WFBR (1590 AM, "Famous 1590") is a brokered programming

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 Glen Burnie, Maryland, and serving the Baltimore metropolitan area. The station broadcasts an ethnic, multilingual

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, ...

and is owned by Way Broadcasting Licensee, LLC. The

radio studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

s and

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 ...

are on 8th Avenue, Northwest in Glen Burnie. WFBR broadcasts 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 around the clock. To protect other stations on

1590 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1590 kHz: 1590 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * LRI434 in Dolores, Buenos Aires. * Serodino in Serodino, Santa Fe. * Stentor in Buenos Aires. Colombia * HJIP at Envig ...

, as well as avoiding interference to

WLXE WLXE is a radio station broadcasting on 1600 kHz in the medium wave AM band. Its studios and transmitters are located in Rockville, Maryland, and it serves the Washington metropolitan area. WLXE broadcasts music programming in the Spanish l ...

1600 AM Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film di ...

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...

, WFBR uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...

with a five- tower array.

History

On May 15, 1963, the station first

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 ...

the air. Its call letters were WISZ, powered at 500 watts and owned by Butch Gregory, a Vice-President at Westinghouse. He built much of the equipment including an antenna phaser unit, and the main studio control console. R. J. ("Bob") Bennett was the first station manager. The Program Director was Matt Edwards. The initial format was what is now called Adult Standards but was identified by the station as a "

Big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

Sound". Within two years the format switched to

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

with the addition of legendary country

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

Ray Davis, whose show was broadcast as a remote from Johnny's New and Used Cars (the "Walking Man's Friend). WISZ-FM on 95.9 MHz was added as a

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

in 1962, broadcasting from a 90-foot tower in Brooklyn Park, Maryland. The transmitter was in a garden shed. WISZ-FM is today

WWIN-FM WWIN-FM (95.9 FM) is an urban adult contemporary radio station in Baltimore owned by Urban One. It is known as "Magic 95.9", playing a variety of urban adult contemporary music from the 1960s to present. Its transmitter is located along I-695 ...

. WISZ's AM antenna was in a swamp off Crain Highway in Glen Burnie and consisted of seven towers (4 daytime, and four nighttime, with a common base tower). The directional pattern protected WINX in Washington, D.C. on 1600 kHz, as well as other 1590 stations to the northeast. The "null" towards Washington was so pronounced that at certain points only a mile away, the towers could seen but not heard. The station's mascot was an owl: "The WISZ Old Owl," pronouncing the call sign as "WISE." The call letters were changed to WJRO on May 11, 1977. The station was assigned the WFBR

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 ...

by 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) on November 30,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

WFBR call sign history

From 1924 to 1990, the WFBR call letters had been assigned to a Baltimore station (now WJZ). This call sign was randomly assigned from the sequential list of available call signs; other new stations licensed the same month included WFBK (Hanover, New Hampshire),

WFBL WFBL (1390 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Syracuse, New York and owned by Wolf Radio, Inc. It serves Syracuse and its suburbs, with studios and offices located on Smokey Hollow Road in Baldwinsville. Since September 2017 the statio ...

(Syracuse, New York), WFBM (Indianapolis, Indiana), WFBN (Bridgewater, Massachusetts),

WFBQ WFBQ (94.7 FM, "Q95") is a radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, owned by iHeartMedia. The studios are located at 6161 Fall Creek Road on the northeast side of Indianapolis. The transmitter and antenna are located on the northwe ...

(Raleigh, North Carolina), WFBT (Pitman, New Jersey) and WFBU (Boston, Massachusetts)."New Stations"
''Radio Service Bulletin'', November 1, 1924, page 3. A tradition later developed that WFBR could be rendered as "World's First Broadcasting Regiment". Another slogan, also derived from the call letters, was "First Baltimore Radio"."Oldradio's Radio/TV Station Call Letter Origins"
(oldradio.com)

References

External links

History Cards for WFBR
(covering 1961-1981 as WISZ / WJRO) {{Authority control 1963 establishments in Maryland Glen Burnie, Maryland Radio stations established in 1963 FBR Talk radio stations in the United States Multicultural Broadcasting stations