WTLN (990

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 Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 ...

located in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. It is owned by the

Salem Media Group Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in Camarillo, California (moved most operations to Ir ...

and it airs a

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk programm ...

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, ...

. The offices and

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 are on Lake View Drive in

Altamonte Springs Altamonte Springs is a suburban city in central Florida in Seminole County, Florida, United States, which had a population of 46,231 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is in the northern suburbs of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metro ...

. Some of the national religious leaders heard on WTLN include

David Jeremiah David Jeremiah is an American evangelical Christian author, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in El Cajon, California, a suburb of San D ...

Chuck Swindoll Charles Rozell Swindoll (born October 18, 1934) is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded ''Insight for Living'', headquartered in Frisco, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more t ...

, Jim Daly,

John MacArthur John MacArthur or Macarthur may refer to: *J. Roderick MacArthur (1920–1984), American businessman *John MacArthur (American pastor) (born 1939), American evangelical minister, televangelist, and author * John Macarthur (priest), 20th-century pro ...

and

Charles Stanley Charles Frazier Stanley (born 1932) is Pastor Emeritus of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, after serving as senior pastor for 49 years. He is the founder and president of In Touch Ministries, which widely broadcasts his sermons through te ...

. Hosts pay for 30- to 60-minute segments on WTLN and can use the time to seek donations to their ministries. WTLN is known as "AM 990 and FM 101.5 The Word." WTLN broadcasts by day at 50,000

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 power for commercial AM stations, covering much of

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Gr ...

. It 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 ...

at all times, and must protect

co-channel Co-channel interference or CCI is crosstalk from two different radio transmitters using the same channel. Co-channel interference can be caused by many factors from weather conditions to administrative and design issues. Co-channel interference ...

WMYM WMYM is a radio station licensed to Kendall, Florida, serving the Miami metropolitan area as the flagship station of the Spanish-language sports network Unanimo Deportes. WMYM is broadcast on 990 kHz. History WFAB "La Fabulosa" broadcast a Sp ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and

WGML WGML may refer to: * WGML (FM), a radio station (88.1 FM) licensed to serve Vanceboro, North Carolina, United States * WGML (AM), a defunct radio station (990 AM) formerly licensed to serve Hinesville, Georgia, United States {{Call sign disa ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. At night, when radio waves travel further, power is reduced to 14,000 watts, with its signal directional towards the east, to protect clear channel station CBW in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

. 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 Park Hamilton Boulevard in Pine Hills. Programming is also heard on 225-watt

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

101.5 W268CT in Orlando.

History

Early years

On December 5, 1947, WHOO 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. It was the ABC Radio

Network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

for Orlando and was co-owned with the '' Sentinel Star'' newspaper. The studios were in the Fort Catelin Hotel. An advertisement in the 1948 Broadcasting Yearbook said that WHOO celebrated its debut broadcast with 5,000 guests, a New York dance band and a full-time "girl singer." It boasted that it had Orlando's first city room to gather local and Florida news stories and the largest sports staff. A short time later, it added FM station WHOO-FM (now

WOEX WOEX (96.5 MHz "Éxitos 96.5") is a commercial radio station in Orlando, Florida. It is owned by Cox Radio and airs a Spanish-language Contemporary Hits radio format. WOEX's studios and offices are located in Orlando on North John Young Parkway ...

). In the late 1950s, as network programming moved from radio to television, WHOO shifted 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 " con ...

music format and was a top-rated station in the market until slipping behind upstart

WLOF WLOF (101.7 MHz) is a non-commercial FM radio station licensed to Elma, New York and serving the Buffalo metropolitan area. It broadcasts a Catholic talk and teaching radio format. Referred to as ''The Station of the Cross'', WLOF is owned ...

"Channel 95" in the mid-1960s. WHOO then 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, ...

in 1968 and continued with this format until 1987, when the station switched its

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 ...

to WMMA "Magic 99." airing a satellite-fed

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 sto ...

format from the

Satellite Music Network Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to local stations, under several different formats. History Affiliate stations, mostly in small and medium markets, co ...

. A short time later, it changed to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

Standards, country and rock

A succession of formats followed over the next several years: the station was briefly WHTQ in 1988,

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 ...

ing the

album rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orient ...

format of

WHTQ WHTQ (96.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Top 40/ CHR format. Licensed to Whiting, Wisconsin, United States, the station serves the Wausau-Stevens Point area. The station is currently owned by NRG Media through licensee NRG License Sub, ...

-FM. It returned to the WHOO call sign with an adult standards format known as "The

Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and Ca ...

." Within a year, it changed to

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

in 1989 and then returned to simulcasting WHTQ-FM's rock music (although still as WHOO) from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, WHOO returned to adult standards, this time using the syndicated "Stardust" format from ABC Radio.

Radio Disney

In 2001, WHOO was acquired by the

Walt Disney Corporation The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

for $5 million.

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

is located in Orlando, so the decision was made by the company to flip WHOO to the

children's radio Children's radio is a radio format aimed primarily at preteen children. Examples include the now defunct Radio Disney network of radio stations, Kids Place Live satellite radio channel and in the UK Fun Kids. Stations See also *List of children ...

format. The station became WDYZ as a

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

owned and operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

, beginning the format on February 2, 2001. (The DYZ stood for "Disney.") The standards format and WHOO call letters were shifted onto AM 1080 in

Kissimmee Kissimmee ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a Principal City of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area, wh ...

. On August 13, 2014, Disney put WDYZ and 22 other Radio Disney stations up for sale, in order to focus on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network. On December 15, the Radio Disney Group filed to sell WDYZ to the Pennsylvania Media Associates, Inc. Pennsylvania Media is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of the

. The FCC granted the sale on February 10, 2015.

Salem ownership

On March 10, 2015, Salem Media CEO Ed Atsinger revealed that WDYZ would be the eighth company-owned station to carry Salem's "Radio Luz"

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

format. On March 18, 2015, WDYZ dropped Radio Disney programming and went silent. The sale was consummated on March 27, 2015. On April 13, 2015, WDYZ returned to the air with a Spanish Christian format, branded as "La Nueva 990." On August 5, 2019, WDYZ flipped to English-language

, branded as "The Word."Salem Begins Orlando Format Shuffle
Radioinsight - August 6, 2019 The flip was part of a Salem Media shuffle of its Orlando stations; WORL (660 AM), the home of Salem's conservative talk format, was sold to

JVC Broadcasting JVC Broadcasting (also known as JVC Media) is a privately owned company headquartered in Ronkonkoma, New York that owns five radio stations on Long Island, New York, and 12 FM stations in Florida. The company founded in 2008 derives its initials ...

, while Salem shifted WORL's programming and call sign to

950 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 950 kHz: The Federal Communications Commission categorizes 950 AM as a regional frequency. Argentina * CNN Radio Argentina in Buenos Aires * LT16 RSP ...

, and the WTLN call letters and Christian talk and teaching format moved up the dial to 990 AM.

Previous logo

References

External links

* *
FCC History Cards for WTLN
{{Salem Media Group TLN (AM) TLN (AM) Salem Media Group properties 1947 establishments in Florida Radio stations established in 1947 Former subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company