WAQI

WAQI

Miami, Florida
Frequency	710 kHz
Branding	Radio Mambí
Programming
Format	Spanish News/Talk
Ownership
Owner	Uforia Audio Network (Univision Radio Illinois, Inc.)
Sister stations	Radio: WRTO-FM, WAMR-FM, WQBA TV: WLTV-DT, WAMI-DT
History
First air date	1939
Former call signs	WGBS (to October 21, 1985)
Call sign meaning	AQI = aquí (Spanish for "here")
Technical information
Facility ID	37254
Class	B
Power	50,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates	25°58′07″N 80°22′44″W
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	WAQI Online

WAQI (710 AM) – branded Radio Mambí – is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish News/Talk format. Licensed to Miami, Florida, United States, the station is currently owned by Univision Communications.

The station broadcasts at 50,000 watts around the clock from facilities in Miramar, Florida, and serves as South Florida's designated primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System. It broadcasts on a directional beam at night to the south, to protect Class-A clear channel stations WOR in New York City and KIRO in Seattle. This, in consequence, gives the station a clear signal over the neighboring nation of Cuba. Because of the broadcast area over Cuba, Radio Martí broadcasts an hour of news on WAQI nightly from midnight to 1 am. However, its signal is reported to be jammed in that nation's capital by the co-channel signal of Havana-based Radio Rebelde. [1] The jamming is likely due to intentional suppression of the station's programming, which typically voices anti-Castro, anti-communist sentiment, shared overwhelmingly by the Cuban diaspora of the United States and especially those in the station's home area of South Florida.

History

Prior to 1985, the station broadcast as WGBS, under the ownership of Storer Broadcasting, going through a number of mainstream adult music and eventually talk formats. Morning man Arnie Warren lasted through several of their final music formats and is considered a notable South Florida announcer. The station was sold due to a conflict of media ownership, as Storer was getting deeply involved with CATV systems within South Florida. Storer sold the station to Jefferson-Pilot (now Lincoln Financial Media), which eventually sold the station to its current owners.

On October 30, 2014 WAQI was granted an FCC construction permit to move to the WQBA transmitter site and decrease night power to 6,300 watts. The permit expires on October 30, 2017.

WAQI's logo is similar to that of WKAQ-AM's in san Juan, Puerto Rico.

External links

• Radio Mambí page at univision.com
• Facility details for Facility ID WAQI ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• FCC History Cards for WAQI