WWRC
 |
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| City | Washington, D.C. |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Metro Washington |
| Branding | "1260 The Answer" |
| Slogan | "News. Intelligent Talk. Insight." |
| Frequency | 1260 kHz |
| Repeater(s) | 1250 WRCW Warrenton, VA |
| First air date | November 11, 1928 |
| Format | News/talk |
| Power | 25,000 watts day 5,000 watts night |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 8681 |
| Callsign meaning |
W-"Washington-Radio Corporation of America" (founders of the original WRC) |
| Former callsigns | 1999–2001: WGAY 1950–1999: WWDC 1928–1950: WOL |
| Owner |
Salem Communications (Salem Media of Virginia, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | WAVA, WAVA-FM, WRCW |
| Webcast | WWRC Webstream |
| Website | WWRC Online |
WWRC (1260 AM)—branded 1260 The Answer—is a news/talk radio station licensed to Washington, D.C. that serves the Washington metro area. It operates with 25,000 watts during the day and 5,000 watts at night with studios and transmitters both located in the city proper. The station is owned and operated by Salem Communications.
In December 2012 WWRC was granted a U.S. Federal Communications Commission construction permit to increase day power to 35,000 watts.
The station was the original home of WOL, and signed on in 1928. A station/callsign swap with WWDC (1450 AM) on February 20, 1950 landed the WWDC call letters on 1260 kHz for the rest of the century. During the 1960s, radio personalities such as Jimmy Dean and Fred Fiske had programs on this station. The format was middle-of-the-road. It staked out a place in radio and music history by being the first American radio station to play a Beatles song when it played "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in December 1963.
During the 1970s, WWDC was a moderately popular Top 40 station. In 1981, the station began simulcast of the morning and afternoon drive shows on sister FM Rock station WWDC-FM ("DC101"), with separate shows in the same music format during other dayparts. A few years later, it broke off the simulcast and became an Adult Standards station.
WWDC changed its call letters to WGAY in 1999, following the dropping of the long-time beautiful music format that was WGAY-FM (which became WJMO-FM and then WIHT). WGAY kept its adult standards format nonetheless until Clear Channel Communications bought the station with the AMFM merger in 2000. In 2001, the standards format was dropped, and the business news format and WWRC callsign were moved from 570 AM to 1260 AM. Still, there were difficulties finding a format for the station that was different from the other Clear Channel stations in the Washington metropolitan area.
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