WSLA (1560
AM) is a news, talk, and sports
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
Slidell, Louisiana
Slidell is a city on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 28,781 at the 2020 census. It is part of the New Orleans− Metairie−Kenner metropolitan statistical area.
Hist ...
. Owned by Mapa Broadcasting, the station serves 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 ...
, focusing on
St. Tammany Parish
St. Tammany Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Tammany) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana named after Tamanend, the legendary Lenape Chief of Chiefs and the "Patron Saint of America." At the 2020 census, the population was 2 ...
. The WSLA studios and transmitter are located in Slidell. Besides a standard
analog transmission
Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an ana ...
, WSLA is simulcast on low-power
translator
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
W230CR (93.9 FM) and is available online.
History
The station signed on the air as WBGS on December 3, 1963, founded by George Mayoral, a New Orleans radio and television pioneer and member of the NAB Hall Of Fame, and owned by Bill Garrett, a Slidell Chevrolet dealer.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1965 page B-68
/ref> The station's studios were originally housed on the showroom floor of the Chevrolet dealership on Pontchartrain Drive.
Later becoming WSDL, the station was sold in the 1980s and became WSLA on February 27, 1989. It was repossessed by the Mayoral family in 1993 and was off the air for a time. WSLA has been through various talk, music and sports formats, and remains one of the last independent stations in the New Orleans region, completely owned by New Orleans-based MAPA Broadcasting.
WSLA is a primary outlet for high school football in the Slidell/St. Tammany Parish area, and in recent years has been the New Orleans outlet for the Houston Astros Radio Network
The Houston Astros Radio Network is an American broadcast network of radio affiliates in operation since 1962 that broadcast coverage of the Houston Astros before, during, and after that team's games. Radio content is broadcast in both the Engl ...
. The station experienced flooding and some roof damage during Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
, taking several months to fully restore all facilities.
References
External links
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WSLA
WSLA (1560 AM) is a news, talk, and sports radio station licensed to Slidell, Louisiana. Owned by Mapa Broadcasting, the station serves the New Orleans metropolitan area, focusing on St. Tammany Parish. The WSLA studios and transmitter are loca ...
Radio stations established in 1969
1969 establishments in Louisiana
Slidell, Louisiana
Daytime-only radio stations in Louisiana
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