WDBO (580 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station broadcasting a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

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, ...

. Licensed to

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, the station is owned by

Cox Media Group CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company p ...

. The studios and offices are located on North John Young Parkway in Orlando. WDBO is powered at 5,000 watts. By day, its signal is non-directional. At night, to protect other stations on AM 580, it uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

with a two-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off West Kennedy Boulevard in Maitland. Programming is also heard on 250-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 tr ...

W297BB at 107.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

History

Early years

WDBO is Orlando's oldest radio station, signing on the air on May 24, 1924. It was first licensed to

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

in Winter Park. In its early years, it used a number of frequencies, but by 1933, it settled on 580 kHz. In 1935, it got a boost in power from 250 watts to 1,000 watts. It was owned by the Orlando Broadcasting Company, and was a

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 ...

of CBS Radio. WDBO carried the CBS line up of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and

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 and ...

broadcasts during the "

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

". In 1949, WDBO-FM (92.3 FM) was put on the air as a

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of 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, simultaneously) ...

of WDBO. Five years later, WDBO-TV came on the air, the first television station in

Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, 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, in ...

, matching its radio cousin as a primary CBS television affiliate. In 1982, the firm that owned WDBO-AM-FM-TV,

The Outlet Company The Outlet Company was a corporation based in Providence, Rhode Island, which owned holdings in both retail and broadcasting. The centerpieces of the group was its flagship Providence store (''The Outlet'') and WJAR radio and television, also in ...

, sold the radio stations to Katz Broadcasting. (The TV station became WCPX in 1982, and has been

WKMG-TV WKMG-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Graham Media Group. The station's studios are located on John Young Parkway ( SR 423) in Orlando, and its transmitter is located o ...

since 1998.) When the stations were sold, WDBO-FM was re-formatted as a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

station, "K92FM", with the

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 as ...

WWKA.

MOR, AC and talk

As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WDBO switched to a full-service middle of the road format of popular adult music, news, and sports. The station also joined

ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News (United States), ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five-minute newscasts on the hour ...

and slowly added more

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

programs. By the 1980s, "58 WDBO" began to scale back on MOR music, and in 1984, the station dropped MOR entirely, switching to

adult contemporary music 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

, along with news, information and sports. The change in music came shortly after Leesburg's WHLY switched from its adult contemporary format to

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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. "To ...

. When the 1990s began, WDBO was airing a mix of news, talk and adult contemporary music. In March 1991, the station dropped music entirely and it became "NewsTalk 580 WDBO". For years, it was Greater Orlando's highest-rated AM news/talk station. In 1997, WDBO and WWKA were acquired by

Cox Radio CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company p ...

. In August 2011, Cox ended the

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

format on WHTQ (96.5 FM), and gave it the call sign WDBO-FM, becoming a

of WDBO. (WDBO's talk programming was initially heard on that station's HD-2 subchannel beginning in late February 2008.) The news/talk station eventually re-branded, using the FM frequency exclusively as "NewsTalk 96-5 WDBO".

Switch to sports

On November 12, 2012, the simulcast ended when WDBO re-launched as a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

station affiliated with

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

, while WDBO-FM continued the news/talk programming on its own. ESPN Radio had been dropped previously by WHOO (1080 AM), which switched its affiliation to NBC Sports Radio. WDBO carried the full ESPN Radio schedule, except for a local program on weekday afternoons hosted by Scott Anez. WDBO remained the flagship radio station of the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team until

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

's WYGM (740 AM) became the home of the Magic at the start of the 2018–2019 season.

Return to talk

On June 24, 2020, Cox Radio announced that WDBO-FM would flip to a

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

hot 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

hits format as WOEX, "Exitos 96.5". WDBO's news/talk programming concurrently moved back to 580 AM, replacing the sports format. To give listeners in Orlando and its adjacent communities the option to hear WDBO programming on FM, Cox added a simulcast via

W297BB (107.3 FM) on June 29. With the addition of the translator, the station rebranded as "WDBO 107.3 FM and 580 AM". In September 2021, Cox Media announced reductions to WDBO's staff. Morning anchor Ray Caputo, evening anchor Tony Marino and late morning talk host Darrell Moody were released. The noon news hour was also replaced with talk programming.InsideRadio.com "CMB Downsizes Staff at Orlando's WDBO" Sept. 21, 2021
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Programming

Weekdays begin with a local information and interview show, ''Orlando's Morning News'' anchored by Scott Anez. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of nationally syndicated talk programs: '' The Sean Hannity Show'', '' Brian Kilmeade and Friends'', '' The Erik Erickson Show'', ''Markley, Van Camp & Robbins'' and '' Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla''. Weekends include shows on money, health, law, pets, home improvement, gardening, cars and food. A technology show with Kim Komando is heard Sunday evenings. Some weekend hours are paid brokered programming. Most hours begin with world and national news from

. There had been a two-hour-long local news block at 5 p.m. until 2024. A local sports show aired in the evening until 2022, ''Live, Local and Loud'', with Nick Gryniewicz and Jerry Daniels. Both were replaced with syndicated talk programs.

References

External links

Official website

FCC History Cards for WDBO
(covering 1927-1979) * {{COXMG DBO (AM) Cox Media Group Radio stations established in 1924 News and talk radio stations in the United States 1924 establishments in Florida