WDAK (540 AM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

broadcasting a

news/talk 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. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

format. Licensed to

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

, United States, the station serves the Columbus/Phenix City/Auburn area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. (as iHM Licenses) and features programming from

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. 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 1976. The co ...

Compass Media Networks Compass Media Networks is an American radio network. The company launched in January 2009. It is owned by former Westwood One CEO and former COO of Connoisseur Media, Peter Kosann. The company focuses on radio and offers representation and m ...

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

and

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It is th ...

. It also broadcasts

Columbus State University Columbus State University is a public university in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Founded as Columbus College in 1958, the university was established and is administered by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. History ...

basketball and baseball games and Troy University sports events. Its studios are in Columbus, east of downtown, and its transmitter is southeast of downtown. As

540 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 540 kHz: 540 AM is a Canadian and Mexican clear-channel frequency. CBK, Watrous-Regina, Saskatchewan, and XEWA San Luis Potosí, Mexico, share Class A status on 540 kHz. Becaus ...

is a Canadian and Mexican

clear-channel A clear-channel station is a North American AM broadcasting, AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classifi ...

frequency, WDAK must reduce power during nighttime hours in order to protect the skywave signals of the dominant class A stations on the frequency: CBK, CBT and XEWA.

History

The station began broadcasting in 1940 on a frequency of 1340

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

with a power of 250

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. Studios were located in the Martin Building in downtown Columbus. Co-owned

WDAK-TV WTVM (channel 9) is a television station in Columbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Gray Media, which provides certain services to dual NBC/CW+ affiliate WLTZ (channel 38, owned by S ...

began operation in 1953 on Channel 28. After the TV station was sold in 1958, WDAK was granted 5,000 watts by day, 500 watts by night on 540 kHz, with a new transmitter site and three towers located 5 miles west of

Phenix City, Alabama Phenix City is a city in Lee and Russell counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and the county seat of Russell County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 38,817. Phenix City lies immediately west across the Chattahoochee ...

. In April 1967, WDAK moved to The Elms, an

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

mansion at 1846 Buena Vista Road that was placed on the

US Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relating t ...

lists of historical sites in 1972. During this entire period, WDAK was owned by the Woodall Family of Columbus, programmed

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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. "To ...

, and was known as "Big Johnny Reb" or "The Giant of the Valley." Signal and audience-wise, it was the dominant station in the Chattahoochee Valley for decades. In the late 1970s, the station first switched to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

then to various other formats and under different owners. In the late 1990s, the station became "The Sports Monster" with mostly-satellite sports talk programming.

References

External links

DAK DAK is an abbreviation for the Afrika Korps (German: ''Deutsches Afrikakorps''), a famed German World War II unit. DAK, Dak or dak may also refer to: Places * Dak, Kerman, Kerman Province, Iran * Dak, Sistan and Baluchestan, Sistan and Baluche ...

News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1940 1940 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) IHeartMedia radio stations {{GeorgiaUS-radio-station-stub