WIOD

Infobox Radio Station
name = WIOD


city = Miami, Florida
format = News/Talk radio
area = South Florida
(targets Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Florida)
branding = "News Radio 610 WIOD"
slogan = "South Florida's News, Traffic and Weather Station"
airdate = January 19, 1926
frequency = 610 kHz (analog)
93.9 MHz HD2 (digital)
power = 5,000 Watts
"Currently operating at 10,000 watts under a special temporary authority"
class = B
affiliations = The Weather Channel
Fox News Radio
Dow Jones Radio Network
WPLG
callsign_meaning = Wonderful Isle of Dreams
sister_stations = WBGG-FM, WHYI, WINZ, WIOD, WLVE, WMGE, WMIB-FM
owner = Clear Channel Communications
website = http://www.610wiod.com|

WIOD (610 AM, "News Radio 610 WIOD") is a news/talk formatted radio station in Miami, Florida. For over 80 years, it has been a major information station in South Florida. It features a mix of nationally primarily conservative syndicated programs wrapped around locally produced, live news, traffic and weather reports, 24/7.

Installed in the spring of 1925 by Carl Graham Fisher, a Miami Beach developer, the station made its formal air debut on the South Florida airwaves on January 19, 1926. Carl Fisher selected the letters WIOD as the call letters signifying “Wonderful Isles of Dreams” to commemorate Collins Island, on which the station was situated. WIOD is Florida’s seventh oldest continuously licensed broadcast radio station.

From 1959 to 1962 the call letters were changed to WCKR - Cox-Knight Broadcasting had once owned the station as well as WCKT television, now WSVN. Branded Wacker Radio, they attempted a rock & roll format but were unsuccessful against strong competition.

"NewsRadio 610 WIOD" arguably features one of the largest radio news departments in the Southeast United States and has consistently been the most frequent winner in annual Florida Associated Press statewide competitions. 610 WIOD may be best known for its continuous hurricane coverage, particularly Andrew, Katrina and Wilma. Despite the station's class B status, it has strong daytime and nighttime signal. This is due to parts of the tower's guy ground system resting in the brackish mix of fresh and salt waters of Biscayne Bay.

WIOD, positioned as "South Florida's News, Traffic and Weather Station" is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications, Inc., the largest U.S. radio owner. WIOD is an affiliate of the Fox News Radio network. It also is affiliated with The Weather Channel, Dow Jones & Company (for "The Wall Street Journal" Business Report") and has a news and weather content sharing relationship with WPLG-TV ("Local 10"). 610 WIOD was the radio flagship of the 2006 NBA champions Miami Heat from 1996-2008. It is also the "official" broadcast emergency station for the Broward County Commission.

Current hosts

WIOD features local programming from 5 a.m. to noon on weekdays. "South Florida's First News," is the morning news/talk program from 5am to 9am. Manny Munoz is the host. Nathalie Rodriguez is the news anchor. Wendi Grossman is reporter and Christina Kautz provides updates. Ron Philips is traffic reporter. Weather info's provided by The Weather Channel. Sports updates from Jeremy Marks-Peltz, who also serves as the studio host of the Miami Heat Radio Network.

"The Footy Show" airs from 9a to noon, weekdays, hosted by the(Y-100) radio legend. Nathalie Rodriguez is news anchor.

Reversing a trend where major market stations owned by Clear Channel programmed primarily syndicated shows during weekdays, WIOD moved a syndicated host to the evenings and brought in a local talk legend to its airwaves. During the fall of 2007, former WHYI morning host Footy took over with his own local mid-morning show that airs from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays.

Like many other Clear Channel stations, most of the rest of the weekday line-up includes syndicated conservative talk programming such as Rush Limbaugh and Todd Schnitt's The Schnitt Show, which are aired mid-days and afternoons live. The Schnitt Show originated on WIOD in 2001 before being syndicated back to Tampa and further. Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, and George Noory's "Coast To Coast AM" program fill out evenings and overnights.

Former hosts

WIOD - under different ownership - boasts some big names along its alumni including but not limited to Larry King, Neil Rogers, Sally Jessy Raphael, Ron Bennington, Mike Reinieri, Bill Calder, Alan Burke, Sandy Peyton, Rick and Suds, Hank Goldberg, Randi Rhodes, Chris Baker, Phil Hendrie, Joey Reynolds, Dave Lamont, Tom Leykis, and Jack Ellery.

Controversy

In June 2007, the all-Democratic county commission in Broward County was on the verge of rejecting WIOD as the official channel for emergency information because of concerns it is also home to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk show hosts. On his radio show Rush Limbaugh said, "They are politicizing the delivery of emergency news, which is non-partisan." After complaints from around the country the commission decided to keep using the radio station. [ [http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ccane14jun14,0,3927815.story?coll=sfla-news-broward "Broward may keep deal with Rush Limbaugh radio station"] , "Sun-Sentinel", June 14, 2007]

Trivia

In 1964, WIOD ran a simulated horse race in which a computer program determined the greatest race horse up to that time. Man o' War was the winner. ["People's Almanac" by Wallechinsky, Wallace, and Wallace, 1975.]

References

External links

* [http://610wiod.com/main.html Main page]
* [http://610wiod.com/pages/showschedule.html Schedule page]
* [http://610wiod.com/pages/streaming.html Streaming page]
* [http://610wiod.com/pages/history.html History of station page]