WBYU (1450 AM) was 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 radio ...

licensed in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and served the

New Orleans metropolitan area The New Orleans metropolitan area, designated the New Orleans–Metairie metropolitan statistical area by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, or simply Greater New Orleans (french: Grande Nouvelle-Orléans, es, Gran Nueva Orleans), is a me ...

. The station was owned by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and featured programming from

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

(2003-2011).

History

The AM 1450 frequency began on 1420 when WBNO, licensed to Coliseum Place Baptist Church, moved there from 1200 in 1938. The call letters became WNOE on June 23, 1939, shortly after

James A. Noe James Albert Noe Sr. (December 21, 1890October 18, 1976) was an American businessman and politician from Louisiana, who was briefly the List of Governors of Louisiana, 43rd Governor of Louisiana following the death of Oscar K. Allen in 1936. Noe ...

gained control of the station. On March 29, 1941, the FCC shifted most broadcast frequencies nationwide, and WNOE moved to 1450. WNOE moved to 1060 on June 1, 1950, to become a 50 kW station. Royal Broadcasting Corporation began operating WTIX on 1450 on December 5, 1951, with a Classical format. WTIX was sold to Mid Continent Broadcasting, owned by

Todd Storz Robert Todd Storz (May 8, 1924 – April 13, 1964) headed a very successful chain of American radio broadcasting stations and is generally credited with being the foremost innovator of the Top 40 radio format in 1951. The selection of records t ...

, on September 10, 1953, and the format flipped to

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 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. "Top 40" or " con ...

. In 1958, WTIX purchased the 690 frequency from WWEZ and subsequently donated 1450 to the Orleans Parish School Board. WNPS began broadcasting May 7, 1958 with a 600 LP library donated by

Mitch Miller Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...

and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. In the fall of 1966 it broke away from strictly classical music, shifting more to popular music and introducing news and weather reports. WNPS moved to nostalgia and easy listening in 1973 before flipping to country in July 1974. In 1977 the station was sold to Sun Broadcasting, who flipped it to a "contemporary" soft rock & jazz format branded "14-D" that lasted four months. In August 1977 the station flipped to Adult standards playing big band and New Orleans jazz and changed call letters to WWIW (the Way It Was) on September 14. In 1988, easy-listening WBYU-FM abruptly flipped to country, creating a public uproar. WWIW owner David Smith immediately petitioned the FCC for the highly recognizable call letters, and 1450 began broadcasting as WBYU with no format change on November 28, 1988. In 2001 the station was sold to

Beasley Broadcast Group Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Naples, Florida, is an owner/operator of radio stations in the United States. , the company owned 63 stations under the Beasley Media Group name. History The company was founded in 1961 by George G. Beasl ...

, who flipped the format on April 23 of that year to a brokered health talk format, simulcasting

WWNN WWNN (1470 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a brokered talk/oldies format, whereby clients pay for airtime for long-form programming. Licensed to Pompano Beach, Florida, United States, the station serves the Fort Lauderdale area. Although ...

in Boca Raton, Florida. The non-stop infomercials continued until February 6, 2003, when new owners ABC, Inc., who bought the station in 2002, flipped it to

. On September 26, 2011, WBYU went silent as ABC sought a buyer for the station. On September 27, 2012, ABC surrendered WBYU's license to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC). The FCC cancelled the station's license and deleted the WBYU call sign from their database on October 3, 2012.FCC status page for WBYU
/ref>

References

WBYU WBYU (1450 AM) was a radio station licensed in New Orleans, Louisiana and served the New Orleans metropolitan area. The station was owned by The Walt Disney Company and featured programming from Radio Disney (2003-2011). History The AM 1450 fr ...

Radio stations established in 1976 Defunct radio stations in the United States Radio stations disestablished in 2012 1976 establishments in Louisiana 2012 disestablishments in Louisiana Defunct mass media in Louisiana Former subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company {{Louisiana-radio-station-stub