WEDO (810

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is a commercial AM

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 to

McKeesport, Pennsylvania McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. It ...

and serving Greater Pittsburgh. It carries a brokered programming

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, ...

. Hosts buy segments of time on the station and may use their shows to advertise their products and services or seek donations to their ministries. Some shows are for ethnic communities, some are religious and others are devoted to special interests. WEDO is owned by Robert and Ashley Stevens through licensee Broadcast Communications, Inc. The

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

s and offices are located at the intersection of Routes 30 and 48 in

Irwin, Pennsylvania Irwin is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. Some of the most extensive bituminous coal deposits in the State are located here. In the past, iron foundries, flour mills, car shops, facing and planing mills, e ...

, sharing space with other BCI-owned stations. By day, WEDO is powered at 1,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of 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 quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is off Foster Road, also in White Oak. But AM 810 is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A WGY

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

and KGO

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. So to avoid interference, WEDO must sign off at night when radio waves travel farther. Programming is heard around the clock on 50 watt FM translator W227DB at 93.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

.Radio-Locator.com/W227DB
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History

left, Studio and offices in White Oak, Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2015. The station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

in 1947, at around the same time as another McKeesport-licensed radio station, WMCK AM 1360 (now

WGBN WGBN (1360 AM) is a gospel radio station that serves the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, market in the US. Owned by Pentecostal Temple Development Corporation, the station operates with a power of 1,000 watts, and is licensed to McKeesport, Pennsylv ...

). WEDO has had only this

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 assigne ...

, and only three owners in its history. Tri-City Broadcasting first put the station on the air and operated it until 1972, when it was purchased by 810, Inc., a wholly owned company headed by local entrepreneurs Ralph and Judith Baron. Following the death of Ralph Baron, Judy Baron, now residing in Florida, has recently established a trust that would control the station in the event of her death or incapacitation. During the 60s and 70s, WEDO became known for its Top 40 music presentation and even received more notoriety when they relocated their studios and offices inside Midtown Plaza Mall on Fifth Avenue in downtown McKeesport during the 1970s. The mall, one of the first in suburban Pittsburgh, enabled shoppers to watch the DJ's in real time as they did their on-air shifts. In the early 1980s, when FM emerged as the leading technology for music, WEDO gradually dropped its music for the program-oriented format that it originally had in its formative years. As McKeesport's downtown economy continued to deteriorate, so did tenant business in Midtown Plaza Mall, as many of the stores went out of business or relocated into the suburbs. With few tenants left in the building, the property's managers turned off heat to several areas of the mall in an effort to reduce operating costs. A heating problem one day in 2000 resulted in a frozen pipe bursting in the mall and leaving the radio station in about two inches of standing water. According to a former employee, it was the second time that such an incident occurred. Management then decided to relocate to a different building. WEDO cleared its equipment and furniture out of the mall weeks later and moved to its current location at a former bank location at 1985 Lincoln Way, where it occupies the second floor. In the spring of 1999, WEDO was the victim of a not-so-innocent and dangerous prank committed by local high school students at its transmitter facility in Forest Hills, as explained in the April 13th and 29th, 1999 issue archives of the Tribune-Review...

Change in Ownership

On Tuesday, September 15, 2015, it was announced that 810 Inc. agreed to sell WEDO to Broadcast Communications, Inc. of

, licensee of

WKFB WKFB (770 AM) is a radio station licensed to Jeannette, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great La ...

, WKHB,

WANB WANB (1210 AM) is a Country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and serves southwestern Pennsylvania and portions of West Virginia and Ohio. WANB is owned and operated by Broadcast Communications, Inc. His ...

WKVE WKVE (103.1 FM "KVE") is an Album Oriented Rock formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, serving Westmoreland County, Fayette County and Southwestern Pennsylvania in particular. WKVE is owned and operated by Bro ...

and three FM translators in the Pittsburgh market, plus other broadcast properties in the Cumberland, Maryland market. The sale was finalized on January 5, 2016, at a purchase price of $175,000.

WEDO people

John James managed the station from June 1982 until retiring in 2014. James' predecessor, David Leiner took over for longtime manager John Longo in 1980. Longo went on to own and operate

WCNS WCNS (1480 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Latrobe, Pennsylvania. It simulcasts with co-owned WXJX 910 AM in Apollo, Pennsylvania. They carry an oldies radio format and are owned by Steve Clendenin, through licensee Maryland Medi ...

, about east of Pittsburgh until his retirement in 2014.

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 40, 21, 51, N, 79, 48, 46, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title

EDO Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Pennsylvania

Brokered programming