WEAE
Encyclopedia
WDDZ is an AM
radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, USA
, broadcasting at 1250 kHz with a power level of 5,000 watt
s. The station is an ABC
owned and operated station and serves as the Pittsburgh affiliate of Radio Disney
. WDDZ resides in the building of former sister station WTAE-TV
, at 400 Ardmore Boulevard in Wilkinsburg
.
Kaufmann & Baer's, and operated at 833 kHz (as all stations did at that time); it moved to 750 kHz in December and to 650 in May 1923. Kaufmann and Baer's was purchased in 1925 by Gimbels; this made WCAE the company's third radio station, after WIP in Philadelphia and WGBS
in New York City
. The station became an affiliate of the NBC
Red Network
in January 1927. It moved to 560 kHz on June 15, 1927, but in November returned to 650; a year later, WCAE moved to 1220 kHz.
WCAE was acquired by Hearst Corporation
in 1931. The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
moved the station to 1250 kHz on March 29, 1941; on November 1, it became a full-time affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System
(which previously aired on both WCAE and KQV
), with NBC Red moving to KDKA
. Another affiliation change took place on June 15, 1945, when WCAE swapped affiliations with KQV and joined the Blue Network
, which changed its name to the American Broadcasting Company
(ABC) that same day. An FM
sister station at 96.1 MHz was started in 1948; WCAE-FM was shut down in 1953, but was restarted August 8, 1960. WCAE lost the ABC affiliation to WJAS
on May 21, 1955. The station expanded into television three years later, with the debut of WTAE
(channel 4) on September 4, 1958, initially as a joint venture of Hearst and the former owners of KQV; this arrangement had led to the sale of KQV to ABC in 1957 to avoid duopoly concerns.
WCAE began stunting
on May 27, 1961, promoting a new format to begin two days later; at that time, the station changed its call letters to WRYT and began playing beautiful music
. Another call letter change occurred five years later, when the station became WTAE to match its television sister station (which had become wholly owned by Hearst by this time); soon afterward, the station shifted to a middle-of-the-road format.
WTAE shifted its format again in 1973, this time to a oldies
-heavy adult contemporary format under general manager Ted Atkins, who used programming techniques he had learned from Bill Drake
at KHJ
in Los Angeles
. The widely popular morning show, O'Brien & Garry, featured Larry O'Brien and John Garry doing comedy skits, playing music, and other general morning fare. The format proved successful — by 1980, WTAE had become the number-two station in Pittsburgh, trailing only KDKA. The station also had a heavy sports commitment; it became the flagship station of the Pittsburgh Steelers
in 1969, and around the same time became the home of the Pittsburgh Panthers. WTAE also aired a nightly sports show, hosted for many years by Myron Cope
. The station also added an affiliation with ABC's Entertainment Network by 1976. In 1987, as at many AM radio stations, music was abandoned, and WTAE became a talk
station. Hosts included Jack Bogut, Lynn Cullen
, Doug Hoerth and Phil Musick.
After sixty-six years of ownership, Hearst sold WTAE, along with what had become WVTY (now WKST-FM
), to SFX Broadcasting
in 1997. That November, SFX relaunched WTAE as an all-sports
station. Chancellor Media bought SFX's Pittsburgh stations a year later, and then traded WTAE to Jacor Communications in exchange for WKNR
in Cleveland, Ohio
in August 1998. Jacor changed the call letters to WEAE to disassociate the station from WTAE-TV, which remained owned by Hearst-Argyle. Soon afterward, Jacor put the station up for sale, and in 1999 WEAE was acquired by ABC, which affiliated the station with its ESPN Radio
network. ESPN programming such as Mike and Mike in the Morning
was supplemented by local sports talkers Scott Paulsen
, Mike Logan, Chris Mack, Guy Junker, Stan Savran
, and Stillers 365 (with Ken Laird). Mark Madden
was a host on the station from 1998 until his firing in May 2008 for making an on-air remark that he wished that Sen. Edward Kennedy
be assassinated. Madden returned to the Pittsburgh airwaves on October 13, 2008, with an afternoon drive show on competitor WXDX, which is otherwise a modern rock
station.
Soon after the sale to ABC, WEAE lost the Steelers rights to WDVE
(itself formerly owned by ABC) and WWSW (now WBGG
) after nearly thirty years; a year earlier, WTAE had lost the Pittsburgh Panthers to KQV. The station subsequently picked up the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Although WEAE was generally the top-rated sports station in Pittsburgh, ahead of WBGG, it was not a financial success (at one point losing as much as $2 million) — a problem that only worsened when KDKA-FM was launched as an FM sports station and wooed away some of WEAE's advertisers. After attempts to sell the station ended without a buyer, ABC decided to not renew its lease of WWCS
, which it had run as Pittsburgh's Radio Disney
affiliate, upon its expiration on December 31, 2010, and move Radio Disney to WEAE, with WBGG assuming the ESPN Radio affiliation and Penn State men's basketball
moving to KQV. Local programming was largely canceled on September 25, 2010. When the format change occurred on January 1, 2011, the call letters were changed to the current WDDZ (which were transferred from a former Radio Disney affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island
).
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 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, broadcasting at 1250 kHz with a power level of 5,000 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. The station is an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
owned and operated station and serves as the Pittsburgh affiliate of Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
. WDDZ resides in the building of former sister station WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV is the ABC affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh, broadcasting on UHF channel 51 and identifying via PSIP as channel 4 . It also serves as an ABC affiliate for the Wheeling/Steubenville and Clarksburg/Weston, West Virginia market areas...
, at 400 Ardmore Boulevard in Wilkinsburg
Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania
Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States adjacent to the city of Pittsburgh. The population was 15,930 at the 2010 census, having lost more than 13,000 in the 70 years since 1940, when 29,853 people were enumerated...
.
History
The station is one of the five original Pittsburgh stations, signing on May 4, 1922 as WCAE. It was originally owned by the Pittsburgh department storeDepartment store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
Kaufmann & Baer's, and operated at 833 kHz (as all stations did at that time); it moved to 750 kHz in December and to 650 in May 1923. Kaufmann and Baer's was purchased in 1925 by Gimbels; this made WCAE the company's third radio station, after WIP in Philadelphia and WGBS
WINS (AM)
WINS , known on-air as "Ten-Ten Wins", is a radio station in New York City, owned by CBS Radio. WINS's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, and transmitting towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.WINS is one of the nation's oldest...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The station became an affiliate of the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Red Network
NBC Red Network
The NBC Red Network was one of the two original radio networks of the National Broadcasting Company. After NBC was required to divest itself of its Blue Network , the Red Network continued as the NBC Radio Network.It, along with the Blue Network, were the first two commercial radio networks in the...
in January 1927. It moved to 560 kHz on June 15, 1927, but in November returned to 650; a year later, WCAE moved to 1220 kHz.
WCAE was acquired by Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
in 1931. The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
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...
moved the station to 1250 kHz on March 29, 1941; on November 1, it became a full-time affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
(which previously aired on both WCAE and KQV
KQV
KQV is a radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station, which is the only broadcast station owned by Calvary, Inc., broadcasts at 1410 kHz, with 5000 watts of power day and night. KQV's call letters reportedly stand for King of the Quaker Valley...
), with NBC Red moving to KDKA
KDKA (AM)
KDKA is a radio station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation on November 2, 1920, it is one of the world's first modern radio stations , a distinction that has also been challenged by other stations, although it has claimed to be the first in...
. Another affiliation change took place on June 15, 1945, when WCAE swapped affiliations with KQV and joined the Blue Network
Blue Network
The Blue Network, and its immediate predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, were the on-air names of an American radio production and distribution service from 1927 to 1945...
, which changed its name to the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC) that same day. An FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
sister station at 96.1 MHz was started in 1948; WCAE-FM was shut down in 1953, but was restarted August 8, 1960. WCAE lost the ABC affiliation to WJAS
WJAS
WJAS is an adult standards radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Renda Broadcasting, and broadcasts at 1320 kHz with a power level of 5,000 watts.- The History of 1320 WJAS-AM :...
on May 21, 1955. The station expanded into television three years later, with the debut of WTAE
WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV is the ABC affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh, broadcasting on UHF channel 51 and identifying via PSIP as channel 4 . It also serves as an ABC affiliate for the Wheeling/Steubenville and Clarksburg/Weston, West Virginia market areas...
(channel 4) on September 4, 1958, initially as a joint venture of Hearst and the former owners of KQV; this arrangement had led to the sale of KQV to ABC in 1957 to avoid duopoly concerns.
WCAE began stunting
Stunting (broadcasting)
In radio broadcasting, stunting occurs when a station abruptly airs programming that is seemingly uncharacteristic compared to what they normally play...
on May 27, 1961, promoting a new format to begin two days later; at that time, the station changed its call letters to WRYT and began playing beautiful music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
. Another call letter change occurred five years later, when the station became WTAE to match its television sister station (which had become wholly owned by Hearst by this time); soon afterward, the station shifted to a middle-of-the-road format.
WTAE shifted its format again in 1973, this time to a oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
-heavy adult contemporary format under general manager Ted Atkins, who used programming techniques he had learned from Bill Drake
Bill Drake
Bill Drake , born Philip Yarbrough, was an American radio programmer who co-developed the Boss Radio format with Gene Chenault via their company Drake-Chenault.-Early career:...
at KHJ
KHJ (AM)
KHJ Radio in Los Angeles, California broadcasts Spanish-language entertainment programming as La Ranchera. It was also one of America's most formidable Top 40 radio stations in the 1960s and 1970s as 93 KHJ before changing its format in 1980....
in 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...
. The widely popular morning show, O'Brien & Garry, featured Larry O'Brien and John Garry doing comedy skits, playing music, and other general morning fare. The format proved successful — by 1980, WTAE had become the number-two station in Pittsburgh, trailing only KDKA. The station also had a heavy sports commitment; it became the flagship station of the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
in 1969, and around the same time became the home of the Pittsburgh Panthers. WTAE also aired a nightly sports show, hosted for many years by Myron Cope
Myron Cope
Myron Cope , born Myron Sidney Kopelman, was an American sports journalist, radio personality, and sportscaster who is best known for being "the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers."...
. The station also added an affiliation with ABC's Entertainment Network by 1976. In 1987, as at many AM radio stations, music was abandoned, and WTAE became a 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...
station. Hosts included Jack Bogut, Lynn Cullen
Lynn Cullen
Lynn Cullen is an American liberal radio talk show host in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most recently, she was briefly on radio station WAMO-AM 860 weekdays from 5-7 p.m. EST. As of May 15, 2009, WAMO and several sister stations are in the process of being sold, and Cullen and all other employees...
, Doug Hoerth and Phil Musick.
After sixty-six years of ownership, Hearst sold WTAE, along with what had become WVTY (now WKST-FM
WKST-FM
WKST-FM is a Rhythmic Contemporary outlet based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts at 96.1 MHz, with an ERP of 44 kW...
), to SFX Broadcasting
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
in 1997. That November, SFX relaunched WTAE as an all-sports
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
station. Chancellor Media bought SFX's Pittsburgh stations a year later, and then traded WTAE to Jacor Communications in exchange for WKNR
WKNR
WKNR — branded ESPN 850 WKNR — is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio. Owned by Good Karma Broadcasting, WKNR is the primary Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio; together with sister station WWGK, WKNR is often referred to as ESPN Cleveland.WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate...
in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
in August 1998. Jacor changed the call letters to WEAE to disassociate the station from WTAE-TV, which remained owned by Hearst-Argyle. Soon afterward, Jacor put the station up for sale, and in 1999 WEAE was acquired by ABC, which affiliated the station with its ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
network. ESPN programming such as Mike and Mike in the Morning
Mike and Mike in the Morning
Mike and Mike in the Morning is an American sports-talk radio show hosted by Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg on ESPN Radio and simulcast on television, normally on ESPN2. If ESPN is broadcasting a live sporting event during the show's timeslot, Sportscenter will air on ESPN2, and the show's...
was supplemented by local sports talkers Scott Paulsen
Scott Paulsen
Scott Paulsen is an American radio personality, columnist, and voice actor based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Paulsen began working for WDVE, a Pittsburgh classic rock station, in the 1980s. He became a "morning staple" in the Pittsburgh region on WDVE Morning Show, which he co-hosted with Jim...
, Mike Logan, Chris Mack, Guy Junker, Stan Savran
Stan Savran
Stan Savran is an American sports media personality based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Current work:...
, and Stillers 365 (with Ken Laird). Mark Madden
Mark Madden
Mark Madden is an American radio sports talk-show host in Pittsburgh and also a former World Championship Wrestling color commentator. -Career:...
was a host on the station from 1998 until his firing in May 2008 for making an on-air remark that he wished that Sen. Edward Kennedy
Edward Kennedy
Edward Kennedy may refer to:*Ted Kennedy, Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy , United States Senator from Massachusetts*Edward Kennedy , journalist who first reported the German surrender in World War II*Edward Kennedy, Jr., son of U.S...
be assassinated. Madden returned to the Pittsburgh airwaves on October 13, 2008, with an afternoon drive show on competitor WXDX, which is otherwise a modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
station.
WDVE
WDVE is a mainstream rock music formatted radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA at 102.5 MHz. It is often referred to by Pittsburghers as simply "DVE." WDVE's transmitter is located on Pittsburgh's North Side...
(itself formerly owned by ABC) and WWSW (now WBGG
WBGG (AM)
WBGG is a sports radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts at 970 kHz with 5,000 watts day and night.- History :...
) after nearly thirty years; a year earlier, WTAE had lost the Pittsburgh Panthers to KQV. The station subsequently picked up the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Although WEAE was generally the top-rated sports station in Pittsburgh, ahead of WBGG, it was not a financial success (at one point losing as much as $2 million) — a problem that only worsened when KDKA-FM was launched as an FM sports station and wooed away some of WEAE's advertisers. After attempts to sell the station ended without a buyer, ABC decided to not renew its lease of WWCS
WWCS
WWCS is a Spanish music radio station serving the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania market. The station is owned by Birach Broadcasting Corporation. WWCS broadcasts on 540 kHz with a power of 5,000 watts daytime and is licensed to Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.- History :Prior to being s Spanish music radio...
, which it had run as Pittsburgh's Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
affiliate, upon its expiration on December 31, 2010, and move Radio Disney to WEAE, with WBGG assuming the ESPN Radio affiliation and Penn State men's basketball
Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball
The Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team is a NCAA Division I college basketball team representing the Pennsylvania State University. They are a member of the Big Ten Conference and play home games at the 15,261-seat Bryce Jordan Center, moving there from boisterous Rec Hall during the 1995–96...
moving to KQV. Local programming was largely canceled on September 25, 2010. When the format change occurred on January 1, 2011, the call letters were changed to the current WDDZ (which were transferred from a former Radio Disney affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
).