WFED
File:WFED Federal News Radio logo.png | |
Broadcast area | Washington, D.C. |
---|---|
Frequency | 1500 kHz |
Branding | Federal News Network |
Programming | |
Format | News talk |
Affiliations | Associated Press CBS News Radio Voice of America WUSA |
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
WBQH, WTOP-FM/WWWT-FM | |
History | |
First air date | September 25, 1926 |
Former call signs | WTRC (1926–27) WTFF (1927–29) WJSV (1929–43) WTOP (1943–2006) WTWP (2006–07) WWWT (2007–08) |
Former frequencies | 1250 kHz (1927) 1470 kHz (1927) 1480 kHz (1927–28) 1460 kHz (1928–41) |
Call sign meaning | "Federal News Radio" |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 74120 |
Class | A |
Power | 50,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°02′31″N 77°02′47″W / 39.04194°N 77.04639°W |
Translator(s) | W283DG (104.5 MHz, Sterling, VA) |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | federalnewsnetwork |
WFED (1500 AM) is a 50,000-watt Class A radio station in the Washington, D.C. region. The station, which brands as Federal News Network, broadcasts a news talk format focused on issues and news pertaining to members and staff of the United States government. Owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, WFED's studios are located at Hubbard's broadcast complex in northwest Washington, while its transmitter is located at a three-tower array in Wheaton, Maryland.
WFED transmits with a power of 50,000 watts continuously. A single tower is used during the day, providing at least secondary coverage to large portions of Maryland (including Baltimore) and Virginia.[1] At night, power is fed to all three towers in a directional pattern to protect Hubbard's flagship radio station, KSTP in St. Paul, Minnesota. This results in areas of Northern Virginia getting only marginal coverage at best.[2] However, even with this restriction, WFED's signal can be heard across most of the eastern half of North America with a good radio.[citation needed] WFED became a Primary Entry Point station for the Emergency Alert System in 2014.[3] In 2006, the station began broadcasting in digital "HD Radio".[citation needed] As of July 1, 2017, WFED is also available on WTOP-FM-HD2 in the Washington, D.C. area.[4]
History
![]() | This section may be confusing or unclear to readers. In particular, the history before 2007 is an incoherent jumble of unsourced claims about the origins of simulcasts and other formats implied to be transferred from or to other stations around the 1990s and 2000s, with no clear timeline for this station from 1927 or its separate history, which seems to instead be covered in (mostly unsourced) WTOP-FM#History. (June 2020) |
Formation of Federal News Network
The format was launched by Bonneville International, former owners of terrestrial-based all-news station WTOP, as FederalNewsRadio.com—the first Internet-only all news station, and the first Internet station to make the jump to terrestrial radio—on February 22, 2000. For some time before then, WTOP had significant listenership among federal employees, and many of them had emailed the station asking for more coverage tailored to federal employees. The programming concept has changed little to this day, except that the Associated Press' All News Radio service originally filled in during the overnight hours, as a complement to WTOP.
It is one of a few radio stations that originated on the Internet prior to moving onto a traditional broadcasting signal. It first found a home on the radio dial in 2004, on the 1050 kHz frequency licensed to Silver Spring, Maryland; that station was founded in 1946 as beautiful music station WGAY, but had become business radio station WPLC by 2004, when Bonneville bought the station and converted it to Federal News Radio and the WFED call letters.
When AP All News Radio was terminated, the station began an affiliation with CNN Headline News, which itself was phased out in 2007 by provider Westwood One. In November 2007, the 1050 frequency increased its daytime power from 1 kW to 3.5 kW in order to better reach the government office workers in Washington, D.C. who comprise its core audience.
The 1050 frequency is now used by Hubbard as regional Mexican station WBQH.
Washington Post Radio
The current WFED, along with WWFD, WWWT-FM and W282BA, were former frequencies and simulcasts of WTOP. On March 30, 2006, WTOP transitioned entirely to FM, with 1500 AM (previously the main frequency) and 107.7 becoming "Washington Post Radio" under the calls WTWP and WTWP-FM, respectively.
The primary AM station was one of the oldest frequencies in the capital. It had originally been founded as Brooklyn, New York station WTRC in 1926, moving to Washington in 1927 as WJSV. A series of power increases culminated in its current 50,000-watt facility in Wheaton in 1940. The call letters became WTOP in 1943.
WWWT-FM had operated as a simulcast of WTOP since 1998. WWFD had simulcast WTOP since 2000 (and carried the WTOP calls on the AM band following the sign-on of WTWP) before switching to a simulcast of WTWP as WTWT on June 28, 2007.
As WTWP, these stations provided news and commentary during the weekday hours in a long-form style similar to that of National Public Radio, but on a commercial station staffed and programmed jointly by the Washington Post and WTOP. From 8 PM to 5 AM ET, the station was programmed as a general interest talk radio station, featuring hosts such as Clark Howard, Larry King and Jim Bohannon. On weekends, WTWP rebroadcast programs produced by Radio Netherlands and George Washington University.
WWWT: "Talk Radio 3WT"
The Washington Post reported that they would discontinue the Washington Post Radio service after Bonneville decided to pull the plug, citing financial losses and low ratings.[5]
Bonneville International officially launched personality driven talk format Talk Radio 3WT, with the WWWT call letters on September 20, 2007 (with 820 using the call letters WWWB). The call letters stood for "Whatever We Want" talk radio from the station's imaging. The morning show with David Burd and Jessica Doyle was retained along with all live sporting events, The Tony Kornheiser Show and automotive commentator Pat Goss. Syndicated talkers Neal Boortz, Bill O'Reilly, Randi Rhodes and Phil Hendrie were initially added to the lineup, as was a simulcast of sister station KSL's Nightside with Michael Castner overnight program. Stephanie Miller was added in November after the Washington Nationals' season ended, and Glenn Beck was added, replacing Randi Rhodes on the 1500 and 107.7 frequencies, in January 2008. [1][verification needed]
WWWT was one of the few talk stations in America, at least in major markets, in which the lineup was nearly equally divided among liberal and conservative hosts.[citation needed]
WWWT remained a member of the CBS Radio Network (WTOP was a charter affiliate and formerly owned by in the 1930s and 1940s, and WTWP was also an affiliate in its short life), and retransmitted the audio portion of the CBS television shows Face the Nation and 60 Minutes. Also surviving the change in format were Larry King and Jim Bohannon, who were carried in the late-night time slots, although King's show was phased out (as part of a nationwide phaseout of all CNN television simulcasts) by Westwood One in 2008.[citation needed]
On August 11, 2008, Bonneville announced the discontinuation of 3WT. WWWT-FM began simulcasting WTOP-FM (which kept its two other frequencies), while WFED took over WWWT and WWWB's signals. August 11 was the last day for the morning show, The Inner Loop, with David Burd and his team. Even with the 2007 power increase, WFED's nighttime coverage was severely limited on 1050 AM; it had to reduce power to an all-but-unlistenable 44 watts at sunset. The move to the capital's most powerful AM facility also significantly improved WFED's daytime coverage as well.[citation needed]
Sports that had been broadcast on 3WT continued on 1500 kHz and 820 kHz. The stations remained the flagships of Washington Nationals baseball until 2011, when the team changed its primary station to WJFK-FM.[6]
Bonneville announced the sale of WFED and WWFD, as well as 15 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011; this put WFED under common ownership with KSTP, Hubbard's flagship station and the other clear-channel station on 1500 kHz.[7][8] The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.[9]
In October 2018, WFED rebranded from Federal News Radio to Federal News Network, as part of an effort to rebrand the station as a multi-platform outlet.[10]
Cully Stimson controversy
On January 11, 2007, while being interviewed on WFED's morning program The Federal Drive, then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs Charles "Cully" Stimson criticized some major U.S. law firms for representing detainees at Guantanamo Bay pro bono. Stimson further suggested that U.S. corporations who retained these same U.S. law firms should reconsider their associations with those firms. His comments drew immediate criticism from legal scholars, professional legal associations and the ACLU, and even the Pentagon itself sought to distance itself and the Bush administration from Stimson's comments. Although he apologized a few days later, on February 2, 2007 Stimson resigned his position with the Pentagon, saying he believed the flap would prevent him from effectively doing his job. The controversy heightened the profile of the station, however, as the station's morning hosts and reporters were interviewed by news organizations around the world about the controversy.[11][12]
Programming
WFED's weekday programming consists primarily of original news and talk content for federal government employees, the Senior Executive Service, and contractors. While most of this programming airs on a daily basis, various programming is rotated in the midday hours.[citation needed] This programming, in the past, has included several Voice of America programs, including Issues in the News, Press Conference USA, and Our World. WFED also carries syndicated host Jim Bohannon, which was carried over from WWWT after its discontinuation. Most weekend programming on WFED is a mix of brokered programming and replays of weekday programming.[citation needed]
WFED is the flagship station for George Washington Colonials basketball. It also carries selected Navy Midshipmen football, basketball and lacrosse games as an affiliate station. WFED is the flagship station of the Washington Wizards.[13] The station was dropped as the flagship of the Washington Nationals Radio Network in favor of WJFK-FM in 2011, but remained as an affiliate station through the 2020 season, allowing the Nationals' run to the 2019 World Series to be heard along most of the East Coast at night.
WJFK-FM also replaced WFED as the flagship of the Washington Capitals radio network beginning in the 2012-13 season. WFED temporarily returned as the Capitals' flagship in the 2016-17 season when the team and WJFK-FM owner CBS Radio could not extend their agreement.[14][15] The station remained on the Capitals' network as an affiliate station,[16] allowing fans up and down the East Coast to hear the Capitals' run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals.
References
- ^ "WFED-AM Radio Station Coverage Map".
- ^ "WFED-AM Radio Station Coverage Map".
- ^ "SBE Chapter 37 - Prior Meetings Page - AM Revitalization - WFED 1500 AM Transmitter".
- ^ "Radio Sputnik Off WTOP - 6/29". www.dcrtv.com. June 29, 2017. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
- ^ Farhi, Paul (August 28, 2007). "With Low Ratings, Post Radio Venture To End Next Month". The Washington Post.
- ^ Federal News Radio Expands to Full Market Signal (3wtradio.com)
- ^ "$505M sale: Bonneville sells Chicago, D.C., St. Louis and Cincinnati to Hubbard". Radio-Info.com. January 19, 2011. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
- ^ WTOP news radio to be sold to Minnesota broadcaster
- ^ "Hubbard deal to purchase Bonneville stations closes". Radio Ink. May 2, 2011. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ McLane, Paul (October 9, 2018). "Federal News Radio Loses the "Radio" Tag". Radio World. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
- ^ "Pentagon Official Who Criticized Detainee Lawyers Quits", The Washington Post (February 7, 2007), p. A06.
- ^ "'Cully' Stimson Stepping Down", Federal News Radio (February 2, 2007).]
- ^ "Capitals and Wizards announce radio partnership with WFED 1500". The Washington Post. October 12, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
- ^ "Capitals 2012-13 Regular-Season Schedule". NHL.com.
- ^ Steinberg, Dan (October 4, 2017). "Capitals radio broadcasts will return to 106.7 The Fan this season". Washington Post.
- ^ "Caps Radio 24/7". Washington Capitals. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
External links
- Official website
- WFED in the FCC AM station database
- WFED on Radio-Locator
- WFED in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- Articles with short description
- Articles using infobox radio station
- All articles with unsourced statements
- Articles with unsourced statements from July 2022
- Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020
- Justapedia articles needing clarification from June 2020
- Articles with invalid date parameter in template
- Articles needing additional references from June 2020
- All articles needing additional references
- Use mdy dates from May 2022
- All pages needing factual verification
- Justapedia articles needing factual verification from June 2020
- Official website not in Wikidata
- Radio stations in Washington, D.C.
- News and talk radio stations in the United States
- Hubbard Broadcasting
- Radio stations established in 1926
- 1926 establishments in New York (state)
- 1927 establishments in Washington, D.C.
- Clear-channel radio stations