WFIL was formed by a merger of two stations that were launched in 1922. One used
the call letters WFI, the other was originally WDAR. Each was owned by a major Philadelphia
department store; WFI was operated by Strawbridge and Clothier, while WDAR was run
by Lit Brothers. While operated independently of each other, the two were able to
work out amicable share-time agreements (hundreds of other American stations at
the time were unable to do so, and frequently engaged in "jamming wars"). Around
1924, WDAR applied for and received the custom call-sign WLIT. By the late 1920s,
the two stations were working jointly on various programs, promotions, and sponsorship
efforts.
In 1935, the two operators agreed to merge with each department store having representation
on the new board of directors. The new call-sign became WFIL, a combination of the
two previous identifiers (the fact that the new call letters were close to a phonetic
spelling of "Philadelphia" was merely a happy coincidence).
The new WFIL was an affiliate of NBC; some sources say the station never became
established as either a "basic Red" or "basic Blue" outlet, but at least one early
WFIL advertisement claimed that it was a "basic Blue" station. Westinghouse's KYW
had replaced WFI-WLIT as the NBC primary for Philadelphia when it moved in from
Chicago a few years before.
WFIL was purchased in 1947 by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, Inc. which
also owned The Philadelphia Inquirer. By then WFIL was an affiliate of the newly-named
ABC Radio Network. Triangle Publications sold WFIL AM-FM-TV to Capital Cities Broadcasting
in 1971 with the radio stations spun-off to new owners, WFIL to LIN Broadcasting
and WFIL-FM to Richer Communications which changed the call letters to WIOQ. Studios
for the early WFIL radio stations were in the Widener Building in downtown Philadelphia.
Under Triangle Publications' ownership the stations were moved to a new broadcast
facility at 46th and Market Street in West Philadelphia adjacent to the Arena, the
first broadcast facility in the nation specifically designed for television broadcasting.
It was in this new broadcast center that Triangle began broadcasting Bandstand (later
called American Bandstand), first with Bob Horn, then with Dick Clark as host.
In February 1964, Triangle moved the WFIL stations to a new state-of-the-art broadcast
center at the corner of City Line and Monument Avenues in Philadelphia, from which
WPVI continues to broadcast. Starting on September 18, 1966, WFIL began playing
"Top 40" rock and roll. It quickly became the most successful non-RKO "Boss Radio"
formatted station, known locally as "The Pop Explosion". The original line up of
air personalities, or "Boss Jocks" were scheduled as follows:
6am -10am : Chuck Browning
10am - 2pm : Jay Cook
2pm - 6pm : Jim Nettleton
6pm - 10pm : George Michael
10pm - 2am : Long John Wade
2am - 6am: Dave Parks
Weekends : Frank Kingston Smith
The format evolved into an adult contemporary sound in the fall of 1977. At some
point after that, the WFIL studios were relocated to Domino Lane in the Roxborough
section of Philadelphia; they moved into the building of FM station WUSL, which
WFIL owner LIN Broadcasting had acquired in late 1976. Growing competition from
FM stations in this period did serious damage to WFIL's ratings.
In September of
1981 country music was tried, but this failed to reverse the downward trend. The
station switched to an "oldies" format in September of 1983, called "The Boss is
Back", with a new line up of "Boss Jocks", playing the hits of 1955 through 1973.
This format lasted until April 8, 1987, when new owner WEAZ Inc. discontinued locally
originated music programming in favor of Transtar's "Oldies Channel," a satellite-delivered
service. The end of live programming was marked by a production piece consisting
of a portion of the song American City Suite by Terry Cashman and Tommy West interspersed
with old WFIL airchecks.
In November 1987 FM stations WOGL and WIOQ both adopted
oldies formats and quickly won the majority of the potential oldies audience. The
Oldies Channel format continued with minimal success and listenership until 1989,
when WFIL quietly began simulcasting sister station Easy 101.1 WEAZ (which had a
soft adult contemporary format by then). Soon thereafter, the FM became WEAZ-FM
so that WFIL could become WEAZ. In September 1991, the AM launched a mostly automated
beautiful music format known as "Wish", a play on the old WWSH station which had
a similar format in Philadelphia back in the 1970s. Then on May 26, 1993, WEAZ became
WBEB while WEAZ-FM became WBEB-FM. The AM station was sold for $4 million in October
of 1993 to Salem Communications (which had almost bought the station three years
earlier for $6.5 million but backed out of the deal at the last minute) and on November
1, 1993, the station was renamed WPHY, with a religious format focusing on Christian
talk and teaching. WBEB-FM then became WBEB and to this day, continues on with its
adult contemporary format. The Christian teaching and talk format is still in use
today.
When a TV station in South Carolina that had been using the WFIL call letters
dropped them, Salem immediately moved to reclaim the famous call sign. The call
letters officially reverted to WFIL on September 6, 1994. In its rock-and-roll heyday,
the station was known colloquially as "Famous 56" and employed the slogan "Rockin'
In The Cradle of Liberty." Its 5000-watt transmitter enabled its signal to be heard
as far away at times as Staten Island, the southernmost borough of New York City.
During its top 40 years, WFIL also consistently showed strongly in the ratings books
in nearby Wilmington, Delaware, where it has an excellent signal. In addition, WFIL
was a popular listening choice in Reading and Allentown, both in Pennsylvania.
Today,
WFIL is locally co-owned with Salem's WNTP (990 AM). Interestingly, WNTP is the
former WIBG. WIBG was WFIL's main rock 'n roll rival in the late 1960s and early
1970s. The studios, offices and transmitters of both stations are located at the
former WIBG complex on Ridge Pike in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania.
* The above is from Wikapedia
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