WLSS (930

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 ...

) 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 ...

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

. It is owned by

Salem Communications Salem Media Group, Inc. (formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Irving, Texas, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and wha ...

and airs a

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

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, ...

. It is the oldest and most powerful AM station in the Sarasota-

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 ...

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

. The studios are on West Laurel Street in Sarasota. WLSS is a Class B AM station. By day, it is powered at 5,000

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. But at night, to protect other stations on

930 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 930 kHz: As classified by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, 930 AM is a ...

, it reduces power to 3,000 watts. It uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

with a four-

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 (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 Lorraine Road in the Lakewood Ranch section of Sarasota. Programming is also heard on 99-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 ...

W229BR at 93.7

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 Bayshore Gardens.

Programming

Most of WLSS's weekday schedule is

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 ...

programs. Each weekday afternoon, a local Florida host is heard, Bill Bunkley, whose show is based at

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 ...

WTBN WTBN (570 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pinellas Park, Florida and serving the Tampa Bay area. The station is owned by Salem Media Group and it airs a religious radio format. Most of the schedule is made up of brokered ...

570 AM The following radio stations broadcast on the AM frequency of 570 kHz : 570 AM is a regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * Radio Argentina in Buenos Aires Brazil * ZYH-613 in Juaziero Norte * ZYH-614 in Itapipoca * ZYH-750 in Bariri * ...

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 line up are

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

shows from the

Salem Radio Network Salem Radio Network is a United States–based radio network that specializes in syndicated Christian political talk, music, and conservative secular news/talk programming. It is a division of the Salem Media Group. Network information Salem ...

, hosted by

Chris Stigall Chris Stigall is an American conservative talk radio personality, cable news contributor, online columnist and host of The Chris Stigall podcast. He currently hosts the morning show on Salem Media Group’s AM 990 The Answer in Philadelphia, a ...

, Mike Gallagher,

Charlie Kirk Charles James Kirk (born October 14, 1993) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political activist, author and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist media personality. With Bill Montgomery (activist), Bill Montgome ...

Larry Elder Laurence Allen Elder (born April 27, 1952) is an American conservative political commentator and talk radio host. He hosts ''The Larry Elder Show'', based in California. The show began as a local program on Los Angeles radio station KABC in 199 ...

and

Hugh Hewitt Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American conservative political commentator, radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network, attorney, academic, and author. He writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States ...

. Most hours begin with an update from Townhall Radio News. Weekends on WLSS feature shows on money, health, guns, technology and movies, some of which 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 com ...

. Syndicated weekend hosts include

Kim Komando Kimberly Ann Komando (born July 1, 1967) is an American radio personality and the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websi ...

and

Eric Metaxas Eric Metaxas (; born June 27, 1963) is an American author, speaker, and conservative radio host. He has written three biographies, ''Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery'' about William Wilberforce (2007), ' ...

. WLSS also serves as the Sarasota

affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...

of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

Gators radio network, broadcasting

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

men's basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

games.

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 ...

the air on . The original

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 ...

was WKXY and it was owned by the Sarasota Broadcasting Company. It 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, required to go off the air at sunset. WKXY was powered at 1,000 watts and broadcast on 1540 kHz. In the 1950s, WKXY made some big changes. It was given permission to move down the dial to 930 AM. And that was coupled with nighttime authorization, powered at 500 watts. WKXY was no longer required to go off the air at night. In 1999, the call letters changed to WUGL. And the call sign switched to WLSS in 2002. On January 5, 2015, WLSS rebranded as "930 The Answer".Salem Rebrands Seven Talkers as The Answer
/ref> Many of Salem's talk stations around the country use "The Answer" as a moniker.

Translators

WLSS broadcasts on an

as part of the FCC's AM Revitalization authorization.

References

External links

WLSS 930 The Answer
* *
FCC History Cards for WLSS
{{coord, 27, 21, 17, N, 82, 23, 06, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title LSS News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1983 Salem Media Group radio stations 1983 establishments in Florida