WDWD

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

title: "WDWD" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["radio-stations-in-atlanta", "radio-stations-established-in-1937", "1937-establishments-in-georgia-(u.s.-state)", "salem-media-group-radio-stations", "christian-radio-stations-in-georgia-(u.s.-state)"] topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WDWD" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox radio station"]

FieldValue
nameWDWD
logoWDWD logo 2015.png
logo_size150px
cityAtlanta, Georgia
countryUS
areaAtlanta metropolitan area
brandingFaith Talk 590
frequency
airdate
formatChristian radio
power
classB
licensing_authorityFCC
facility_id8623
coordinates
callsign_meaningWalt Disney, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company, former owner
former_callsigns
former_frequencies
affiliationsSRN News
ownerSalem Media Group
licenseeSalem Communications Holding Corporation
sister_stations
webcast
website
::

| name = WDWD | logo = WDWD logo 2015.png | logo_size = 150px | city = Atlanta, Georgia | country = US | area = Atlanta metropolitan area | branding = Faith Talk 590 | frequency = | airdate = | format = Christian radio | power = | class = B | licensing_authority = FCC | facility_id = 8623 | coordinates = | callsign_meaning = Walt Disney, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company, former owner | former_callsigns = | former_frequencies = | affiliations = SRN News | owner = Salem Media Group | licensee = Salem Communications Holding Corporation | sister_stations = | webcast = | website =

WDWD (590 AM; "Faith Talk 590") is a commercial radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and it airs a Christian radio format. The studios are in Buckhead Center on Peachtree Road NW (U.S. Route 19).

WDWD's radio transmitter site is off Sanders Road in Austell, Georgia, near Noses Creek. The station uses a directional antenna with a four-tower array, aimed towards Atlanta and avoiding interference with WWLX in Loretto, Tennessee. In 2009, the station upgraded its daytime power from 5,000 to 12,000 watts, while the nighttime power remains at 4,500 watts. Also in 2009, the station started broadcasting in the AM HD Radio (hybrid digital) mode (which has been unavailable since 2013).

History

WAGA

The station signed on the air on August 1, 1937. Its call sign was WAGA. It was once the sister station of WAGA-TV, now Atlanta's Fox TV station. WAGA was powered at 1,000 watts by day and 500 watts at night.Broadcasting Yearbook 1939 page 100. Retrieved March 18, 2025.

The Atlanta Journal newspaper, which owned Atlanta's top station, WSB, had difficulty choosing between the two NBC radio networks, the Red Network and the Blue Network. WAGA's on-air slogan during the station's early days was "Atlanta's Wave of Welcome". It then moved to the better dial position of 590 AM in 1942. The 1480 kHz frequency later returned to the air under a new license as WYZE, with no affiliation to WAGA.

Due to FCC rules limiting station ownership, the Journal sold WAGA to Fort Industry Broadcasting of Toledo, Ohio, in the 1940s. In 1948, WAGA acquired an FM sister station when WAGA-FM (now WVEE) began broadcasting. A year later, WAGA-TV signed on as Atlanta's second television station. Fort Industry changed its name to Storer Broadcasting in 1952.

Plough ownership

In 1959, WAGA began playing Top 40 hits. The call sign changed to WPLO, which stood for Plough.

The Top 40 sound ended in 1966, when WPLO switched to a country music format. In 1987, the station changed its call letters to WKHX and adopted the "Kicks 590" slogan still used on WKHX-FM 101.5. The two stations began simulcasting. WKHX 590 once broadcast using the Kahn/Hazeltine AM stereo system. It aired a classic country format beginning in October 1992.

Radio Disney

The country format ended in 1996. On November 18th at 5a.m., the station flipped to children's radio. It adopted the Radio Disney format with the call sign changing to WDWD.

In September 2009, the station was forced off the air for a week when nearby Noses Creek flooded. The creek reached double its flood stage during the historic record-breaking 2009 Atlanta floods. The station had been shut down prior to the flood and the equipment was disassembled and thoroughly cleaned. When the flood waters receded, nearly all of the equipment was salvaged since there had been no short circuiting from the water.

On August 13, 2014, The Walt Disney Company put WDWD and 22 other Radio Disney stations up for sale, in order to focus more on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network. Disney originally planned to temporarily shut down the station on September 26, 2014. However, the station remained on the air with Radio Disney programming until it was sold.

Salem Communications

On February 25, 2015, Radio Disney Atlanta filed to sell WDWD to South Texas Broadcasting, Inc., a subsidiary of the Salem Media Group. Salem bought the station for $2.75 million. The application to assign the station license was granted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on April 13, 2015, and the purchase was consummated on May 7, 2015.

On March 10, 2015, Salem Media CEO Ed Atsinger revealed that Salem would move the WNIV/WLTA programming to WDWD after the completion of the sale. On May 2, 2015, WDWD dropped Radio Disney and went silent, ahead of the sale's completion. On May 11, the station returned with a Christian talk format, branded as "Faith Talk 590", with programming from Salem Radio Network. At one time, Salem owned five stations in Metro Atlanta, including WDWD. However, WAFS 1190 AM has been sold to Relevant Radio for its Catholic radio network. And WFSH 104.7 FM was sold to the Educational Media Foundation for its Air1 worship music network.

References

References

  1. "Atlanta Radio History".
  2. "Jeffrey Leachman - Atlanta, Georgia AM Radio Directory".
  3. "A selection from a decade of visits to tower and studio sites in the Northeast and beyond".
  4. "Atlanta Radio History".
  5. "WPLO (WDWD) FCC history cards". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
  6. (1942). "Radio Index". The Radex Press.
  7. Warden, Timothy J. (2003). "WPLO 590 Atlanta Playlists 1964-1965". [[Airheads Radio Survey Archive (Publisher).
  8. Farrington, Steve. (April 21, 2002). "WPLO 590 Atlanta". [[Steve Farrington (Publisher).
  9. K., Alex. (April 30, 2001). "Offenders of The Faith". [[Alex K. (Publisher).
  10. "RR-1993-03-26".
  11. "RR-1997-08-29".
  12. (August 13, 2014). "Exclusive: Radio Disney Moving Off Air to Digital".
  13. "Radio Disney to Sell the Majority of Its Stations".
  14. Venta, Lance. (August 13, 2014). "Radio Disney To Sell All But One Station". Radio Insight.
  15. (September 26, 2014). "NERW Extra: No Signoffs for Disney AMs".
  16. (February 25, 2015). "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". [[U.S. Federal Communications Commission]].
  17. "Parties to the Application - FCC".
  18. Venta, Lance. (February 25, 2015). "Salem Acquires Disney Properties In Atlanta & Pittsburgh". Radio Insight.
  19. (March 11, 2015). "Salem Reveals Pending Formats For Disney Acquisitions - RadioInsight".
  20. (May 2, 2015). "The Mouse selling WDWD to Salem".
  21. (May 11, 2015). "Faith Talk 590 Atlanta Debuts - RadioInsight".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

radio-stations-in-atlantaradio-stations-established-in-19371937-establishments-in-georgia-(u.s.-state)salem-media-group-radio-stationschristian-radio-stations-in-georgia-(u.s.-state)