WMBD (AM)

WMBD is the oldest radio station in Peoria, Illinois. It broadcasts on 1470 kHz with 5,000 watts day and night, with a 2-tower pattern during the day and a 4-tower pattern at night.[1] The latter is used to protect clear-channel stations on adjacent channels.

WMBD
CityPeoria, Illinois
Broadcast areaPeoria, Illinois
Frequency1470 kHz
Branding1470 WMBD 100.3
SloganPeoria's News and Talk Station
Programming
FormatNews / Talk
AffiliationsFox News Radio
Ownership
OwnerDuke Wright
(Midwest Communications)
Sister stationsTraditional: WPBG

From 1990s: WIRL, WSWT

From 2000s: WKZF, WXCL
History
First air date1927
Technical information
Facility ID42119[1]
ClassB[1]
Power5,000 watts
2 towers day
4 towers night[1]
Translator(s)100.3 W262BY
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitewww.1470wmbd.com

History

The station started broadcasting in 1927, and is the oldest radio station in the Peoria area. The call letters are associated with a local legend that President Theodore Roosevelt once described Grandview Drive, the location of the station's original studios, as "the World's Most Beautiful Drive." [2]

Though marketed as a news-talk station now, WMBD has traditionally been a full service station, broadcasting a variety of programs. Past announcers included Bob Carlton, Farmer Bill, Milton Budd, and John Williams, who is now at WGN. The station always had strong agribusiness coverage to serve the more rural portions of its coverage area, and for many years had a noon farm show, which has now moved to sister station WIRL. Colleen Callahan was the long-time agriculture news director. The station was a long-time CBS radio affiliate until 2001.

Programming

The station carries The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Glenn Beck Radio Program and is a radio affiliate of Fox News Radio.

Sports

WMBD has broadcast Bradley Braves basketball games for over 60 years. Current Bradley announcer is Dave Snell who has been doing Bradley play-by-play for over 25 years. WMBD carried St. Louis Cardinals baseball games for many years until 2014, when those games moved to sister station WIRL.

Ownership

WMBD (AM) is no longer co-owned with WMBD-TV channel 31; Midwest Television, who owned WMBD (AM), WPBG, and WMBD-TV for decades, divested itself of all its stations outside of San Diego in the 1990s, selling WMBD-TV to Nexstar Broadcasting and the radio stations to JMP Radio Group, a local division of Triad Broadcasting; Triad has since bought WIRL, WSWT, WXCL, and WDQX (now WKZF). Effective May 1, 2013, Triad sold WMBD and 29 other stations to L&L Broadcasting for $21 million. L&L was later merged into parent company Alpha Media in February 2014.

On February 4, 2019, Alpha Media announced that it will sell its Peoria cluster to Midwest Communications for $21.6 million.[3] The sale closed on May 1, 2019.

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See also

References
  1. "FCCInfo Facility Search Results: 42119". Cavell Mertz & Associates, Inc. 2007-11-27. Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  2. Szoke, Anita. A Great View on Grandview Drive. Peoria Journal-Star, 2008-06-05.
  3. "Midwest Communications Acquires Alpha Media's Peoria Stations". RadioInsight. 6 February 2019.

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