WFIL
Encyclopedia
WFIL is a radio station and a former television station serving the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. Its transmitter is located in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania
.
Located at 560 on the AM dial
, WFIL is immediately adjacent to New York City
's WMCA
(at 570), and the two stations have similar histories: both were Top 40 stations in the 1960s, both underwent a format evolution as AM radio faded as a music medium, and both have a Christian/religious format today. WFIL and WMCA are both 5,000 watt radio stations, but each one puts less than 5 kW of power in the specific direction of the other, because they are located next to each other on the dial, and are not allowed, by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), to interfere with each other. Both stations also maintained Call For Action
telephone help lines, being among the first radio stations in the United States to do so. The telephone number of WFIL's Call For Action line was GReenwood 7-5312.
, while WDAR was run by Lit Brothers
. While operated independently of each other, the two were able to work out amicable share-time agreements (hundreds of other American stations at the time were unable to do so, and frequently engaged in "jamming wars"). Around 1924, WDAR applied for and received the custom call-sign WLIT. By the late 1920s, the two stations were working jointly on various programs, promotions, and sponsorship efforts. In 1935, the two operators agreed to merge with each department store having representation on the new board of directors. The new call-sign became WFIL, a combination of the two previous identifiers (the fact that the new call letters were close to a phonetic spelling of "Philadelphia" was merely a happy coincidence). The new WFIL was an affiliate of NBC
; some sources say the station never became established as either a "basic Red" or "basic Blue
" outlet, but at least one early WFIL advertisement claimed that it was a "basic Blue" station. Westinghouse's KYW
had replaced WFI-WLIT as the NBC primary for Philadelphia when it moved in from Chicago
a few years before. Starting in December 1944 the station produced Hayloft Hoedown
, picked up by ABC Radio in 1945.
WFIL was purchased in 1947 by Walter Annenberg
's Triangle Publications
, which also owned The Philadelphia Inquirer
. By then WFIL was an affiliate of the newly-named ABC Radio Network. WFIL's sister stations under Triangle Publications ownership were WFIL-FM
and WFIL-TV in Philadelphia; WNHC AM
-FM
-TV
in New Haven, Connecticut
; KFRE AM-FM-TV
in Fresno, California
; WFBG AM
-FM
-TV
in Altoona, Pennsylvania
; WNBF AM
-FM-TV
in Binghamton, New York
; and WLYH-TV
in Lancaster
/Lebanon, Pennsylvania
. Triangle Publications sold WFIL AM-FM-TV to Capital Cities Broadcasting
in 1971 with the radio stations spun off to new owners, WFIL to LIN Broadcasting and WFIL-FM to Richer Communications which changed the call letters to WIOQ
. WFIL-TV took on the new call letters of WPVI-TV
.
), first with Bob Horn, then with Dick Clark as host. Clark started on WFIL radio as a disc jockey in 1952, arriving from Utica, New York
. He continued hosting the TV program for 31 years, the last 30 as a national show carried by the ABC Television Network
. Clark moved the program to Hollywood in 1964.
Shortly after Clark's emergence on the national stage, he became a major figure in the early days of Rock and Roll
as "Bandstand" proved pivotal in helping promote the major stars of the era.
Starting on September 18, 1966, WFIL began playing "Top 40" rock and roll
. It quickly became the most successful non-RKO "Boss Radio" formatted station, known locally as "The Pop Music Explosion". The original line up of air personalities, or "Boss Jocks" were scheduled as follows:
6am -10am : Chuck Browning
10am - 2pm : Jay Cook
2pm - 6pm : Jim Nettleton
6pm - 10pm : George Michael
10pm - 2am : Long John Wade
2am - 6am: Dave Parks
Weekends : Frank Kingston Smith
WFIL announcers heard in later years of the Top 40 era included Dr. Don Rose, Jim O'Brien, Dan Donovan, J. J. Jeffrey
, Dick Heatherton, Tom Dooley,"Tiny" Tom Tyler, Mitch "K.C." Hill, "Big" Ron O'Brien, Kris Chandler, Geoff Richards, Joel Denver, Brother Lee Love (Alan Smith), and Banana Joe Montione.
The format evolved into an adult contemporary sound in the fall of 1977. At some point after that, the WFIL studios were relocated to Domino Lane in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia; they moved into the building of FM station WUSL
, which WFIL owner LIN Broadcasting had acquired in late 1976. Growing competition from FM stations in this period did serious damage to WFIL's ratings. In September 1981 country music
was tried, but this failed to reverse the downward trend. The station switched to an "oldies
" format in September 1983, called "The Boss is Back", with a new line up of "Boss Jocks", playing the hits of 1955 through 1973. This format lasted until April 8, 1987, when new owner WEAZ Inc. discontinued locally originated music programming in favor of Transtar's "Oldies Channel," a satellite-delivered service. The end of live programming was marked by a production piece consisting of a portion of the song American City Suite by Terry Cashman
and Tommy West
interspersed with old WFIL airchecks. The "Epilogue to WFIL" was produced by Charlie Mills, who at the time was working cross-town at WPEN, and had been an avid fan of WFIL during his teen years.
In November 1987 FM stations WOGL
and WIOQ
both adopted oldies formats and quickly won the majority of the potential oldies audience. The Oldies Channel format continued with minimal success and listenership until 1989, when WFIL quietly began simulcasting sister station Easy 101.1 WEAZ (which had a soft adult contemporary format by then). Soon thereafter, the FM became WEAZ-FM so that WFIL could become WEAZ. In September 1991, the AM launched a mostly automated beautiful music format known as "Wish", a play on the old WWSH station which had a similar format in Philadelphia back in the 1970s. Then on May 26, 1993, WEAZ became WBEB while WEAZ-FM became WBEB-FM.
The AM station was sold for $4 million in October 1993 to Salem Communications
(which had almost bought the station three years earlier for $6.5 million but backed out of the deal at the last minute) and on November 1, 1993, the station was renamed WPHY, with a religious format focusing on Christian
talk and teaching. WBEB-FM then became WBEB and to this day, continues on with its adult contemporary format.
The Christian teaching and talk format is still in use today. When a TV station in South Carolina
that had been using the WFIL call letters dropped them, Salem immediately moved to reclaim the famous call sign. The call letters officially reverted to WFIL on September 6, 1994.
In its rock-and-roll heyday, the station was known colloquially as "Famous 56" and employed the slogan "Rockin' in the Cradle of Liberty." Its 5000-watt transmitter enabled its signal to be heard as far away at times as Staten Island
, the southernmost borough of New York City
. During its top 40 years, WFIL also consistently showed strongly in the ratings books in nearby Wilmington, Delaware, where it has an excellent signal. In addition, WFIL was a popular listening choice in Reading and Allentown, both in Pennsylvania.
Today, WFIL is locally co-owned with Salem's WNTP
(990 AM). WNTP is the former WIBG. WIBG was WFIL's main rock 'n roll rival in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The studios, offices and transmitters of both stations are located at the former WIBG complex on Ridge Pike in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania
.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. Its transmitter is located in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania
Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania
Lafayette Hill is a small unincorporated community in Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.Lafayette Hill is located just west of Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill neighborhood, and south of Plymouth Meeting...
.
Located at 560 on the AM dial
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...
, WFIL is immediately adjacent to 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...
's WMCA
WMCA
WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, most known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 era in the 1960s. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format...
(at 570), and the two stations have similar histories: both were Top 40 stations in the 1960s, both underwent a format evolution as AM radio faded as a music medium, and both have a Christian/religious format today. WFIL and WMCA are both 5,000 watt radio stations, but each one puts less than 5 kW of power in the specific direction of the other, because they are located next to each other on the dial, and are not allowed, by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC), to interfere with each other. Both stations also maintained Call For Action
Call For Action
Call For Action is the name given to telephone "help lines" maintained by many radio stations in the United States, beginning in the 1960s and 1970s....
telephone help lines, being among the first radio stations in the United States to do so. The telephone number of WFIL's Call For Action line was GReenwood 7-5312.
History
WFIL was formed by a merger of two stations that were launched in 1922. One used the call letters WFI, the other was originally WDAR. Each was owned by a major Philadelphia department store; WFI was operated by Strawbridge and ClothierStrawbridge's
Strawbridge's was a department store in the northeastern United States with stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. In its day a gracious urban emporium, the downtown Philadelphia flagship store added branch stores starting in the 1930s and together they enjoyed annual sales of over a...
, while WDAR was run by Lit Brothers
Lit Brothers
Lit Brothers was a moderate priced department store based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Samuel and Jacob Lit opened the first store at Eight and Market Streets in 1893....
. While operated independently of each other, the two were able to work out amicable share-time agreements (hundreds of other American stations at the time were unable to do so, and frequently engaged in "jamming wars"). Around 1924, WDAR applied for and received the custom call-sign WLIT. By the late 1920s, the two stations were working jointly on various programs, promotions, and sponsorship efforts. In 1935, the two operators agreed to merge with each department store having representation on the new board of directors. The new call-sign became WFIL, a combination of the two previous identifiers (the fact that the new call letters were close to a phonetic spelling of "Philadelphia" was merely a happy coincidence). The new WFIL was an affiliate of 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...
; some sources say the station never became established as either a "basic Red" or "basic Blue
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...
" outlet, but at least one early WFIL advertisement claimed that it was a "basic Blue" station. Westinghouse's KYW
KYW (AM)
KYW is a class A AM radio station on 1060 kHz licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW is owned by the CBS Radio unit of CBS Corporation, and has broadcasted an all-news format since 1965. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Center City Philadelphia, and it transmitters...
had replaced WFI-WLIT as the NBC primary for Philadelphia when it moved in from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
a few years before. Starting in December 1944 the station produced Hayloft Hoedown
Hayloft Hoedown
Hayloft Hoedown was an early American country music program on local, and then national, radio and television from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, picked up by ABC Radio in 1945.
WFIL was purchased in 1947 by Walter Annenberg
Walter Annenberg
Walter Hubert Annenberg was an American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat.-Early life:Walter Annenberg was born to a Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 13, 1908. He was the son of Sarah and Moses "Moe" Annenberg, who published The Daily Racing Form and purchased The Philadelphia...
's Triangle Publications
Triangle Publications
Triangle Publications, Inc. was an American media group first based at 400 North Broad Street , Philadelphia, and later at its TV Guide headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Triangle Publications was a privately-held corporation with the majority of stock owned by Walter Annenberg and his sisters...
, which also owned The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
. By then WFIL was an affiliate of the newly-named ABC Radio Network. WFIL's sister stations under Triangle Publications ownership were WFIL-FM
WIOQ
WIOQ, known as "Q102", is a CHR/Pop radio station which is broadcast in the Philadelphia area. The station appeals to a generally young demographic. WIOQ is owned by Clear Channel Communications. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.-WFIL-FM/Popular 102:The...
and WFIL-TV in Philadelphia; WNHC AM
WYBC (AM)
WYBC is a radio station operating on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The station is owned by Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.; however, it is programmed by Sacred Heart University under a time brokerage agreement...
-FM
WPLR
WPLR based out of New Haven, Connecticut, is a rock station owned by Cox Radio....
-TV
WTNH
WTNH is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of Connecticut that is licensed to New Haven. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter in Hamden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX and the two...
in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
; KFRE AM-FM-TV
KFSN-TV
KFSN-TV, UHF channel 30, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Fresno, California. The station's transmitter is located in Meadow Lakes, California. Its signal covers the Central San Joaquin Valley and the mountain...
in Fresno, California
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
; WFBG AM
WFBG
WFBG is a news/talk radio station broadcasting in Altoona, Pennsylvania.-External links:*...
-FM
WFGY
WFGY, known as "Froggy 98 FM", is a Froggy branded Country music formatted radio station in Pennsylvania serving the Altoona, Huntingdon, Bedford, and Lewistown, among other communities in central Pennsylvania. It has a signal that reaches as far west as Blairsville, Pennsylvania, as far south as...
-TV
WTAJ-TV
WTAJ-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Allegheny area of Pennsylvania that is licensed to Altoona, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32. It is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group...
in Altoona, Pennsylvania
Altoona, Pennsylvania
-History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868...
; WNBF AM
WNBF (AM)
WNBF is a News–Talk radio station in Binghamton, New York. It broadcasts on AM frequency 1290 and is currently under ownership of Cumulus Media....
-FM-TV
WBNG-TV
WBNG-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's Eastern Southern Tier licensed to Binghamton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter on Ingraham Hill Road southwest of downtown. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable...
in Binghamton, New York
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
; and WLYH-TV
WLYH-TV
WLYH-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania licensed to Lancaster. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 23 from a transmitter on Butler Road in South Londonderry Township's Timber Hills section. The station can also be seen on Comcast...
in Lancaster
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
/Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Lebanon, formerly known as Steitztown, is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,477 at the 2010 census, a 4.2% increase from the 2000 count of 24,461...
. Triangle Publications sold WFIL AM-FM-TV to Capital Cities Broadcasting
Capital Cities Communications
Capital Cities redirects here. For the article about the seat of a government, see Capital .Capital Cities Communications was an American media company best known for its surprise purchase of the much larger American Broadcasting Company in 1985...
in 1971 with the radio stations spun off to new owners, WFIL to LIN Broadcasting and WFIL-FM to Richer Communications which changed the call letters to WIOQ
WIOQ
WIOQ, known as "Q102", is a CHR/Pop radio station which is broadcast in the Philadelphia area. The station appeals to a generally young demographic. WIOQ is owned by Clear Channel Communications. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.-WFIL-FM/Popular 102:The...
. WFIL-TV took on the new call letters of WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
.
Birth of two Rock and Roll legends
Studios for the early WFIL radio stations were in the Widener Building in downtown Philadelphia. Under Triangle Publications' ownership the stations were moved to a new broadcast facility at 46th and Market Street in West Philadelphia adjacent to the Arena, the first broadcast facility in the nation specifically designed for television broadcasting. It was in this new broadcast center that Triangle began broadcasting Bandstand (later called American BandstandAmerican Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
), first with Bob Horn, then with Dick Clark as host. Clark started on WFIL radio as a disc jockey in 1952, arriving from Utica, New York
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
. He continued hosting the TV program for 31 years, the last 30 as a national show carried by the ABC Television Network
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...
. Clark moved the program to Hollywood in 1964.
Shortly after Clark's emergence on the national stage, he became a major figure in the early days of Rock and Roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
as "Bandstand" proved pivotal in helping promote the major stars of the era.
Settling into a new home
In February 1964, Triangle moved the WFIL stations to a new state-of-the-art broadcast center at the corner of City Line and Monument Avenues in Philadelphia, from which WPVI continued to broadcast.Starting on September 18, 1966, WFIL began playing "Top 40" rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. It quickly became the most successful non-RKO "Boss Radio" formatted station, known locally as "The Pop Music Explosion". The original line up of air personalities, or "Boss Jocks" were scheduled as follows:
6am -10am : Chuck Browning
10am - 2pm : Jay Cook
2pm - 6pm : Jim Nettleton
6pm - 10pm : George Michael
George Michael (sportscaster)
George Michael was an American sportscaster best known nationally for The George Michael Sports Machine, his long-running sports highlights television program. Originally named George Michael's Sports Final when it began as a local show in Washington, D.C...
10pm - 2am : Long John Wade
2am - 6am: Dave Parks
Weekends : Frank Kingston Smith
WFIL announcers heard in later years of the Top 40 era included Dr. Don Rose, Jim O'Brien, Dan Donovan, J. J. Jeffrey
J. J. Jeffrey
J.J. Jeffrey is an American radio executive and a former prominent Top 40 disc jockey whose work was heard on some of the United States' most influential rock-and-roll stations during the 1960s and 1970s....
, Dick Heatherton, Tom Dooley,"Tiny" Tom Tyler, Mitch "K.C." Hill, "Big" Ron O'Brien, Kris Chandler, Geoff Richards, Joel Denver, Brother Lee Love (Alan Smith), and Banana Joe Montione.
The format evolved into an adult contemporary sound in the fall of 1977. At some point after that, the WFIL studios were relocated to Domino Lane in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia; they moved into the building of FM station WUSL
WUSL
WUSL, known as "Power 99 FM", is a mainstream urban radio station, owned by Clear Channel Communications and licensed to Philadelphia...
, which WFIL owner LIN Broadcasting had acquired in late 1976. Growing competition from FM stations in this period did serious damage to WFIL's ratings. In September 1981 country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
was tried, but this failed to reverse the downward trend. The station switched to an "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....
" format in September 1983, called "The Boss is Back", with a new line up of "Boss Jocks", playing the hits of 1955 through 1973. This format lasted until April 8, 1987, when new owner WEAZ Inc. discontinued locally originated music programming in favor of Transtar's "Oldies Channel," a satellite-delivered service. The end of live programming was marked by a production piece consisting of a portion of the song American City Suite by Terry Cashman
Terry Cashman
Terry Cashman is a record producer and singer-songwriter, best known for his 1981 hit, "Talkin' Baseball." While the song is well recognized today, it was all but ignored by typical Top 40 radio during its chart life, making only the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.Cashman was the lead singer...
and Tommy West
Tommy West
-External links:* *...
interspersed with old WFIL airchecks. The "Epilogue to WFIL" was produced by Charlie Mills, who at the time was working cross-town at WPEN, and had been an avid fan of WFIL during his teen years.
In November 1987 FM stations WOGL
WOGL
WOGL is an FM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.The station plays mostly post 1964 pop leaning Oldies positioned Classic Hits music, including Motown, soul and rock and roll spanning roughly 1964–1985. An occasional pre-1964 song is played. WOGL is owned by CBS Radio...
and WIOQ
WIOQ
WIOQ, known as "Q102", is a CHR/Pop radio station which is broadcast in the Philadelphia area. The station appeals to a generally young demographic. WIOQ is owned by Clear Channel Communications. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.-WFIL-FM/Popular 102:The...
both adopted oldies formats and quickly won the majority of the potential oldies audience. The Oldies Channel format continued with minimal success and listenership until 1989, when WFIL quietly began simulcasting sister station Easy 101.1 WEAZ (which had a soft adult contemporary format by then). Soon thereafter, the FM became WEAZ-FM so that WFIL could become WEAZ. In September 1991, the AM launched a mostly automated beautiful music format known as "Wish", a play on the old WWSH station which had a similar format in Philadelphia back in the 1970s. Then on May 26, 1993, WEAZ became WBEB while WEAZ-FM became WBEB-FM.
The AM station was sold for $4 million in October 1993 to Salem Communications
Salem Communications
Salem Communications is a U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher specializing in evangelical Christian and conservative political talk radio. It owns 99 commercial radio stations, 65 of which are in the top 25 markets. Salem is the fifth largest U.S....
(which had almost bought the station three years earlier for $6.5 million but backed out of the deal at the last minute) and on November 1, 1993, the station was renamed WPHY, with a religious format focusing on Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
talk and teaching. WBEB-FM then became WBEB and to this day, continues on with its adult contemporary format.
The Christian teaching and talk format is still in use today. When a TV station in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
that had been using the WFIL call letters dropped them, Salem immediately moved to reclaim the famous call sign. The call letters officially reverted to WFIL on September 6, 1994.
In its rock-and-roll heyday, the station was known colloquially as "Famous 56" and employed the slogan "Rockin' in the Cradle of Liberty." Its 5000-watt transmitter enabled its signal to be heard as far away at times as Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, the southernmost borough of 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...
. During its top 40 years, WFIL also consistently showed strongly in the ratings books in nearby Wilmington, Delaware, where it has an excellent signal. In addition, WFIL was a popular listening choice in Reading and Allentown, both in Pennsylvania.
Today, WFIL is locally co-owned with Salem's WNTP
WNTP
WNTP 990 is a politically conservative talk radio station which serves the Philadelphia area. It is owned by Salem Communications, along with a number of similar channels in various markets. Some of those whose programs are run by WNTP include Michael Medved, Dennis Prager, Dennis Miller, Michael...
(990 AM). WNTP is the former WIBG. WIBG was WFIL's main rock 'n roll rival in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The studios, offices and transmitters of both stations are located at the former WIBG complex on Ridge Pike in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania
Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania
Whitemarsh Township is a Home Rule Municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. However, it maintains its former classification of "Township" in its official name. The population was 17,349 at the 2010 census.-History:...
.