WWDM
| City of license | Sumter, South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Columbia, South Carolina |
| Branding | "1013 THE BIG DM" |
| Slogan | "Your #1 Station For R&B" |
| Frequency | 101.3 MHz |
| First air date | 1961 |
| Format | Urban Adult Contemporary |
| ERP | 100,000 watts horiz 82,000 watts vert |
| HAAT | 403 meters |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 58398 |
| Callsign meaning | WW DM = used in "Big DM 101 FM branding |
| Owner | YMF Media LLC (YMF Media South Carolina Licensee LLC) |
| Sister stations | WARQ, WHXT, WMFX, WOIC |
| Website | thebigdm.com |
WWDM is a Urban Adult Contemporary radio station licensed to Sumter, South Carolina and serves the Columbia, South Carolina market. The YMF Media outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 101.3 MHz with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100 kW. The station goes by the name 1013 THE BIG DM and its current slogan is "Your #1 Station for R&B."
History [edit]
101.3 begin as WFIG-FM in 1961, licensed to Sumter, SC with 3,000 watts of power. At the time the station was simulcasting the country format of sister AM WFIG 1290. Both stations were owned by one-time South Carolina State Senate candidate John Miles.
In 1973, DJ Pete Boss convinced Miles to allow him the opportunity to program R&B music on WFIG-FM during the evening hours of 7 to 10 PM in exchange for selling the advertising time for his show. The R&B show became successful and the hours were eventually extended throughout the rest of the broadcast day on WFIG-FM. In 1975, the FM call letters was changed to WWDM to solidify its change to full-time urban contemporary.
In 1976, WWDM increased its transmitting power from the 3,000 watts that it was licensed at sign-on, to 100,000 watts. Because of the station's geographical location near the center of the state, as well as the few number of high powered FMs in the area at the time, over time, with excellent programming and attention paid to public service,the station became an important voice in the South Carolina African-American community. It has won numerous awards over the years for its news programming and features. This contributed to WWDM's dominance over most Urban stations in the market that came and went.
In the mid-1980s the station languished in the middle of the Columbia ratings, bested by lower power stations in similar formats, licensed to Columbia. Then-owner and General Manager John Marshall sought higher ratings and sales. He engaged consultant Dean Landsman to conduct market research and to consult the station. Under Landsman's programming (with heavy research and computer programs written by Marshall and Landsman) the station became format dominant, as well as going on to rank either #1 or #2 in the Columbia Arbitron ratings. Landsman remained as consultant, and brought in Program Director Andre Carson. Under Carson as PD the station ranked at the top of the market. Marshall retired and put the station in the hands of Steve Paterson as GM.
By the late 1990s, long after Landsman and Carson were gone, and Marshall had sold the property, WWDM suffered a minor setback when it was outranked in listenership by newcoming Urban stations WXBT, WLXC (the only other Urban AC) and WHXT. WWDM, at the time, played Hip Hop and R&B; to curtail excessive competition, ICBC (the owners) bought WHXT, and WWDM restructured its Urban Contemporary format to serve the Adult Black demographics.
Today WWDM is home to two syndicated shows: Steve Harvey Morning Show and The Michael Baisden Show in the afternoons.
The station is owned by YMF Media LLC through licensee YMF Media South Carolina Licensee LLC, which also owns Urban Contemporary WHXT, Classic rock WMFX, Alternative WARQ, and News/Talk WOIC in the Columbia radio market.
External links [edit]
- The Big DM's official website
- The Big DM's MySpace page
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WWDM
- Radio-Locator information on WWDM
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WWDM
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