WZMP
 |
|
| City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Delaware Valley |
| Branding | Today's 96.5 |
| Slogan | Better Variety, Fewer Commercials |
| Frequency | 96.5 MHz (also on HD Radio) 96.5 HD-2 for Club Dance |
| First air date | 1944 (as WHAT-FM) |
| Format | Adult Contemporary |
| ERP | 9,600 watts |
| HAAT | 528 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 51434 |
| Callsign meaning | ToDaY |
| Former callsigns | WHAT-FM (1944-1960s) WWDB (1960s-1998) WWDB-FM (1998-2000) WPTP (2000-2003) WLDW (2003-2004) WRDW-FM (2004-2015) WZMP (2015-2017) |
| Owner |
CBS Radio (CBS Radio Stations Inc.) |
| Sister stations | KYW, WIP-FM, WOGL, WPHT, WXTU, KYW-TV, WPSG |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | todays965.cbslocal.com |
WTDY-FM (96.5 FM, "Today's 96.5") is a Philadelphia radio station owned by CBS Radio that airs an adult contemporary format. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, with studios located in Bala Cynwyd.
For several years in the 1940s and 1950s, the frequency was known as WHAT-FM and was simulcast with its sister station on the AM dial. In 1956, a young disc jockey known as Sid Mark took the airwaves for the first time in Philadelphia, beginning a nearly 50-year career in the market as a disc jockey. WHAT-FM became a full-time jazz station in 1958, the first of its kind on the FM spectrum.
In the late 1960s, the call letters were changed to WWDB, after the owners of the station, William and Dolly Banks. In the early 1970s, WWDB experimented with playing adult contemporary music, but eventually went back to jazz. In 1975, the station's format was changed to talk, and WWDB became the first FM talk station in the United States. On-air talk personalities included Irv Homer, Bernie McCain, Frank Ford and Bernie Herman.
After her brother William died in 1979, Dolly Banks took over as General Manager. Many lawsuits over the ownership of WWDB began since William Banks did not have children other than distant relatives were fighting for ownership. In 1985, Dolly Banks retired after the African-American employees of sister station WHAT-AM, along with the Black Media Caucus in Washington, D.C., sued the estate, receiving millions of dollars and forcing an estate sale of WWDB. The sale, which was overseen by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), required the ownership to go only to a Black minority, so WWDB was sold to Black Philadelphia attorney Ragan Henry (for an undervalued amount of $6,000,000), whose law firm was also working for the Banks Family. Irv Homer had to testify before the FCC.
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Wikipedia