WQAM
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| WQAM | |
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| City of license | Miami, Florida |
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| Branding | Sportsradio 560 WQAM |
| Frequency | 560 kHz |
| First air date | February 1921 |
| Format | Sports Talk |
| ERP | 5,000 watts (day) 1,000 watts (night) |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | We're Quality AM Radio |
| Affiliations | Sporting News Radio Miami Dolphins Miami Hurricanes ACC Radio Network |
| Owner | Beasley Broadcast Group |
| Sister stations | WHSR, WKIS, WPOW, WSBR, WWNN |
| Website | http://www.wqam.com |
WQAM (560 AM, "Sportsradio 560") is a South Florida radio station owned by Beasley Broadcast Group. The call letters WQAM were claimed to stand for We Quit At Midnight ... since the station signed off at midnight every night until 6 AM the next morning.
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[edit] History
The station has claimed to be Florida's first radio station, going on the air in February 1921.[1] However, the station was not licensed as WQAM until January 1923.
The station is famous for its days in the 1960s, under ownership of Storz Broadcasting, when it presented a pop music format and competed vigorously with rival WFUN (at 790 AM). These were the WQAM "glory years." In 1964, WQAM promoted the Beatles heavily prior to their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which took place in Miami Beach.
On February 29, 1980, after many years as contemporary music station, competition from FM competitors forced the station to switch to a country music format, but not after running a montage of music and sound bites from its Top 40 days. WQAM was widely listened to in Cuba, especially in Havana, where youngsters used to pick up the signal effortlessly with ordinary radio sets. It was hip to listen to it and during the late 1970s when the only form of fun young Cubans had was to gather at a friend's house to dance to America music, there were hosts who had recorded tapes of WQAM programming aired during the week and eventually played those tapes at their Saturday night home parties. Generations of high school boys and college students used to keep tabs on Casey Kasem's American Top 40 on WQAM.
Around 1992, WQAM became an all-sports station. Former Miami Dolphins player Jim Mandich hosts afternoon drive, 4-7 PM. Former Miami Dolphins player Joe Rose hosts AM drive, 7-10 AM. WQAM was for a short while the local affiliate of the Howard Stern morning show. The "Big O", Orlando Alzugaray hosts early mornings, 5-7 AM as well as 2-4 PM.
Prior to June 22, 2009, WQAM would interrupt its all-sports format to air a general talk show hosted by Neil Rogers from 10 AM-2 PM. After June 22, WQAM became a completely all-sports station, filling the Neil Rogers time slot with a rotation of local sports talk hosts.
Currently, WQAM is the University of Miami Hurricanes and Miami Dolphins flagship station.
[edit] Sports properties
- Miami Dolphins (1997-2004, 2007-2009)
- Miami Heat (1988-1993, currently on AM 940 The Sports Animal)
- Florida Marlins (1993-2007, currently on 790 The Ticket)
- Florida Panthers (1993-2007, currently on 790 The Ticket)
- University of Miami Hurricanes (1999-Present)
WQAM broadcasts in HD Radio during daytime hours only.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- WQAM official website
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WQAM
- Radio Locator Information on WQAM
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for WQAM
- Rick Shaw Remembers WQAM Tiger Radio (South Florida Radio History article by Rick Shaw)
- WQAM Tribute Site
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