WRDW-FM

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WRDW-FM
City of license	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area	Delaware Valley
Frequency	96.5 MHz (Also on HD Radio) 96.5 HD-2 for Club Dance
First air date	1944
Format	Rhythmic Top 40
ERP	17,000 watts
HAAT	264 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	51434
Callsign meaning	WIRED W
Owner	Beasley Broadcast Group
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.wired965.com

WRDW-FM, also known as Wired 96.5, is a Philadelphia radio station owned by Beasley Broadcast Group that plays a Rhythmic Top 40 musical format. Although they lean towards R&B/Hip-Hop, Wired also adds Rhythmic Pop tracks to their playlist. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.

The station was briefly known as "Wild 96.5" with the callsign WLDW (WILD W), but was changed early on due to Clear Channel Communications, who are owners of the copyrighted 'Wild' moniker. When Clear Channel threatened Beasley with a lawsuit for copyright infringement, 'Wild' then segued into 'Wired' in order to avoid any potential legal action.

[edit] 96.5 Philadelphia history

For several years in the 1940s and 1950s, the frequency was known as WHAT-FM and was simulcast with its sister station on the AM dial. In 1956, a young disc jockey known as Sid Mark took the airwaves for the first time in Philadelphia, beginning a nearly 50 year career in the market as a disc jockey. WHAT-FM became a full-time jazz station in 1958, the first of its kind on the FM spectrum. In effect, this became the forerunner to the present-day WJJZ.

In the late 1960s, the call letters were changed to WWDB, after the owners of the station, William and Dolly Banks. In the early 1970s WWDB experimented with playing adult contemporary music, but eventually went back to jazz. In 1975, the station's format was changed to talk, and WWDB became the first FM talk station in the United States.

From Dolly Banks' retirement in 1985 until 1997, WWDB changed hands several times, ending up with Beasley Broadcasting. Beasley tried tweaking the talk format by adding Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura and an all-news morning show, but Limbaugh's show defected to competitor WPHT and other moves proved ineffective. Finally, the day before the U.S. Presidential Election on November 6th 2000, WWDB's format was changed by its current owner to '80s Hits, known as "The Point". The callsign was soon switched to WPTP. Approximately three years later, on November 17, 2003, WPTP flipped to its current format as "Wild 96.5" (with callsign changing to WLDW). After the Clear Channel injunction, WLDW became Wired 96.5 and the callsign changed to WRDW-FM (the -FM tag was necessary because Beasley owns an AM station called WRDW in Augusta, Georgia).

[edit] Personalities

From the beginning in the format, Wired 96.5 had some personnel changes in their airstaff. From the start the original lineup included "Rocco the Janitor", Janita Applebaum, Dakota, and Kannon. By January 2006 Rocco was forced out of the morning slot to make room for the short-lived "Big Mama and the Wild Bunch" morning show. Dakota, who did 10PM - 2AM, transferred to a Beasley sister station in Fort Myers, Florida to do mornings. On March 20th, 2006, Wired 96.5 acquired CHR Pop radio station Q102's former morning host, Chio (who had briefly relocated to San Diego, CA to do a morning show there), to replace Big Mama. On October 12, 2006 it was announced that morning show member Casey is leaving that show to fill the Mid-Day slot (10am-3pm) after Applebaum left the station. In 2007, Wired began airing television commercials featuring Chio promoting the radio station and "Chio In The Morning".

During the 2007 season of "American Idol", Justice, the executive producer of "Chio In the Morning", staged a protest of the continued presence of Sanjaya Malakar. He lived in a tent on the roof of a local car dealership for three weeks until Malakar was voted off. He continued to be a part of the show, however, via internet link and a special remote set-up.

[edit] Music direction

When WRDW debuted, it used the slogan "18 in a row" to promote its direction and distinguish itself from the competition. Around the beginning of the third quarter 2005, Wired 96.5 introduced podcast programming, where listeners could send in their top 18 songs to be aired together at once. This lead to rumors of a shift in Wired 96.5's direction. In January 2006, Wired 96.5's began a gradual switch from being categorized as CHR Rhythmic to CHR Pop, when the station changed its slogan to "Where Hit Music Lives," indicating a more Top 40/Pop playlist, but after a brief flirtation it did not evolve and stayed Rhythmic. As of today they are still listed in R&R as a Rhythmic reporter because its playlist still favors Rhythmic hits even with the pop content thrown in. It is also billing themselves as "Hits & Hip-Hop" to reflect their current direction. In 2008 they began to start following the same direction as sister station WPOW/Miami by adding some Dance product to the playlist, like "Let Me Think About It" by Ida Corr versus Fedde le Grand.

[edit] Hot Wired (WRDW-HD2)

In 2007 WRDW added an HD2 subcarrier to its lineup to carry non-stop Dance music 24/7 under the title "Hot Wired." The music and imaging is similar to sister station WPOW's HD2 subcarrier channel.

[edit] Ties with Open House Party

WRDW afternoon DJ Kannon is also the host of the Sunday night edition of Open House Party, effective the weekend of December 1st and 2nd, 2007.

[edit] Competition

On the Rhythmic side, which was influenced by the Urban Top 40 format, WRDW competes with WUSL and WPHI, while on the Top 40 Pop side it competes with WIOQ.

[edit] External links

• WRDW Website
• Hot Wired Website
• 96.5 Philadelphia Information
• Wired 96.5 YouTube Videos
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WRDW
• Radio Locator information on WRDW
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WRDW