WPSB
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WPSB | |
| City of license | Birmingham |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Birmingham |
| Branding | 1320 WPSB |
| Frequency | 1320 KHz |
| First air date | 1950s (as WEZB) |
| Format | Regional Mexican |
| ERP | 5,000 watts (daytime)/ 111 watts (nighttime) |
| Class | D |
| Callsign meaning | People’s Station Birmingham (refers to the station's previous format as an urban talk radio station) |
| Owner | Cox Radio |
| Sister stations | WAGG, WBHJ, WBHK, WBPT, WNCB, WPSB, WZZK |
| Website | none |
WPSB is a radio station licensed to Birmingham, Alabama, broadcasting at 1320 AM. Its daytime power is 5,000 watts, and at nighttime, it broadcasts at 111 watts. Formerly known on-air as "The People's Station of Birmingham", WPSB is a station that targets Birmingham and central Alabama's Hispanic population, playing regional Mexican music. It is owned by Cox Radio, who also owns six other Birmingham stations.
[edit] Station history
The station that now broadcasts at 1320 AM in Birmingham started in the 1950s as WEZB, an easy listening music station. When WEZB changed frequencies, moving to 1220 AM, it was replaced by WENN, playing music that targeted Birmingham's African-American community. During the turbulent early 1960s, the new WENN was one of two stations that played rhythm and blues music; the other was WJLD. Because of FCC restrictions, WENN broadcast only from sunrise until sunset; still, it enjoyed dominance over its main rival, WJLD. In 1969, WENN launched an FM companion station on 107.7 FM. The new WENN-FM was the first FM station in Birmingham aimed at the listening tastes of the community’s African-American population.
The popularity of FM radio in Birmingham greatly increased during the late 1970s and early 1980s; WENN-FM's audience growth in particular led the station management to seek a separate identity for WENN-AM. In 1983, the AM station changed its call letters to WAGG, and it became an urban gospel music station. This change in programming proved to be successful, and by the end of the 1980s, WAGG was one of the highest-rated AM stations in Birmingham.
In 1998, Cox Radio, who already owned WZZK-FM, WODL-FM and WEZN-AM, bought WAGG. One year later, WEZN, at the time an adult standards-formatted station, and WAGG swapped dial positions, in order for WAGG to take advantage of the superior nighttime signal on 610 AM.
After WAGG and WEZN swapped dial positions, the 1320 AM frequency has changed both its callsign and its programming format several times. In 2000, the adult standards programming was dropped, and the station was relaunched as WRJS ("Rejoice 1320"), another urban gospel station. In 2002, the station changed formats again, becoming a regional Mexican music station known on the air as "La Favorita". In 2003, the station was reincarnated as WZZK-AM (at one time in the 1980s the callsign of 610 AM), playing classic country music. The station became WPSB in January 2006, with an urban talk format under the moniker "The People's Station of Birmingham."
On January 29, 2007, the station began stunting in anticipation of a change in formats. "Oye Como Va" by Santana was played continuously all day. The station was relaunched as a regional Mexican music station for the second time the next day.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Radio/TV page of Birmingham Rewound
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WPSB
- Radio Locator Information on WPSB
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
