New Orleans ( , ,[New Orleans]
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...
. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
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 was compelle ...
. From mid-November to December 25 each year, it switches to all-Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject m ...
. The station's 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 400 Poydras Tower
400 Poydras Tower, formerly known as the Texaco Center, located at 400 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 32-story, -tall skyscraper. Built in 1983, this modern office tower features more than of offi ...
in New Orleans' downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
district.
WLMG has an effective radiated power
Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ...
(ERP) of 100,000 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 maximum for non- grandfathered FM stations. The transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...
site is off Behrman Highway in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans. WLMG broadcasts in the HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
hybrid format.
History
WWL-FM
On March 15, 1970, the station first signed on
Signing may refer to:
* Using sign language
* Signature, placing one's name on a document
* Signature (disambiguation)
* Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice
* Digital signature
A dig ...
the air as WWL-FM. It was owned by Loyola University of the South, now known as Loyola University New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans is a private Jesuit university in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans ( , ,[WWL-TV
WWL-TV (channel 4) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Slidell-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL (channel 54). Both stations share studios on Rampart S ...]
and AM powerhouse WWL.
WWL and WWL-FM had the same 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 assig ...
but separate formats. The AM was a full service Full service or Full Service may refer to:
* Full-service radio, a wide range of programming
* Full Service Network, a communications company
Entertainment
* "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block''
* Fu ...
middle of the road station, while WWL-FM played beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator m ...
. It featured quarter hour sweeps of instrumental cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...
s of popular songs with Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
and Broadway show tunes.
Top 40 and easy listening
In the mid-1970s, station management decided to go in a radically different direction, seeking a younger demographic
Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings.
Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...
for WWL-FM, as the FM flipped to a 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 "conte ...
format. However, the flip occurred during an era where most young people still were listening to inexpensive AM radios for their favorite hits. The station failed to make much headway against AM Top 40 leader WTIX.
By May 1976, WWL-FM returned to easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...
music. The format featured mostly instrumental songs with several soft vocals each hour. On December 26, 1980, to separate the FM station's image from its AM and TV counterparts, the call letters were changed to WAJY. The station, calling itself "Joy 102," moved closer to a 50/50 mix of instrumentals and vocals, some from soft rock
Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...
artists such as Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
, Olivia Newton-John
Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...
and Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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.
Switch to WLMG
Through the 1980s, the easy format saw its audience continuing to age, while most advertisers seek young and middle-aged listeners. In 1987, the station completed its transition to a soft adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...
format, eliminating the instrumentals. The call sign was changed to WLMG, and rebranded as "Magic 102." With most radios in the 1990s going from analog dials to digital, the station began calling itself "Magic 101.9" in 1995.
Over the next decade, WWL and WLMG changed hands several times. In 1989, Loyola University sold the stations to Keymarket Communications. The TV station was sold to a group of its employees, using the name Rampart Broadcasting. In July 1995, the radio stations were acquired by River City Broadcasting. Later ownership switched to Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...
. In December 1999, WWL and WLMG were acquired by Entercom.Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2001 page D-197
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In the early 2000s, WLMG moved to a mainstream adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
format. In 2006, the WWL-FM call sign returned to New Orleans on 105.3 FM
The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on FM broadcasting, FM frequency 105.3 MHz:
Argentina
* América in Paraná, Entre Ríos
* Blue in La Plata, Buenos Aires
* Del Buen Ayre in Bella Vista, Buenos Aires
* El Signo (rad ...
.
References
External links
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{{Entercom
WLMG
Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1970
1970 establishments in Louisiana
Audacy, Inc. radio stations