WACA is a Spanish news/talk formatted

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed to Laurel, Maryland, serving the

Washington, D.C. metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgin ...

. It is owned by Alejandro Carrasco, through licensee ACR Media, Inc.

900 AM 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

is a Canadian and Mexican clear-channel frequency.

History

From 1965 to the early 1980s, the station (then WLMD) broadcast a succession of formats in English; several radio personalities began their careers with the station. Before 1969, WLMD was a MOR (Middle Of The Road) formatted radio station and held to the model created by WMAL and WBAL in Washington and Baltimore, respectively. Its dismal ratings, primarily due to being a relatively low power AM station only broadcasting during the day with a poor coverage area, led to a format change beginning in 1975. The new Progressive Country music format was loved by the small audience it attracted and ratings increased modestly. The station changed its call sign to WILC on December 19, 1985. ZGS Communications, then the owner of

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

affiliate WZDC-CD, purchased WILC in 2002. On March 14, 2011, WILC flipped to a Spanish Adult Contemporary format as Romantica 900 AM. On February 3, 2014, the station changed formats to Conservative Talk; with a more

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

emphasis. On the same date, Wallis Communications began operating the station under a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

. On November 5, 2014, WILC changed their format back to Spanish adult contemporary, branded as "Romantica 900". From January 1, 2016, WILC was operated by Alejandro Carrasco under a

. The station continued with a Spanish adult contemporary format branded "Radio America 900" to correspond with Carrasco's news-talk WACA, long known as "Radio America 1540". As part of its exit from broadcasting, ZGS sold to Carrasco for $700,000 on January 29, 2018. WILC was ZGS' last remaining broadcast property after selling its television stations to Telemundo in the same month. Carrasco closed on the purchase of WILC on April 10, 2018, and then changed the station's call sign to WCLM on April 25, 2018. At the beginning of 2019, the news/talk programming moved from the

daytimer A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...

1540 AM, which was then leased to a local Catholic broadcaster. With the outright sale of 1540 AM (now WDON) closing in July 2021, the WACA callsign relocated to 900 AM, replacing WCLM, where the station commenced 24/7 broadcasting.

References

External links

{{Laurel, Maryland ACA (AM) News and talk radio stations in the United States Laurel, Maryland ACA (AM) Radio stations established in 1966 1966 establishments in Maryland