WBWD (540 AM ''Radio Zindagi'') is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

licensed to

Islip, New York Islip ( ) is a town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. The population was 335,543 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous city or town in the state. The Town of Islip also contains a ...

and broadcasting an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

n radio format.

History

The station, originally owned by South Shore Broadcasting, signed on as WBIC on October 16, 1959. Since the station occupied a Canadian

clear-channel A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-cou ...

frequency, it was required to sign-off at sundown. Bob 'Bobaloo' Lewis, who would later gain fame as one of the “All Americans” on 77 WABC Radio in New York City, was one of the original DJs on WBIC.

WLIX (1967–1980s)

In June 1967, the station was purchased by Long Island Broadcasting Corporation, owned by marketer, former Mutual Broadcasting System chairman and would-be politician Malcolm E. Smith Jr.. The call letters were changed to WLIX effective June 26, 1967. By the early 1970s, it broadcast an automated "beautiful music" format, and on Sunday mornings an Italian-American music program hosted by Joe Rotolo. Sometime in the mid-1970s, it changed to Christian programming, still as WLIX. In 1981, this station was featured on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

series ''

Real People ''Real People'' is an American reality television series that originally aired on NBC from 1979 to 1984, Wednesdays from 8 pm to 9pm Eastern Time. Its initial episodes aired live in the Eastern and Central time zones. ''Real People'' featured "r ...

'', which was a cross between a

newsmagazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...

and what can now be called

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

. In 1983, it was permitted to broadcast after dark, at reduced power.

WLUX (1990s)

In the mid-1990s, it was WLUX with a

pop standards Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standard ...

format.

WLIE (2000s)

In September 2002, the station changed call letters to WLIE and flipped formats to become a talk radio station, Mornings were hosted by David Weiss, Tracy Burgess, and later with Weiss and Amanda Clarke; and Steve Reggie with Traffic; Ed Tyll hosted mid-days, and Mike Seigel hosted drive-time with Matt Bartlett on Traffic; evenings featured a rotating schedule of brokered programing and overnights featured

Jim Bohannon James Everett Bohannon (January 7, 1944 – November 12, 2022) was an American broadcaster who worked in both television and radio. He is best known for hosting the nationally syndicated late night radio talk show ''The Jim Bohannon Show'' orig ...

from

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...

. Weekends featured Lynn Samuels. The Program Director of IslandTalk 540 was John McDermott, a long time producer at WOR. Later the talk format was dropped for a business talk format. The WLIE call letters referred to the

Long Island Expressway Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music men ...

. Beginning in 2008, the station started airing

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

religious shows. It broadcast a variety format, including leased air-time and news/talk programs.

WBWD (2018–present)

On November 9, 2018, the station's call sign was changed to WBWD. On December 3, 2018, WBWD changed their format to

Bollywood music Hindi film songs, more formally known as Hindi Geet or filmi songs and informally known as Bollywood music, are songs featured in Hindi films. Derived from the song-and-dance routines common in Indian films, Bollywood songs, along with danc ...

, branded as "Bolly 540 AM". In October 2020, the station was sold to Metro Mex USA LLC, and the station's format was changed to Spanish Christian. The sale was consummated on December 1, 2020, at a price of $700,000. On December 10, 2020, the station was sold for $1.3 million to Yash Pandya's Om Sai Broadcasting. The station's format reverted to the previous

and

n format, ''Radio Zindagi''.

References

External links

Christian 54 Online WLIX
— online radio station named after the former WLIX {{Long Island Radio BWD Radio stations established in 1960 Mass media in Suffolk County, New York 1960 establishments in New York (state)