WTMA (1250 kHz), “News Talk 1250 WTMA”, is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 radi ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to Charleston, South Carolina. It has a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...

format and is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 8 ...

. WTMA's studios and offices are on Faber Place Drive in North Charleston. By day, WTMA broadcasts with 5,000 non-directional

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; but at night, to protect other stations on 1250 AM, WTMA reduces power to 1,000 watts and switches to a directional antenna with a two-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. The

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 off Eton Road in Charleston. The station streams its programming through its website, WTMA.com as well as through iHeart Radio and free smartphone apps.

Programming

In weekday morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cl ...

, WTMA airs a local news and information show hosted by John Quincy and Sheree Bernardi. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of nationally syndicated

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

shows, mostly from Cumulus subsidiary

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...

. They include

Chris Plante Chris Plante (born December 12, 1959) is a syndicated radio talk show host, based at WMAL Radio in Washington D.C., and heard on the Westwood One Network. He is also a frequent guest on both Fox News and Fox Business. Chris Plante is the s ...

Ben Shapiro Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American attorney, businessman, columnist, conservative political commentator, and media personality. At age 17, he became the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the United States. ...

, Michael Knowles,

Mark Levin Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American lawyer, author, and radio personality. He is the host of syndicated radio show '' The Mark Levin Show'', as well as '' Life, Liberty & Levin'' on Fox News. Levin worked in the admin ...

Dan Bongino Daniel John Bongino (born December 4, 1974) is an American conservative political commentator, radio show host, and author. He served as a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer from 1995 to 1999 and as a Secret Service agent from 1999 ...

, ''

Red Eye Radio ''Red Eye Radio'' is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history throug ...

'' and '' America in the Morning''.

Brian Kilmeade Brian Kilmeade (born May 7, 1964) is an American television and radio presenter and political commentator for Fox News. On weekdays he co-hosts the morning show, '' Fox & Friends'', and he hosts the Fox News Radio program ''The Brian Kilmeade S ...

from Fox News Radio is heard middays. Weekends feature shows on money, health, real estate and gardening, along with repeats of weekday shows. Each hour begins with world and national news from ABC News Radio.

History

WTMA signed on the air on June 16, 1939. It was an

NBC Red Network The NBC, National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...

affiliate and is the Charleston area's second oldest AM radio station. Of those two, WTMA is the only one to maintain its current

call letters 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 assigne ...

. (Charleston's oldest station is

WSPO WSPO (1390 AM) is an American radio station serving the Charleston, South Carolina, area. This station is under ownership of the Charleston Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications. Its studios are located in Charleston (east of the Coope ...

1390 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1390 kHz: 1390 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * LR11 in La Plata, Buenos Aires * LRA6 in Valle de Uspallata, Mendoza (960 kHz. Defunct?) Guatemala (Channel 86) * ...

. Originally WCSC, it went on the air in 1930.) In 1945, WTMA added an FM sister station which today is 95.1 WSSX. From its beginnings through the early 1960s, WTMA carried NBC's dramas, comedies, news, sports,

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

s and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

broadcasts during the " Golden Age of Radio." From the early 1960s through 1981, WTMA broadcast 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 was an ABC Contemporary Network affiliate. But like many other AM Radio Top 40 stations, it switched to an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

format in the early 80s until 1986 when young people began tuning in FM stations for the latest hits. Over time, WTMA tried a couple different formats including R&B-flavored

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...

and classic country music. Then on June 1, 1989, it switched to its current talk format, under the ownership of

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...

. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011. In May 1999, WTMA lost popular syndicated shows by

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

and Dr. Laura to new talk radio competitor WSCC. Still, the station jumped from 13th to 7th in the morning and from 16th to 12th with 25-54 listeners. Program director Jason Wilmot said WTMA was still the number one station for news.

References

External links

News-Talk 1250 AM WTMA official website

WTMA History SiteFCC History Cards for WTMA
{{coord, 32, 49, 27, N, 80, 00, 10, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1939 TMA Cumulus Media radio stations 1939 establishments in South Carolina