WURD
Encyclopedia
WURD is an AM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. It broadcasts at 900 kHz with a talk format primarily targeted to African-Americans, and is currently under the ownership of Levas Communications Inc.
, serving as a daytime-only AM simulcast of an FM classical station. In the early 1980s the station was sold to veteran Philadelphia broadcaster Frank Ford, who changed the call letters to WDVT and changed the format to talk. Weekday talk show hosts on WDVT included Peter Tilden, Philadelphia Magazine
writer Carol Saline, former Philadelphia Bulletin
columnist D.I. Strunk and Ford himself. Weekend specialty shows on the station covered subjects ranging from pro wrestling to gay issues. WDVT made little impact in the ratings, and after a few years Ford took the station off the air and returned its license to the owners of WFLN, who sold it to Willis Broadcasting, a Virginia based religious broadcaster who changed the call letters to WURD. In the 1996 Spanish broadcaster Alfredo Alonso
bought the station for $1.5 million dollars and turned it into a Spanish-language operation as WEMG
Mega 900. The station became the first property purchased by Alonso who founded Mega Broadcasting that same year. Eventually Mega moved the WEMG call sign to 1310 kHz and sold Mega 900 to Levas for $8.5 million dollars in 2002. The new owners reinstituted the WURD call letters. After a period of apparent indecision during which the station aired various types of music and CNN Headline News, management settled on the current talk format.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. It broadcasts at 900 kHz with a talk format primarily targeted to African-Americans, and is currently under the ownership of Levas Communications Inc.
History
The station began operations around 1958 as WFLNWFLN
WFLN is a commercial radio station in Arcadia, Florida, broadcasting on 1480 AM. WFLN's format is News/Talk. The station runs a slate of conservative commentators including Laura Ingraham, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show and Michael Savage. Late night programming is Alan Colmes and...
, serving as a daytime-only AM simulcast of an FM classical station. In the early 1980s the station was sold to veteran Philadelphia broadcaster Frank Ford, who changed the call letters to WDVT and changed the format to talk. Weekday talk show hosts on WDVT included Peter Tilden, Philadelphia Magazine
Philadelphia (magazine)
Philadelphia is a regional monthly magazine published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Metrocorp....
writer Carol Saline, former Philadelphia Bulletin
Philadelphia Bulletin
For the 2004 resurrection of the Bulletin, see The Bulletin .The Philadelphia Bulletin was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the...
columnist D.I. Strunk and Ford himself. Weekend specialty shows on the station covered subjects ranging from pro wrestling to gay issues. WDVT made little impact in the ratings, and after a few years Ford took the station off the air and returned its license to the owners of WFLN, who sold it to Willis Broadcasting, a Virginia based religious broadcaster who changed the call letters to WURD. In the 1996 Spanish broadcaster Alfredo Alonso
Alfredo Alonso
Alfredo Alonso is a Cuban-born media executive. He has held numerous senior management positions in Spanish-language media publishing, radio, television and event management. He is known as an innovator of new products to reach the U.S...
bought the station for $1.5 million dollars and turned it into a Spanish-language operation as WEMG
WEMG
WEMG is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish CHR format. Licensed to Camden, New Jersey, USA, it serves the Philadelphia area...
Mega 900. The station became the first property purchased by Alonso who founded Mega Broadcasting that same year. Eventually Mega moved the WEMG call sign to 1310 kHz and sold Mega 900 to Levas for $8.5 million dollars in 2002. The new owners reinstituted the WURD call letters. After a period of apparent indecision during which the station aired various types of music and CNN Headline News, management settled on the current talk format.