WWNL (1080 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 ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, USA. It broadcasts a

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

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, ...

and is owned by Steel City Radio, Inc. Programming is supplied by the Wilkins Radio Network. WWNL features local and national religious leaders, including

Charles Stanley Charles Frazier Stanley Jr. (September 25, 1932 – April 18, 2023) was an American Southern Baptist pastor and writer. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta for 49 years and took on ''emeritus'' status in 2020. He founded a ...

, John MacArthur,

David Jeremiah David Jeremiah (born February 13, 1941) is an American evangelical Christian author, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in El Cajon, Ca ...

and Michael Youssef. WWNL is a

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 ...

station, where hosts pay for time slots on WWNL and may seek donations to their ministries during their shows. By day, WWNL is powered at 50,000

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, the maximum permitted for AM radio stations in the United States. Because AM 1080 is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A stations KRLD

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and WTIC

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, WWNL is 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 ...

, 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 ...

the air at night. During

critical hours Critical hours for radio stations is the time from sunrise to two hours after sunrise, and from two hours before sunset until sunset, local time. During this time, certain American radio stations may be operating with reduced power as a result of Se ...

, WWNL is powered at 25,000 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 ...

at all times. 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 ...

, 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 ...

, is off Lah Road in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania.

History

WILY and WEEP

In 1947, 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, using WILY as its

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 ...

. It primarily served Pittsburgh's

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

audience in the 1950s. In 1957, it became WEEP, a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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. "To ...

station, before switching to the call letters WYRE in 1961 and then back to WEEP.

Country music

Unable to compete with KQV in the Top 40 format, WEEP changed to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

in 1965, in which it enjoyed its greatest success. Most large cities in the north did not have a radio station playing country and western music, so WEEP was alone in the format for many years. Based on WEEP's good ratings, the owners switched WEEP-FM (now WDSY-FM) to country music as well, a first such FM station in Pittsburgh. Other than a one-year period with a

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. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

format in 1976, WEEP broadcast a country format for almost 30 years. By the 1980s, WEEP and WDSY

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) ...

part of the day, before WEEP changed to 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 on December 15, 1986. In September 1990, it adopted an all-business

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

and talk format. In February 1992, the

call letters 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 Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

were changed to WDSY and the station became a full time simulcast of WDSY-FM's country format. This was short-lived with the AM station going back to the WEEP call letters and affiliating with the

Satellite Music Network Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered Radio network, network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to radio stations, local stations, under several different formats. History Affiliate stations, mostly i ...

's "Real Country" format delivered via satellite in September 1992. It returned to a full-time simulcast of the FM station in March 1995, again as WDSY.

Gospel and Christian radio

In April 1997, WDSY was sold and changed formats to

urban gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genr ...

as WPGR. In July 1999, the format moved to

1510 Year 1510 (Roman numerals, MDX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 23 – An 18-year-old Henry VIII of England jousts anonymously at Richmond, London, Richmond, Surrey ...

. Following two months of simulcasting, 1080 changed to a

Christian radio Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

format, using the WWNL call sign. Starting as a music-based station, WWNL has added more talk and paid programming in recent years, affiliated with the Wilkins Radio Network.

History of call letters

The call letters WWNL were previously assigned to an AM station in

Newport, Kentucky Newport is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. It is at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers across from Cincinnati. The population was 14,150 ...

. It initially broadcast on 1110 kHz but moved to 740 kHz in 1948.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WWNL
{{coord, 40, 36, 17, N, 79, 57, 37, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title WNL WNL American Basketball Association flagship radio stations Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Pennsylvania WNL