WRUM (100.3 FM) 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 in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, known as "Rumba 100.3". It airs a Spanish-language

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, ...

featuring

Latin pop Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...

and

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

. It is owned by

iHeartMedia 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 ...

. The studios and offices are on Maitland Center Parkway in Maitland. WRUM has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most FM stations. 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 in Bithlo, off Fort Christmas Road (Route 420). WRUM broadcasts using the

HD radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

hybrid format. The HD2

subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

carries a bilingual CHR format, known as "Mega 97.1". The subchannel feeds two FM translators at 97.1 MHz. The HD3 subchannel carries a bilingual classic hits format, known as "Retro 97.9".

History

The station signed on the air on June 26, 1950. 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 ...

was WORZ-FM, originally simulcasting WORZ 740 AM (now

WYGM WYGM (740 AM) is a commercial radio station in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a sports radio format. Programming is simulcast on FM translator station W245CL at 96.9 MHz in nearby Deltona, Florida, an ...

). The call sign changed in 1957 to WKIS-AM-FM. The two stations were owned by Central Florida Broadcasting and were network affiliates of

NBC Red Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

. They carried NBC's schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows, 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 and ...

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 1971, the simulcast ended as WKIS and WKIS-FM were sold to separate companies, with the FM station acquired by the Shamrock Development Company. The new management installed a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

format, switching the call letters to WDIZ. Over time, the station's

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...

focused on the top-selling albums and rock artists, as the station shifted to

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

. In 1996, the station began stunting with sounds of a department store that included occasional talking, typewriter noises, and telephones ringing. When the stunting had ended, it switched to all

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 ...

as WSHE.

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-based

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 ...

(now iHeartMedia) acquired the station in 1997. On February 28, 2004, after stunting with the last two minutes of "

Hey Jude "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' fir ...

" by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

on a loop for an entire weekend, the station's call letters were then switched to WEBG and the format to classic hits as Big 100.3. On February 2, 2005, the station flipped to a

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

tropical music format. Over time,

and

were mixed into the playlist.

HD subchannels

WRUM-HD2

On April 19, 2017, WRUM's HD2

launched a bilingual CHR format, branded as ''Boom 97 Uno''. It was simulcast on FM translators at 97.1 FM: W246BT in Clermont (about 20 miles west of Orlando), and W246CK in Kissimmee (a few miles south of Orlando). However, due to a trademark claim by Radio One (which uses the "Boom" brand for its

classic hip hop Classic hip hop is a music radio format focusing primarily on hip hop music from the 1980s, 1990s, and the early to mid-2000s. Although stations with such a format date back as far as 2004, the format was first popularized in October 2014, after ...

stations), the HD2 subchannel and FM translators were rebranded as ''Oi2 97 Uno'' (pronounced "Oidos") on May 4, 2017. On February 8, 2018, WRUM-HD2 became ''Mega 97.1''.

WRUM-HD3

From September 2018 until July 2024, WRUM’s HD3 subchannel simulcasted WRSO

810 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 810 kHz: 810 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency. KSFO San Francisco and WGY (AM), WGY Schenectady share list of broadcast station classes#A ...

, which currently broadcasts a sports radio format, until the simulcast moved to sister station WXXL, where the stations’ respective HD3 subchannels swapped formats, with the bilingual classic hits "Retro" national feed that aired on WXXL’s HD3 subchannel being moved to WRUM’s HD3 subchannel and ended up being simulcast on the FM translator as "Retro 97.9".

Translators

References

External links

* * * * {{Spanish Radio Stations in Florida 1950 establishments in Florida Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations Radio stations established in 1950

RUM Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...