WURD
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Broadcast area | Delaware Valley |
|---|---|
| [[Frequency|FrequencTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | 900 kHz |
| Programming | |
| Format | Urban talk |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | LEVAS Communications, LP |
| History | |
First air date | Script error: No such module "Date time". |
Former call signs | Page Template:Plainlist/styles.css has no content.
|
Call sign meaning | "Word" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| 52442 | |
| Class | D |
| Power | Page Template:Plainlist/styles.css has no content.
|
| [[Broadcast relay station|TranslatorTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | Template:Radio Relay |
| Links | |
Public license information | Template:FCC Licensing and Management System facility |
| Website | www |
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WURD (900 AM) is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadcasting an urban talk radio format. It is owned by the LEVAS Communications with studios and offices on North Delaware Avenue in Philadelphia near the Penn Treaty Park.[2] Local hosts are heard most of the day but WURD also carries nationally syndicated programs from Reverend Al Sharpton and Tavis Smiley.[3]
By day, WURD is powered at 1,060 watts using a directional antenna. AM 900 is a clear channel frequency; at night, to avoid interference to other stations, WURD reduces power to 124 watts. The transmitter is off Essington Avenue, near the Schuylkill River.[4] Programming is also simulcast on FM translator W241CH at 96.1 MHz.
History
Classical music
The station signed on the air on July 23, 1958.[5] The original call sign was WFLN. In an era when few radios could receive FM broadcasts, 900 AM served as a simulcast for classical music station WFLN-FM 95.7 (now WBEN-FM).
The stations were owned by the Franklin Broadcasting Company with studios on Ridge Avenue in Philadelphia. The two stations were affiliates of the NBC Radio Network.
Talk radio
In the early 1980s, the station was sold to veteran Philadelphia broadcaster Frank Ford, ending the classical simulcast. Ford changed the format to talk and the call sign to WDVT (Delaware Valley Talk). Weekday talk show hosts on WDVT included Peter Tilden, Philadelphia Magazine writer Carol Saline, former Philadelphia Bulletin columnist D.I. Strunk and Ford himself. Weekend specialty shows on the station covered subjects ranging from pro wrestling to gay issues.
WDVT made little impact in the Arbitron ratings and had trouble generating a profit. After a few years, Ford took the station off the air and returned its license to the owners of WFLN-FM. That company then sold it to Willis Broadcasting, a Virginia-based Christian radio broadcaster, which changed the call letters to WURD. The call sign represented "The Word", a reference to the words in The Bible.
Spanish hits and black talk
In July 1996, Spanish language broadcaster Alfredo Alonso bought the station for $1.5 million and began playing Latin contemporary hits as WEMG, "Mega 900". The station became the first property purchased by Alonso, who founded Mega Broadcasting that same year. Eventually, Mega moved the WEMG call sign to 1310 kHz, and sold 900 AM for $8.5 million in 2001.
The new owner, Walter P. Lomax Jr., reinstituted the WURD call sign. After a period of apparent indecision, during which the station aired various types of music and CNN Headline News, management settled on the current talk format aimed at Philadelphia's African-American community.
Presidential interview controversy
WURD host Andrea Lawful-Sanders resigned from the station after acknowledging that her post-debate interview with President Joe Biden included questions pre-selected by Biden's campaign team, which the station informed CNN on July 7, 2024.
Sara Lomax, president and CEO of WURD, said, "The interview featured pre-determined questions provided by the White House, which violates our practice of remaining an independent media outlet accountable to our listeners".[6]
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Facility Technical Data for WURD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ WURD.fundjournalism.org
- ^ WURDradio.com/shows-schedule
- ^ FCCdata.org/WURD
- ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-181. Retrieved Nov. 1, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Rothenberg, Eva (July 7, 2024). "Radio host who interviewed Biden leaves station after admitting campaign aides gave her pre-selected questions". CNN. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
External links
- FCC History Cards for WURD
- Template:FCC Licensing and Management System facility
- WURD in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
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