WQAM

WQAM (560 AM, "560 The Joe") is a radio station in Miami, Florida. Owned by Entercom, it broadcasts a sports talk format carrying a mixture of local and ESPN Radio programming. Its studios are in Miami Gardens and the transmitter is in Virginia Key, Florida.

WQAM
CityMiami, Florida
Broadcast areaSouth Florida
Frequency560 kHz
Branding560 The Joe
Programming
FormatSports radio
AffiliationsESPN Radio
Miami Dolphins
Florida Panthers
Miami Hurricanes
Westwood One Sports
Ownership
OwnerEntercom
(Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stationsWAXY, WKIS, WLYF, WMXJ, WPOW, WSFS
History
First air dateFebruary 1921 (1921-02)
Former frequencies834 kHz (1923)
1060 kHz (1923–24)
1120 kHz (1924–25)
1140 kHz (1925–26)
1050 kHz (1926–27)
980 kHz (1927)
780 kHz (1927–28)
1240 kHz (1928–29)
Call sign meaningNone; sequentially assigned[1]
Technical information
Facility ID64002
ClassB
Power5,000 watts (day)
1,000 watts (night)
Transmitter coordinates25°44′36″N 80°09′14″W
Repeater(s)99.9 WKIS-HD2 (Miami)
Links
WebcastListen live (via Radio.com)
Websitewqam.radio.com

History

WQAM is one of Florida's oldest radio stations, first signing on the air in February 1921. 1921 in radio WQAM was launched in Miami, Florida by the W.W. Luce of the Electrical Equipment Company, WQAM received the first broadcasting license in Miami being the first broadcast radio station in the State of Florida. In January 1923.[1] The station's early history was related to WFAW, also of Miami, which was licensed to The Miami Daily Metropolis from June 16, 1922, to June 11, 1923.[2] In the beginning, the young station was helped with programming by the newspaper, until the paper ended its participation.[3]

Things were primitive in the early days. Fred W. Barton, president of the Miami Broadcasting Company made many of the electrical parts himself. In 1926, the station increased its power to 500 watts. The station was the first in the United States to install a permanent remote pick-up from the U. S. Meteorological Department. Power was increased to 1,000 watts in 1928, and WQAM became a full-time affiliate of CBS. In 1947, it switched to ABC Radio. In 1948, Barton sold his interest in the station and The Miami Herald assumed entire ownership.[3]

WQAM is famous for its days in the 1960s, under the ownership of Storz Broadcasting, when it presented a Top 40 format and competed vigorously with rival WFUN (at 790 AM). In February 1964, the station interviewed and heavily promoted The Beatles' second and third nationally televised appearances on CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show live from the Deauville Hotel in North Beach, Miami Beach. By far Miami and South Florida's preeminent radio station at the time, baby boomers from Jupiter to Key West, and down to Havana, listened to WQAM for the latest in local and American pop music from the 1960s well into the late 1970s. At that time, WQAM was one of the many AM radio stations airing Casey Kasem's American Top 40, and Cuban youngsters used to gather at friend's houses to listen to the countdown of America's most popular songs, especially the 8-hour-long year-end show of Billboard's top 100 songs of the year in which the syndication company that owned the show had put out on vinyl records at a speed of 33 RPM.

On February 29, 1985, Sunshine Wireless bought AM 560 WQAM.[6] WQAM had been a long-time Top 40 station. After many years as a contemporary music station and heavy competition from FM competitors forced the station to switch to a country music format, but not after running a montage of music and soundbites from its Top 40 days. Sunshine Wireless now had an AM country station, with personality DJs, NBC News, and local information. From that time, WQAM was known as "56 Country WQAM", and was successful in the ratings Under the direction of program director Jon Holiday. WQAM had many veteran DJ's for the country format like Mike Bell, Mitch Lewis, Johnny Dolan, Boomer, and George Sheldon- who had his start in radio @QAM in 1986, WQAM shared studios with then-WKQS at 9881 Sheridan Street in Cooper City. In 1986 WQAM would add sports talk programming in the evening hours with Ed Kaplan.

By 1989, the station had been unable to achieve a full share point in the Arbitron surveys with its mix of country music and sports. In 1990, WQAM had abandoned its country music format in favor of the satellite-fed "Kool Gold" service, which aired '50s and '60s music.

Around 1992, WQAM became an all-sports station. Currently, WQAM is the flagship station for the Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers, and University of Miami Hurricanes.

WQAM used to be a Yahoo! Sports Radio affiliate. On January 2, 2013, the station switched to CBS Sports Radio for after-hours programming.[4]

On October 2, 2014, Beasley Broadcast Group announced that it would trade 5 radio stations located in Miami (including WQAM) and Philadelphia to CBS Radio in exchange for 14 stations located in Tampa, Charlotte and Philadelphia.[5] The swap was completed on December 1, 2014.[6]

On December 23, 2015, WQAM was granted a Federal Communications Commission construction permit to move to the WOCN transmitter site and decrease day power to 4,100 watts.[7]

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom.[8] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th, making WQAM a sister station to fellow sports station WAXY.[9]

On August 2, 2019, Entercom announced that WQAM would re-launch as 560 The Joe on August 5, 2019, as part of a re-alignment of its sports talk lineups. WAXY's ESPN Radio affiliation was swapped to WQAM, clearing The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (as its new flagship station), Stephen A. Smith, and the network's overnight and weekend programming (notwithstanding conflicts with sports play-by-play). In turn, some of WQAM's local hosts were moved to WAXY's lineup, while Marc Hochman and Channing Crowder's afternoon program would be simulcast by both stations (but with an opening hour exclusive to WAXY).[10] Beginning August 17, Hochman and Crowder will be simulcast in full by WQAM as part of a larger realignment of ESPN Radio's schedule occurring that day (which sees Dan Le Batard cut to two hours, and the addition of a new Mike Greenberg-hosted program).[11]

Former sports and talk show hosts

Sports properties
gollark: You can do ATOMIC-LEVEL SCANNING with some time and concentration?
gollark: You can do ATOMIC-LEVEL SCANNING?
gollark: Oh, that would totally work, sure. And then you can heat it up a bit.
gollark: I suppose you don't actually need that for the gold extraction.
gollark: Oh yes, you could probably improve some processes decently if you can just remove contaminants easily.

References
Notes
  1. Radio Service Bulletin, February 1, 1923, "New Stations: Broadcasting Stations", page 3. Other stations first licensed that month included WQAJ, Ann Arbor, Michigan, WQAN Scranton, Pennsylvania, and WQAO New York, New York.
  2. Radio Service Bulletin, July 1, 1922, "New Stations: Broadcasting Stations", page 3.
  3. Hollingsworth 1949. p. 56
  4. http://staatalent.com/2013/headlines/wqam-joins-cbs-radio/
  5. CBS And Beasley Swap Philadelphia/Miami For Charlotte/Tampa from Radio Insight (October 2, 2014)
  6. Venta, Lance (December 1, 2014). "CBS Beasley Deal Closes". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  7. "Application for Construction Permit for Commercial Broadcast Station". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. December 23, 2015. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  8. CBS Radio to Merge with Entercom
  9. Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017). "Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger". Radio Insight. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  10. "Entercom Makes Major Lineup Changes To WQAM & WAXY Miami; Rebranding 560 As The Joe". RadioInsight. 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2019-08-03.
  11. "WQAM Revises Schedule". RadioInsight. 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
  12. Miami Marlins Move to 940 WINZ Radio Insight, November 6, 2013.
Bibliography
  • Hollingsworth, Tracy. History of Dade County Florida. Coral Gables, FL: Glade House, 1949.
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