WFBR (AM)

This article is about 1590 kHz in Glen Burnie, Maryland. For 95.3 in Mt Washington, Kentucky, see WFBR-LP. For the original WFBR on 1300 kHz in Baltimore, see WJZ (AM).
WFBR
City Glen Burnie, Maryland
Broadcast area Baltimore, Maryland
Branding Famous 1590
Frequency 1590 kHz
Format Talk/Personality
Power 1,000 watts day
1,000 watts night
Class B
Facility ID 19673
Transmitter coordinates 39°10′36.00″N 76°37′20.00″W / 39.1766667°N 76.6222222°W / 39.1766667; -76.6222222
Callsign meaning First Baltimore Radio[1]
Former callsigns WJRO[2] WISZ
Owner Multicultural Broadcasting
(Way Broadcasting Licensee, LLC)
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live URL
Website 1590WFBR.com

WFBR (1590 AM, "Famous 1590") is a radio station broadcasting a Talk/Personality format. It is licensed for Glen Burnie, Maryland. The station is currently owned by Way Broadcasting Licensee, LLC.[3]

The station was assigned the WFBR call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on November 30, 2004.[2]

The station signed on in 1961 as WISZ, with 500 watts and owned by Butch Gregory, a Vice-President at Westinghouse. He lovingly and expertly 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; Program Director was Matt Edwards. The initial format was what is now called Adult Standards or Nostalgia, but was identified by the station as a "Big band Sound". Within two years the format had gravitated to "Country" with the addition of legendary country DJ Ray Davis, whose show was broadcast as a remote from Johnny's New and Used Cars (the "Walking Man's Friend). WISZ-FM 95.9 Mhz was added as a simulcast in 1962, broadcasting from a 90 foot tower in Brooklyn Park, MD. The transmitter was in a garden shed.

WISZ-AM's antenna installation 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, DC 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"

WFBR callsign history

Main article: WJZ (AM)

The WFBR call letters have a long and storied history in the Baltimore media market. Beginning in the 1920s, they were assigned to the 1300 kHZ signal, which was originally known as WEAR. "WFBR" stood for "World's First Broadcasting Regiment", and was organized by the officer's association of the 5th Regiment, Maryland, in whose Armory on Preston St. it broadcast from. It was the first broadcast radio station in the state of Maryland.

That station became WLIF in 1990, then WJFK (AM) in 1991, then WJZ (AM) in 2008.

Currently, the WFBR call letters are used by the former WJRO, a small AM radio station on 1590 kHz in Glen Burnie, Maryland, which coincidentally, was the home of the late Charley Eckman.

References

  1. ↑ "Call Letter Origins". Radio History on the Web.
  2. 1 2 "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
  3. ↑ "WFBR Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
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