WDAS (1480 kHz) is an AM

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 ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. Owned and operated by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

, the station airs a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

format as an affiliate of

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an American sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports division and iHeartMedia, parent compan ...

. WDAS's studios and offices are located in Bala Cynwyd. WDAS's

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is located near

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, wit ...

, off West Ford Road. By day, the station is powered at 5,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s; to avoid interfering with other stations on

1480 AM 148 may refer to: *148 (number), a natural number *AD 148, a year in the 2nd century AD *148 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *148 (album), an album by C418 *148 (Meiktila) Battery Royal Artillery *148 (New Jersey bus) 148 may refer to: *148 (numb ...

, it reduces power to 1,000 watts at night and uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performanc ...

at all times. WDAS programming is also heard on an

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...

station, 102.5 W273DO in Philadelphia.

History

Early years

WIAD in

Ocean City, New Jersey Ocean City is a city in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the principal city of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Cape May County and is part of the Philadelphia- Wilmington- Camden, ...

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A digi ...

the air in July 1922, originally broadcasting at 1200

kilocycle The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the hertz (Hz). The plural form was typically used, often written cycles per second, cycles/second, c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just cycles (Cy./Cyc.). T ...

s. The station was owned by Howard R. Miller. WIAD eventually relocated to Philadelphia. In 1928, per order of the

Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by t ...

, the station moved to 1370 AM. In 1929, the station's studio and transmitter were moved to the Elks Club at Broad and Vine Streets and the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally ass ...

changed to WELK. In 1934, Miller sold the station, and the new owners, silk manufacturers Dannenbaum & Steppacher, adopted the WDAS call sign, with the letters spelling out the company's initials. A.W. Dannenbaum served as the station president. The studios were located at 1211 Chestnut Street. WDAS broadcast ethnic programming in languages such as

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

and Polish. In 1941, WDAS moved to 1400 AM, then about 15 years later to its current frequency of 1480 AM. In 1950, candy manufacturer Max Leon purchased the station for $495,000 from William Goldman, a theater chain owner. The programming at the time consisted of big band music,

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established fo ...

and cultural shows. Leon, the founder and conductor of the original Philly Pops Orchestra, added an all-night

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

show.

Switch to R&B

In 1951, Leon promoted his son-in-law, Bob Klein, to general manager. Klein saw an opportunity in the marketplace and adopted programming geared toward the local

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

community. The music consisted of

rhythm & blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. WDAS added a number of young personalities, including

Georgie Woods Georgie Woods (1927 – June 18, 2005) was an American radio personality who was best known for his broadcasting career in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. Woods came to Philadelphia from New York in 1953 and began broadcasting from AM station ...

, Jimmy Bishop, Carl Helm, Butterball Tamburro,

Jocko Henderson Douglas "Jocko" Henderson (March 8, 1918July 15, 2000) was an American radio disc jockey, businessman, and hip hop music pioneer. Early life Henderson grew up in Baltimore, where both of his parents were teachers. Radio broadcasting Henderson ...

and

Hy Lit Hyman Aaron "Hy" Lit (May 20, 1934 – November 17, 2007) was an American disc jockey based in the Philadelphia area from the 1950s until 2005. In his 50-year career, Hy Lit broadcast from WIBG, WDAS/ WDAS-FM, WKBS-TV, WIFI, WSNI/ WPGR, KPOL, ...

. The station also added black-oriented public affairs and news programs, and provided coverage of the unfolding

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, with journalists Joe Rainey and Jim Klash, along with Walt Sanders, Carl Stubbs, Bill Adams, Dave Colman, Jimmy Carter and reporter

Ed Bradley Edward Rudolph Bradley Jr. (June 22, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American broadcast journalist and news anchor. He was best known for his reporting on ''60 Minutes'' and CBS News. Bradley began his journalism career as a radio news repo ...

(later of CBS's

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...

). The station employed many black professionals, in on-air, office and management positions. The station also took on an

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

role. WDAS was commended by many in the industry and in the civil rights movement. In 1959, Leon and Klein signed on an FM sister station,

WDAS-FM WDAS-FM (105.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station, licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It carries an urban adult contemporary radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia. WDAS-FM is widely regarded as one of the originators of the Urban ...

. By the early 1970s, the FM station would launch a groundbreaking and influential

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music ...

format still heard today. WDAS (AM) retained its R&B format throughout the 1960s and 70s, while adding

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

music with Louise Williams on Sunday mornings. Many people involved in the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King Jr. and

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

, visited and were heard on the station. Following his

return from Mecca ''Return from Mecca'' is the title of the reunion 3rd album from Hip Hop group X Clan, released on January 30, 2007. This is the group's first studio album in 15 years since 1992's '' Xodus''. A music video was made of the single "Weapon X." ...

, Malcolm X visited the station on December 29, 1964. He was interviewed by Rainey under heavy armed police guard due to assassination threats. Klein filed a class action lawsuit against the

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging ...

rating service in 1972, on behalf of all black radio stations, protesting that black radio listenership was undercounted. Arbitron settled the suit after four days of testimony and amended its methodologies and policies to make a better effort to survey African-American listeners and other minorities.

Ownership changes

Leon sold the station in November 1979 to the minority-owned Unity Broadcasting Network. In the 1980s, WDAS added the

National Black Network The National Black Network, or NBN, began operation on July 2, 1973 as the first coast-to-coast radio network wholly owned by African Americans. Early years The idea for a National Black Network was conceived by former ABC Radio and Mutual Broadc ...

(NBN) for hourly newscasts, and tried a news format in the mornings, anchored locally by Karen Warrington, E. Steven Collins and

Wynne Alexander Wynne Alexander is an American author, investigative journalist, composer, and documentary filmmaker. She is the author of the civil rights history book, ''Get It From The Drums'', which became the first musically-infused Civil Rights curriculum ...

) and afternoons via the NBN feed. With music listening shifting to FM, WDAS wanted to compete with all-news KYW. This was unsuccessful, and the station returned with a mix of gospel, R&B and talk shows. In 1988, as more listeners were choosing FM urban contemporary stations, WDAS switched to a full-time gospel music and religious format. Beasley Broadcasting purchased WDAS and WDAS-FM in 1994. Two years later, the stations were sold to Evergreen Media, which soon merged with Chancellor Broadcasting, which later became AMFM Inc. In August 2000, after a series of mergers, the two stations would become properties of

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

. Clear Channel changed its name to

after its successful

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHe ...

internet platform in 2014.

Format changes

On May 16, 2007, WDAS flipped to Spanish Tropical as ''Rumba 1480'', a format and branding displaced by

WRFF WRFF (104.5 FM, "ALT 104.5") is a commercial FM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and broadcasts an alternative rock radio format. The studios are in Bala Cynwyd. WRFF has an effective radiated ...

's flip to

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

as ''Radio 104.5''. The station's former WUBA calls were also adopted by WDAS. WUBA served as the Spanish language flagship radio station of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. On November 22, 2011, the station began redirecting existing listeners to

WHAT What or WHAT may refer to: * What, an interrogative pronoun and adverb * "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism Film and television * ''What!'' (film) or ''The Whip and the Body'', a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava * '' Wha ...

, after Clear Channel announced that the ''Rumba'' format would be replaced by a new urban oldies format the next day as ''WDAS, The Soul of Philadelphia''. The station soft launched with R&B

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ...

for the holiday season, before officially launching its new format on December 27.

Smooth Jazz JJZ

On June 10, 2013, the station flipped to

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...

as ''Smooth Jazz JJZ'', reviving a heritage branding that had historically been used by the current

WISX WUMR (106.1 MHz, "Rumba 106.1") is a commercial Spanish CHR FM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The WUMR studios are located in the neighboring community of Bala Cynwyd, while the sta ...

from 1993 to 2006, and from November 17, 2006 to September 5, 2008 by the current

WPEN-FM WPEN (97.5 MHz, "97.5 The Fanatic") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Burlington, New Jersey, in the Philadelphia radio market. The station is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group through licensee Beasley Media Group, LLC and b ...

. Despite the use of the JJZ brand, the station retained the WDAS calls. From September 19–27, 2015, the station temporarily branded as ''Pope Info Radio —'' a "pop-up station" covering

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

's first visit to the United States, which concluded in Philadelphia. The station interspersed its smooth jazz programming with live coverage of five masses and speeches throughout the visit, and rolling news, traffic, and weather updates relevant to the events.

Breakthrough Radio

On September 11, 2017, the station flipped to ''Breakthrough Radio''. The format was a partnership with the

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is a children's hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with its primary campus located in the University City neighborhood of West Philadelphia in the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The ...

, featuring an uptempo variety hits format interspersed with health-related features and

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

s produced by the Hospital. The ''JJZ'' format moved to WISX-HD2.

Fox Sports The Gambler

On August 23, 2019, it was announced that WDAS would flip to a

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

format as part of the

network the following Monday, as ''Fox Sports The Gambler''. The new format launched on August 26, 2019, after the station temporarily stunted with a loop of the ''

NFL on Fox The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network. Game coverage is usually preceded by '' Fox NFL Kick ...

'' theme music over the weekend. Translator W281BI in Trenton was not included in the flip because of its proximity to existing Fox Sports affiliate WNJE. The station carries local programs geared towards

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

(taking advantage of the repeal of the

Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (), also known as PASPA or the Bradley Act, was a law, judicially-overturned in 2018, that was meant to define the legal status of sports betting throughout the United States. This act ...

, which had effectively banned sports betting outside of Nevada); it launched with ''The Daily Tickets''—an afternoon drive program hosted by former WPEN personality Sean Brace. He described ''The Gambler'' as the "future" of sports radio, arguing that the betting-oriented positioning of the station would help distinguish itself from WPEN and the market-leading

WIP-FM WIP-FM (94.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a sports radio format. The WIP-FM offices and studios are co-located within Audacy's corporate hea ...

, and promised that the station would feature "no callers" and "just guests that will bring the best information on the games we love to watch". WDAS otherwise carries the full Fox Sports Radio national lineup, including its own betting-related show ''Straight Outta Vegas''. More local programs were added to its schedule later on; in October 2019, the station added a new evening program hosted by Eytan Shander, ''What Are The Odds?''—which airs on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings. In June 2020, the station added a weekly

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional sports, professional players, individually or as ...

program, ''Cheesesteaks and Controllers'', hosted by Jason Fanelli. In July 2020, WDAS became the flagship radio station of the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 2010 ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

HD Radio

WDAS formerly broadcast in HD IBOC format. The HD transmission was turned off when WDAS flipped to urban oldies at the end of 2011. As the launch of "The Gambler", the station initially

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

on WDAS-FM 105.3-HD 2.http://www.hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=6 HD Radio Guide for Philadelphia On August 31, 2020, the simulcast shifted to

-HD 2.

Translators

WDAS (AM) programming is broadcast on the following translators:

References

External links

*
Civil Rights and WDAS History
*

* * * * {{Coord, 39, 59, 53, N, 75, 12, 43, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Radio stations established in 1922 DAS 1922 establishments in Pennsylvania IHeartMedia radio stations Sports radio stations in the United States Fox Sports Radio stations Radio stations licensed before 1923 and still broadcasting