WDJZ (1590
AM) is a
commercial radio
Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...
station
licensed to
South Daytona, Florida, and serving the
Daytona Beach metropolitan area. It is owned by Glenn Cherry and it broadcasts a
smooth jazz 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 broadcasting, ...
.
WDJZ is powered at 1,000 watts by day, 47 watts at night, using a
non-directional antenna. The
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in
Daytona Beach. Programming is also heard on 220-watt
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 tr ...
W264DP at 100.7
MHz
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 u ...
in Daytona Beach.
History
The station
signed on the air in 1957 under 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 as ...
WDAT. It was a
country-western station. Its call letters changed to WELE in 1959, and its format changed to an
R&B music format in 1963 before going back to country by 1967.
In 1981, the station took on new call letters WZIP and became an oldies station before returning to country in 1986.
In 1988, a group of investors who were graduates of the historically black
Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...
bought WZIP. The call letters changed to WPUL and format changed to
urban contemporary
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...
.
Until 2022, WPUL broadcast
progressive talk radio
Progressive talk radio is a talk radio format devoted to expressing Left-wing politics, left-leaning viewpoints of news and issues as opposed to conservative talk radio. In the United States, the format has included radio syndication, syndicated ...
shows including ''
The Thom Hartmann Program'' and ''
The Stephanie Miller Show'' as well as various African-American-oriented shows including ''
Keepin' It Real with Al Sharpton'' and locally produced shows.
The station was
silent beginning on February 17, 2014, as station owners sought a new broadcast tower site.
On September 16, 2022, the station changed its call sign to WDJZ, which stands for Daytona Jazz.
References
External links
{{coord, 29, 09, 16, N, 81, 01, 20, W, type:landmark_region:US, display=title
DJZ
Radio stations established in 1957
1957 establishments in Florida
Smooth jazz radio stations in the United States