WDBO (580 AM) is a commercial

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 ...

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. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. Licensed to Orlando, Florida, the station is owned by Cox Media Group. The

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

s and offices are located on North John Young Parkway in Orlando. WDBO’s transmitter power is 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 Wa ...

s. At night, it 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 performan ...

to protect other stations on AM 580. 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 ...

tower is off West Kennedy Boulevard in Maitland. Programming is also heard on

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 ...

W297BB at 107.3 MHz.

History

Early years

WDBO is Orlando's oldest radio station, signing on the air on . It was first licensed to

Rollins College Rollins College is a private college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several graduate programs. It is Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institution. History Rollins Colle ...

in Winter Park. In its early years, it used a number of frequencies, but by 1933, it settled on 580

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.). The ...

s. In 1935, it got a boost in power from 250 watts to 1,000 watts. It was owned by the Orlando Broadcasting Company, and was a

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broa ...

. WDBO carried the CBS line up of 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 The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

". In 1949, WDBO-FM (92.3 FM) was put on the air as a

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, simult ...

of WDBO. Five years later, WDBO-TV came on the air, the first television station in

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the ...

. In 1982, the firm that owned WDBO-AM-FM-TV, The Outlet Company, sold the radio stations to Katz Broadcasting. (The TV station eventually became WKMG-TV.) When the stations were sold, WDBO-FM was re-formatted as a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

station, "K92FM", with 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 assig ...

WWKA.

Middle of the road to adult contemporary to talk

As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WDBO switched to a

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: * Full-service radio, a wide range of programming * Full Service Network, a communications company Entertainment * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block'' * Fu ...

middle of the road format of popular adult music, news and sports. The station also joined the

ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half- ...

Network, and slowly added more

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 featur ...

programs. By the 1980s, "58 WDBO" began to scale back on MOR music, and in 1985, the station dropped MOR entirely switching to

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, quiet ...

, also along with news, music, and sports. The change in music came shortly after Leesburg's

WHLY WHLY is a Regional Mexican radio station in South Bend, Indiana, broadcasting at 1580 on the AM dial. On May 1, 2013, WHLY adopted its current Regional Mexican format as La Raza 1580 AM. The station is currently owned by Ignacio Zepeda's I.B. C ...

switched from its adult contemporary format to

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 "conte ...

. When the 1990s began rolling along, WDBO was airing a mix of news/talk and adult contemporary. But in 1994, the station dropped music entirely and it became "NewsTalk 580 WDBO", which for years had been

Greater Orlando The Orlando metropolitan area, commonly referred to as Greater Orlando, Metro Orlando, Central Florida as well as for U.S. Census purposes as the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a metropolitan area in the ...

's highest-rated AM news/talk station. In 1997, WDBO and WWKA were acquired by

Cox Radio CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company pri ...

. In August 2011, Cox ended the

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

format on WHTQ (96.5 FM), and gave it the call sign WDBO-FM, becoming a

of WDBO. (WDBO has initially heard on that station's HD-2 subchannel beginning in late February 2008.) The news/talk station eventually re-branded, using the FM frequency exclusively as "NewsTalk 96-5 WDBO".

Switch to sports

On November 12, 2012, the simulcast ended when WDBO re-launched as a

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

station affiliated with

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN" ...

, while WDBO-FM continued the news/talk programming on its own. The ESPN Radio Network had been dropped previously by WHOO (1080 AM), which switched its affiliation to NBC Sports Radio. WDBO carried the full ESPN Radio schedule, except for a local program weekday afternoons hosted by Scott Anez. WDBO remained the flagship radio station of the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was estab ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team until

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 ...

's WYGM (740 AM) became the home of the Magic at the start of the 2018–2019 season.

Return to talk

On June 24, 2020, Cox Radio announced that WDBO would drop its sports programming to return to news/talk. In addition, WDBO-FM flipped to a

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Am ...

contemporary hits Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

format as WOEX, "Exitos 96.5". To give listeners in Orlando and its adjacent communities the option to hear WDBO programming on FM, Cox added a simulcast via

W297BB (107.3 FM) on June 29. With the addition of the translator, the station rebranded as "WDBO 107.3 FM and 580 AM". In September 2021, Cox Media announced reductions of the WDBO staff; morning anchor Ray Caputo, evening anchor Tony Marino and late morning talk host Darrell Moody were released. The noon news hour was also replaced with talk programming.InsideRadio.com "CMB Downsizes Staff at Orlando's WDBO" Sept. 21, 2021
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Programming

Weekdays begin with ''Orlando's Morning News'' anchored by Scott Anez. There's also an hour-long local newsblock at 6 p.m. A local

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 enoug ...

show is heard in middays, hosted by Mark Kaye. A local sports show airs in the evening, "Live, Local and Loud" with Nick Gryniewicz and Jerry Daniels. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States wher ...

talk shows from

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of '' The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commenta ...

, Brian Kilmeade,

Dana Loesch Dana Lynn Loesch ( ; ; born September 28, 1978) is an American radio and TV host. She is a former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association and a former writer and editor for '' Breitbart News''. Loesch was the host of the program ''Dana'' ...

, Eric Erickson and ''Markley, Van Camp & Robbins''. Weekends include shows on money, health, law, real estate, home improvement, gardening and cars. A technology show with Kim Komando is heard Sunday evenings. Some weekend hours are paid

brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot comm ...

. Most hours begin with world and national news from

References

External links

Official website

FCC History Cards for WDBO
* {{COXMG DBO (AM) Cox Media Group Radio stations established in 1924 News and talk radio stations in the United States 1924 establishments in Florida