WDOD (1310 AM) was a United States radio station serving the

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

area. The station was last owned by

Bahakel Communications Bahakel Communications, Ltd. is an American communications company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that is wholly owned and operated by the Bahakel family. The company was founded by Cy Bahakel in 1953, who ran it until his death on April 2 ...

out of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, and offered a sports talk format. WDOD was the oldest radio station in Chattanooga, having gone on the air on April 13, 1925.

History

WDOD was first licensed in April 1925 to the Chattanooga Radio Company, operating on 1170 kHz. The call letters stood for "Wonderful Dynamo of Dixie", reflecting a slogan used for the city. The station made its formal debut on April 13, 1925, broadcasting from the Interstate Life building, and featuring a speech by mayor Richard Hardy. Early owners of the station include Norman Thomas and Earl Winger (who owned a crystal radio company, and started WDOD to give people who bought their radios a station to listen to), as well as H. Clay Evans and Interstate Insurance. Following a series of frequency changes, on November 11, 1928 the station was assigned to 1280 kHz, under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40. In March 1941, with the implementation of the

North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, es, Convenio Regional Norteamericano de Radiodifusión) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreem ...

, stations on 1280 kHz, including WDOD, moved to 1310 kHz. From 1948 to 1997 the station was Chattanooga's original country radio station. Radio station WDOD advertisement (1952)

Bahakel acquired the station in 1963; and added an FM simulcast on

WDOD-FM WDOD-FM (96.5 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting a Top 40/CHR format. Licensed to Chattanooga, Tennessee, the station is currently owned by WDOD of Chattanooga, Inc. Its studios are located on Broad Street in Chattanooga, and its transmit ...

in 1960. The simulcast continued until WDOD-FM changed its format to AAA. WDOD was briefly an affiliate of Air America Radio in 2005–2006. Prior to that the station had an adult standards format. Until 2009, the station derived a portion of its programming from Scott Shannon's

The True Oldies Channel Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel (also known more recently as ''The True Oldies Channel: Greatest Hits'') is a radio network begun in the spring of 2004. Originally distributed by ABC Radio Networks via satellite, the service plays a hybrid ol ...

from

Citadel Media Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which w ...

. After dropping The True Oldies Channel, WDOD simulcast its sister station WDEF (1370 AM), a

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an American sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports division and iHeartMedia, parent company ...

affiliate, from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. the station aired

Sporting News Radio SportsMap is a sports radio Radio network, network that is distributed by Gow Media. The SportsMap Radio Network supplies its network affiliates with a 24-hour schedule of sports programming, including call-in shows and sports updates. Over its h ...

's Tim Brando and ''

2 Live Stews The ''2 Live Stews'' was an American syndicated sports talk radio show originating from WQXI (AM) 790 The Zone, in Atlanta, Georgia hosted by brothers Doug and Ryan Stewart. The hosts and cast Both brothers were born and raised in Moncks Corne ...

'', and the regionally syndicated Paul Finebaum show. ''2 Live Stews'' was subsequently replaced with a local show hosted by Chris Goforth. WDOD was the local radio affiliate of the Chattanooga Lookouts, a minor league baseball team that was the Double-A affiliate of the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

when the station signed off and currently serve as the Double-A affiliate of the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

. WDOD signed off permanently on May 31, 2011. The following day the transmitter property was sold to the

Baylor School Baylor School, commonly called Baylor, is a private, coeducational college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Founded in 1893, the school currently sits atop a 690-acre campus and enrolls students in grades 6-12, including boarding stu ...

for expansion. The license was returned 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), and the station formally deleted on July 13, 2011.Call Sign History: DWDOD"
(FCC.gov) Sister station

remained on air with a

Contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

format.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WDOD
(covering 1927-1980)
"Celebrating 90 years of local broadcasting!"
by David Carroll, April 3, 2015
"Remembering WDOD Radio As It Turns 96"
by Earl Freudenberg, April 13, 2021. {{Chattanooga Radio DOD (AM) DOD (AM) Radio stations established in 1925 Radio stations disestablished in 2011 Defunct radio stations in the United States 1925 establishments in Tennessee 2011 disestablishments in Tennessee DOD