790 The Ticket
 |
|
| City | South Miami, Florida |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Miami–Ft. Lauderdale, Florida |
| Branding | Sports Talk AM 790 and 104.3 HD2 The Ticket |
| Frequency | 790 kHz |
| First air date | 1939 (as WMBM at 800 AM) |
| Format | Sports |
| Power | 5,000 watts fulltime (licensed) 25,000 watts fulltime special temporary authority |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 30837 |
| Former callsigns | WMBM (1939–1961) WFUN (1961–1976) WNWS (1976–1990) WMRZ (1990–1994) WAXY FM (2012–2015) |
| Former frequencies | 800 kHz (1939–1960s) 104.3 FM KHz (2012–2015) |
| Affiliations |
ESPN Radio Westwood One Florida Panthers Miami Heat Miami Marlins |
| Owner |
Entercom (Entercom Miami License, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WSFS, WLYF, WMXJ |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | theticketmiami.com |
WAXY (790 AM, "The Ticket") is a radio station licensed in South Miami, Florida broadcasting on 790 kHz with a sports talk format. The station is owned by Entercom. Its studios are located near Sun Life Stadium in northern Dade County and its transmitter is in Everglades National Park.
The callsign was formerly used on FM at 105.9 until Jefferson-Pilot acquired the callsign due to their competing station WMXJ Majic 102.7 having the same format, Oldies. 105.9 FM is now WBGG-FM and owned by Clear Channel with a Classic Rock format.
On August 24, 2012, Lincoln Financial Media announced that it had acquired 104.3 WMSF. Beginning on August 29, 2012, 104.3 FM will begin simulcasting the 790 broadcast. Once the acquisition closes, "The Ticket" broadcast will move to 104.3 FM and 790 AM will break off for new programming.
On December 8, 2014, Entercom announced that it was purchasing Lincoln Financial Group's entire 15-station lineup (including WAXY) in a $106.5 million deal, and would operate the outlets under a LMA deal until the sale was approved by the FCC (which occurred on July 16, 2015). As a result, 104.3 ended the simulcast on August 21, 2015, and sports will remain on 790 for the foreseeable future.
This station was once WFUN, a legendary Top 40 station that competed with WQAM. Originally, the station was located at 800 on the AM dial, and was a daytime-only operation. While on 800, it was licensed to Miami Beach and was the first station in the area to hold the WMBM call letters, now on 1490 kHz. In the early 1960s, the station migrated down to 790, and went full-time as WFUN. The 790 frequency was a moderately directional signal, as there was already a 790 in Havana, Cuba, and another in central Florida (Leesburg-Eustis). Despite coverage limitations, especially to the southwest (in the Florida Keys, toward Havana), WFUN competed vigorously with WQAM throughout the 1960s, and even won some of the ratings sweeps. During the early 1970s, pop music showed up first on FM at WMYQ, and then on Y-100, and the field of top 40 stations (including WQAM and even WINZ for a brief time) became crowded; ultimately many listeners moved to FM for music, and on January 7, 1976, WFUN abandoned its top 40 format for an Adult Standards/MOR format. WFUN was used by one of its disc jockeys to create the Boss Radio broadcasting sound of Swinging Radio England from the coast of southern England during 1966. For a short time in 1965 Morton 'Doc' Downey was a DJ on this Miami station.
...
Wikipedia