a Springfield News-SunSpringfield News-Sun
The Springfield News-Sun is a daily newspaper published in Springfield, Ohio by Cox Enterprises, which also publishes the Dayton Daily News. Both newspapers contain similar editorial content, but tailor their local news coverage to the area served. The News-Sun primarily serves Springfield and...
story dated March 10, 2008,the station was purchased by Radio Maria
Radio Maria
Radio Maria is an international Catholic radio broadcasting service founded in Erba, province of Como, in the diocese of Milan in 1983. The World Family of Radio Maria was formed in 1998 and today has branches in 55 countries around the world...
,an Italian-based Catholic radio network which owns and operates KJMJ
KJMJ
KJMJ "Radio Maria" is an American AM radio broadcasting stationin Alexandria, Louisiana where the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana is also headquartered and is the originating English language station of Radio Maria USA airing Catholic programming.-History:Originally founded in 1935 as KALB ,...
,it's originating USA English language station in Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
. The sale and transfer of license of WULM was filed on February 15, 2008 and was later approved on April 16, 2008 by the FCC. The switchover to Radio Maria
Radio Maria
Radio Maria is an international Catholic radio broadcasting service founded in Erba, province of Como, in the diocese of Milan in 1983. The World Family of Radio Maria was formed in 1998 and today has branches in 55 countries around the world...
programming took place at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time on Saturday May 31, 2008. The WULM signal not only reaches the Dayton, Springfield and Miami Valley area, but reaches east towards Columbus, south towards Wilmington and Middletown,north towards Urbana and Bellefontaine and west towards Richmond, Indiana during daylight hours.
An audiostream can also be accessed from its website (and from this article) for its listeners during evening hours (and outside its signal area) when WULM must power down just before local sunset to 34 watts in order to avoid interference with 25,000 watt KRVA (AM)
KRVA (AM)
KRVA, branded as "La Buena 1600", is a Spanish language radio station, broadcasting in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. This station is licensed in Cockrell Hill, Texas and it's under ownership of Mortenson Broadcasting.-History:...
a Spanish language station in the Dallas/Fort Worth market and with urban progressive talker WWRL
WWRL
WWRL is a radio station in New York City, broadcasting at 1600 kHz AM owned by Access.1 Communications. Since September 1, 2006, its format has been progressive talk radio...
in New York City also with a 25,000 watt signal.
Originating station KJMJ
KJMJ
KJMJ "Radio Maria" is an American AM radio broadcasting stationin Alexandria, Louisiana where the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana is also headquartered and is the originating English language station of Radio Maria USA airing Catholic programming.-History:Originally founded in 1935 as KALB ,...
has been on the air as the US flagship station of Radio Maria since May 2000. Originally, the 580 frequency was home to KALB (AM) sister station to KALB-TV
KALB-TV
KALB-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Central Louisiana licensed to Alexandria. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter in Forest Hill. The station can also be seen on Suddenlink channel 5 and in high definition on digital channel 730...
channel 5.
Radio Maria was founded at first with humble beginnings as a small parish operated station in Como, Italy in 1983 before its subsequent international growth in the 1990s which gave birth to the World Family in 1998. Emanuele Ferrario is Radio Maria's founder and president.
Facilities and programming
The Miller Road transmitter site shared with WDHT-FM is still in use. Though WULM along with WHJMWHJM
WHJM, "Radio Maria" is a non-commercial FM station operating at 88.7 mHz licensed to Anna, Ohio. It is a repeater station of KJMJ 580 in Alexandria, Louisiana and is owned by Radio Maria Inc...
-FM licensed in Anna (serving the Upper Miami Valley and greater Lima area) for the most part is a repeater of KJMJ
KJMJ
KJMJ "Radio Maria" is an American AM radio broadcasting stationin Alexandria, Louisiana where the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana is also headquartered and is the originating English language station of Radio Maria USA airing Catholic programming.-History:Originally founded in 1935 as KALB ,...
, there are several locally originating programs including "Living With Mary" which airs on Friday afternoons,Francesca Franchina's "From The Tummy To The Heart" and "Francesca and Friends" from The University of Dayton's Marian Library. Future plans will include some local programs from the new Springfield studio and from Dayton's U.D. studio. The Miracle Mile studios were only used for broadcasting the originating network feed from Alexandria's KJMJ
KJMJ
KJMJ "Radio Maria" is an American AM radio broadcasting stationin Alexandria, Louisiana where the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana is also headquartered and is the originating English language station of Radio Maria USA airing Catholic programming.-History:Originally founded in 1935 as KALB ,...
from May 2008 until February 2009. Due to satellite reception problems incurred early-on when its receiving dish was re-aligned,a new dish was installed at the Miller Rd. transmitting site in February 2009. In July 2009,Radio Maria and St. Vincent DePaul Society volunteers from the Dayton area moved the WULM studio facilities from the Miracle Mile location to a new studio which is located on the second floor of the Rev. John P. Boyle Memorial Center (the former parish convent also known as The Father Boyle Center) at 920 Lagonda Avenue next to St. Bernard Parish and the adjacent school east of downtown Springfield. The new studio location now feeds locally originating programs from Springfield to originator KJMJ and its repeater network. One such program which is produced locally from the Dayton area in neighboring Centerville, Ohio
Centerville, Ohio
Centerville, Ohio is a city in Montgomery and Greene Counties in the U.S. state of Ohio.Centerville, Ohio may also refer to:*Centerville, Gallia County, Ohio*Centerville, Clinton County, Ohio or Lees Creek...
is The Young Saints Club geared to elementary school age youth which airs on Saturday mornings from 11 to 11:30 am local time.
In addition to the Springfield studio at the Father Boyle Center,a Dayton studio with administrative offices opened in the summer of 2011 in the Marianist Center at Mount Saint John(the rear entrance to Bergamo Center) at 2235 East Patterson Road in Beavercreek where more live local programs will air. The current mailing address for WULM remains as P.O. Box 3339 Dayton, Ohio 45401 where inquiries for station donations and needed local volunteers will be referred to.
WULM listeners can also access the Radio Maria audiostream through the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
, and Android mobile phone devices during the night time hours outside of Clark County and outside its regular daytime signal area. Downloads for the respective mobile device apps are found in the links below and at the Radio Maria USA website.
Aside from the WIZE transmitter still located at Miracle Mile,the studio facilities are now vacant.
A Spanish language program "Peublo De Dios" (People of God) geared to the local Hispanic community is aired on Saturdays from 12 noon until 1pm local time. Overnight programming airs from the New York City area originated by Radio Maria New York on WSNR
WSNR
WSNR, AM 620, is a radio station in the New York metropolitan area with a brokered time format owned by Blackstrap Broadcasting. On Saturdays and Sundays WSNR, AM 620, is a radio station in the New York metropolitan area with a brokered time format owned by Blackstrap Broadcasting. On Saturdays and...
620 am licensed in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
.
Mary Pyper is national board president,Joshua Danis is national and local coordinator, Alicia Risko is volunteer coordinator, Jim Linthicum is local audio production and remote broadcast technician, Todd Caylor is Springfield audio technician,Greg Forsthoefel is Dayton audio technician. Father Duane Stenzel O.F.M. was national program director,spiritual director,teacher and Mass celebrant from 2000 until his passing in January 2011. Frank Hare is national studio/production manager in Alexandria's base at KJMJ
KJMJ
KJMJ "Radio Maria" is an American AM radio broadcasting stationin Alexandria, Louisiana where the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana is also headquartered and is the originating English language station of Radio Maria USA airing Catholic programming.-History:Originally founded in 1935 as KALB ,...
.
The WBLY calls are currently used by a low-power FM station in Sycamore, Georgia.
The WJEL calls are currently used by a high school FM station in Indianapolis, Indiana
Sources
- Springfield News-Sun article of WULM's pending sale to Radio Maria. (March 7, 2008)
- Springfield News-Sun story of WULM's transfer of license to Radio Maria. (March 10, 2008)
- Greater Cincinnati Radio Guide
External links
- Official Radio Maria USA site (with streaming audio)
- Radio Maria WULM on Facebook
- Radio Maria USA's stations in English,Spanish and Italian
- Official site of World Family of Radio Maria (with streaming audio)
- Official Radio Maria Italy site (with streaming audio)
- Radio Maria app download for iPhone
- Radio Maria app download for Blackberry
- Radio Maria app download for Android