WYLD (940 kHz) 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 ...

AM radio station in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., and it broadcasts an urban gospel

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, ...

, known as "Hallelujah 940" Some Christian talk and teaching programs are also heard. By day, WYLD’s transmitter power output is 10,000 watts. Because

940 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 940 kHz: 940 AM is a Mexican and Canadian clear-channel frequency. XEQ-AM, XEQ Mexico City is the dominant List of North American broadcast station c ...

is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A stations XEQ in Mexico City and CFNV in Montreal, WYLD must reduce its power at night to 500 watts to avoid interference. 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 ...

is off Tullis Drive in the

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

district of New Orleans.

History

When it signed on in 1948, the station's

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 WTPS. It was owned by the ''

New Orleans Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'' daily newspaper (the call sign stood for "''Times-Picayune'' Station") and was a

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

of the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...

. In 1958, it became WYLD. WYLD was a successful

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

(R&B) outlet in the 1960s and 1970s, serving New Orleans' large African-American community. When it added an FM

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 ...

in 1975, the

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 ...

format shifted to 98.5 WYLD-FM. The AM station evolved to a community-oriented R&B and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

sound in the 1980s to its current format in the 1990s. On May 24, 2017, WYLD rebranded as "Hallelujah 940".WYLD Rebrands as Hallelujah 940
Radioinsight - May 24, 2017 On April 27, 2020, the station began broadcasting in C-QUAM

AM stereo AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers. There are two main classes of systems: independent sideban ...

using a new Nautel NX-10 transmitter. It uses MDCL, Modulation Density Carrier Level, during the daytime hours only.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WYLD
WYLD Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Louisiana IHeartMedia radio stations Urban gospel radio stations in the United States Christian radio stations in Louisiana {{Louisiana-radio-station-stub