WQAM (560 AM, "AM 560 Sports") is a radio station in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
. Owned by
Audacy, Inc.
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...
, it broadcasts 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 carrying a mixture of local and CBS Sports Radio programming. Its studios are located in Audacy's Miami office on Northeast Second Avenue, and the transmitter is in the
Little River
Little River may refer to several places:
Australia Streams New South Wales
*Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River
* Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...
neighborhood of Miami at 360 NE 71 Street.
History
WQAM is one of Florida's oldest radio stations, first signing on the air in February 1921. WQAM was launched in Miami, Florida by the W.W. Luce Electrical Equipment Company with founder Fred W. Borton, WQAM received its broadcasting license in Miami in January 1923. The station's early history was related to WFAW, also of Miami, which was licensed to '' The Miami Daily Metropolis'' from June 16, 1922, to June 11, 1923. In the beginning, the young station was helped with programming by the newspaper, until the paper ended its participation.Hollingsworth 1949. p. 56
Things were primitive in the early days. Fred W. Borton, president of the Miami Broadcasting Company made many of the electrical parts himself. In 1926, the station increased its power to 500 watts. The station was the first in the United States to install a permanent remote pick-up from the U. S. Meteorological Department. Power was increased to 1,000 watts in 1928, and WQAM became a full-time affiliate of
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
. In 1947, it switched to ABC Radio. In 1948, Barton sold his interest in the station and ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.
WQAM is famous for its days in the 1960s, under the ownership of
Storz Broadcasting
Robert Todd Storz (May 8, 1924 – April 13, 1964) headed a very successful chain of American radio broadcasting stations and is generally credited with being the foremost innovator of the Top 40 radio format in 1951. The selection of records t ...
, when it presented a
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...
format and competed vigorously with rival WFUN (at 790 AM). In February 1964, the station interviewed and heavily promoted
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
' second and third nationally televised appearances on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
's ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...
'' live from the Deauville Hotel in North Beach, Miami Beach. By far Miami and South Florida's preeminent radio station at the time,
baby boomer
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...
s from
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
, listened to WQAM for the latest in local and American
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
from the 1960s well into the late 1970s. At that time, WQAM was one of the many AM radio stations airing
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice No ...
's '' American Top 40'', and Cuban youngsters used to gather at friends’ houses to listen to the countdown of America's most popular songs, especially the 8-hour-long year-end show of Billboard's top 100 songs of the year in which the syndication company that owned the show had put out on vinyl records at a speed of 33
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
.
On February 29, 1980, Sunshine Wireless bought WQAM. WQAM had been a long-time Top 40 station. After many years as a contemporary music station and heavy competition from FM competitors forced the station to switch to a country music format, and was known as Sun Country WQAM but not after running a montage of music, soundbites, and Jingles from PAMS from its Top 40 days. Sunshine Wireless now had an AM country station, with personality DJs, NBC News, and local information. WQAM was known as "56 Country WQAM" in the mid 80's and was successful in the ratings under the direction of program director Jon Holiday. WQAM had many veteran DJ's for the country format like Mike Bell, Mitch Lewis, Johnny Dolan, Boomer, and George Sheldon- who had his start in radio at WQAM in 1986, WQAM shared studios with then- WKQS at 9881 Sheridan Street in
Cooper City
Cooper City is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is named for Morris Cooper, who founded the community in 1959. The city's population was 34,401 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
In 2006, with the annexati ...
. In 1986, WQAM would add
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 ...
programming in the evening hours with Ed Kaplan.
By 1989, the station had been unable to achieve a full share point in the Arbitron surveys with its mix of country music and sports. In 1990, WQAM abandoned its country music format in favor of the satellite-fed "
Kool Gold
Classic Hits (known as Kool Gold until June 17, 2012) is a 24-hour music format produced by Westwood One. Its playlist is composed of oldies music from the mid-1960s to mid-1980s, from artists such as Billy Joel, The Beatles, The Temptations, Flee ...
" service, which aired '50s and '60s music.
Around 1992, WQAM became an all-sports station. Currently, WQAM is the flagship station for the
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...
Yahoo! Sports Radio
SportsMap is a sports radio network that is distributed by Gow Media.
The SportsMap Radio Network supplies its network affiliates with a 24-hour schedule of sports programming, including call-in shows and sports updates. Over its history, through ...
affiliate. On January 2, 2013, the station switched to CBS Sports Radio for after-hours programming.
CBS Radio/Audacy ownership
On October 2, 2014,
Beasley Broadcast Group
Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Naples, Florida, is an owner/operator of radio stations in the United States. , the company owned 63 stations under the Beasley Media Group name.
History
The company was founded in 1961 by George G. Bea ...
announced that it would trade 5 radio stations located in Miami (including WQAM) and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
to CBS Radio in exchange for 14 stations located in Tampa,
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
construction permit to move approx. 10 miles north from Virginia Key to the 360+1450transmitter site at 360 NE 71st Street in Little River (Miami) and decrease day power to 4,100 watts.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom (now
Audacy, Inc.
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...
). The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17, making WQAM a sister station to fellow sports station WAXY.
On August 2, 2019, Entercom announced that WQAM would re-launch as ''560 The Joe'' on August 5, as part of a re-alignment of its sports talk lineups. WAXY's ESPN Radio affiliation was swapped to WQAM, clearing ''
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
''The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz'' is a syndicated sports talk show hosted by Dan Le Batard and Jon "Stugotz" Weiner broadcast out of Miami. It was also carried on many ESPN Radio Network affiliates nationwide and simulcast nationally on ...
'' (as its new flagship station), Stephen A. Smith, and the network's overnight and weekend programming (notwithstanding conflicts with sports play-by-play). In turn, some of WQAM's local hosts were moved to WAXY's lineup, while Marc Hochman and
Channing Crowder
Randolph Channing Crowder Jr. (born December 2, 1983) is an American former college and professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons during the 2000s. He played college football for Fl ...
's afternoon program would be simulcast by both stations (but with an opening hour exclusive to WAXY).
As part of a larger realignment of ESPN Radio's schedule on August 17, 2020 (which saw Dan Le Batard cut to two hours, and the premiere of ''Greeny'' with
Mike Greenberg
Michael Robinette Greenberg (born August 6, 1967) is a television anchor, television show host, radio show host for ESPN and ABC, and novelist. At ESPN, he hosted the weekday evening, most often Monday, ''SportsCenter'' and previously ESPN Radi ...
), WQAM began to simulcast ''Hochman and Crowder'' from WAXY in full.
On October 26, 2021, Audacy realigned WQAM and WAXY's programming once again; WQAM rebranded as ''560 Sports'' and took on a CBS Sports Radio affiliation and WAXY's local programming (with the first hour of ''Hochman and Crowder'' now exclusive to WQAM), while WAXY replaced much of its local programming with sports betting-oriented shows from Audacy's BetQL network.
Former sports and talk show hosts
*
Hank Goldberg
Henry Edward Goldberg (July 4, 1940 – July 4, 2022) was an American sports radio and television personality based in Miami, Florida. He was the radio color commentator for the Miami Dolphins from 1978 to 1992. He also worked at WIOD and ...
– ''The Hammer'' host
*
Jim Mandich
James Michael Mandich (July 30, 1948 – April 26, 2011), also known as "Mad Dog", was an American football player. Mandich played college football for the University of Michigan from 1967 to 1969 and was recognized as a consensus first-team t ...
Jon Sciambi
Jon "Boog" Sciambi (; born April 11, 1970) is an American sportscaster for ESPN and the Marquee Sports Network, currently the everyday play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs TV broadcasts. He has worked extensively as a baseball play-by-pl ...
– now at ESPN.
*
Scott Ferrall
Scott Ferrall (born July 29, 1965) is an American sports talk radio personality who hosts two shows on the SportsGrid video streaming service, Scott Ferrall: Coast to Coast and In-Game Live.
Scott's father Thomas C. Ferrall was a former radio p ...
– now at
SportsGrid
Daniel Abrams (born May 20, 1966) is an American media entrepreneur, television host, legal commentator, and author. He is currently the host of the prime-time show ''Dan Abrams Live'' on NewsNation, ''On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz and ''The Dan Ab ...
*
Michael Irvin
Michael Jerome Irvin (born March 5, 1966) is an American sports commentator and former professional football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). In 2007, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fa ...
– "The Playmaker" host; now an analyst at
NFL Network
NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...
*
Neil Rogers
Neil Rogers (November 5, 1942December 24, 2010) was an American talk radio personality. Until his retirement on June 22, 2009, ''The Neil Rogers Show'' aired weekdays from 10am-2pm on WQAM-AM, 560 WQAM. It was consistently the top-rated show ...
Sports properties
*
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...
(1997–2004, 2007–2009, 2016-present)
*
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...
QAM
Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is the name of a family of digital modulation methods and a related family of analog modulation methods widely used in modern telecommunications to transmit information. It conveys two analog message signa ...