WDIZ (1320 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

format.

Licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) 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 part ...

Venice, Florida Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The city includes what locals call "Venice Island", a portion of the mainland that is accessed via bridges over the artificially created Intracoastal Waterway. The city is located in ...

, United States, the station serves the

Sarasota metropolitan area The Sarasota metropolitan area is a metropolitan area located in Southwest Florida. The metropolitan area is defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropoli ...

. WDIZ is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and calls itself "Oldies 1320", ''Venice's Real Oldies''. The station uses iHeartMedia's ''Real Oldies'' network that mainly focuses on hits from the 1960s and 1970s.

History

The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

as WAMR on February 1, 1960. It was owned by Venice Nokomis Broadcasting, Inc. and was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

station, with a power of 500

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, and required to

sign off A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries exce ...

at sunset to avoid interfering with other stations on

AM 1320 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1320 kHz: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Comm ...

. It aired a middle of the road (MOR) music format. In the 1980s, the daytime power was increased to 5,000 watts and the station was given nighttime authorization with 1,000 watts. In 1988, the station was acquired by Asterisk Radio, Inc., which kept the MOR format in the daytime but added talk programming from

NBC Talknet NBC Talknet was a nighttime programming block on the NBC Radio Network from the 1980s to the 1990s. It comprised several advice-oriented call-in talk shows, the most notable personalities being Bruce Williams and Sally Jessy Raphael. At a ...

at night. In the 1990s, the music was decreased and talk programming took over the daily schedule. In 1999, Citicasters acquired the station. Citicasters later merged into

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or 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 founded by ...

, which today is iHeartMedia, Inc. After top-rated 103.5

WDUV WDUV (105.5 FM "The Dove") is a commercial radio station licensed to New Port Richey, Florida and serving the Tampa Bay Area. Owned by Cox Radio, the station broadcasts a soft adult contemporary format, switching to all-Christmas music for ...

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a principal city in the Sarasota metropolitan area. Dow ...

, an

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

station, switched to a

soft 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format and moved to a transmitter north of Tampa, Clear Channel decided to go after its displaced listeners in the Sarasota area. WAMR became WDDV, a

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 as ...

similar to the departed FM station. WDDV's format changed to

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

. On March 17, 2016, WDDV flipped from adult standards to talk and business news. On weekdays, WDDV

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of 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, simultaneously) ...

ed the 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 c ...

show, "AM

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

", from

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

AM 970 WFLA

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. The rest of the schedule consisted of syndicated talk shows and business news from

Bloomberg Radio Bloomberg Radio is a radio service of Bloomberg L.P. that provides global business news programming 24 hours a day. The format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market ...

. Some hours were 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 com ...

. On May 5, 2020, iHeartMedia flipped WDDV from

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 ...

, branded as "Oldies 1320", using iHeartMedia's Real Oldies network. The call sign was changed to WDIZ on June 29, 2020.

References

External links

* * DIZ (AM) Oldies radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1960 1960 establishments in Florida IHeartMedia radio stations {{Florida-radio-station-stub