WPIT

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WPIT

Broadcast area	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania / Pittsburgh
Branding	"73 WPIT"
Slogan	"Talk Radio That Helps People"
First air date	1947
Frequency	730(kHz)
Format	Conservative Talk, news
ERP	5,000 watts (Daytime); 24 watts (night)
Callsign meaning	W PITtsburgh
Owner	Salem Media of Pennsylvania, Inc. (Salem Communications Corporation)
Website	http://www.wpitam.com/

WPIT is a hybrid conservative talk/religious radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station, which is owned by Salem Communications, broadcasts at 730 kHz with an effective radiated power of 5 kW-D/24 W-N pattern.

[edit] History

WPIT, which signed on the air in 1947, has been a religious station for most of its life, and at one time was a simulcast of its FM sister station up until 1993, when both stations were sold to Salem.

WPIT's studios were once located on Smithfield Street in downtown Pittsburgh. A neon sign reading "WPIT DIAL 730" hung outside their former location for years after they had moved out, well into the early 1980s. The station moved to Gateway Towers in downtown Pittsburgh around 1980, next door to the KDKA home of One Gateway Center.

WPIT has had only two managers in its long history. Michael Komichak, who also built the station back in 1947 and did much of its engineering work, and Chuck Gratner, who assumed control of WPIT-AM and FM after both were sold to Salem. Once the sale to Salem was complete, the operations of WPIT and its FM sister, WORD-FM moved up to Seven Parkway Center in Greentree, just outside of the Pittsburgh city limits.

In recent years, WPIT has added some secular conservative talk programming to its lineup (like Dr. Laura, Michael Medved, and Hugh Hewitt), but religious programming continues to fill most of the station's hours. For many years, WPIT has also aired foreign-language and ethnic programming on weekends.

The station also airs Robert Morris University men's basketball and football. Red Zone Media also broadcasts North Hills School District football games on WPIT.

The station is known as "73 WPIT"