WDAO

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WDAO "The Real Rhythm Of The City" is a daytime-only commercial AM radio station in Dayton, Ohio operating on the frequency of 1210 kHz with a power of 1,000 watts. Its studios are currently located on West Third Street with transmitter located near Oakwood.

The WDAO calls are believed to be a reference to the 1950s hit "Day-O" by Harry Belefonte, as the station's early nickname in the 1960s was "Ten Seventy-Seven..Day-O Radio." (as in Da-yton O-hio) when it operated originally as an FM station. In the 70s the consensus was that the calls were an acronym for "White Days Are Over", though this slogan was never used by the station itself, owing to its combative overtone.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] FM History

WDAO started in 1964 at 107.7 mHz on FM (currently home to WMMX "Mix 107.7") Not only was it the first R&B-formatted station in the Miami Valley, it was also the first FM station of its kind in America and was the sister to AM daytimer WAVI owned and operated by H.K. "Bud" Crowl its founder (dba:WAVI Broadcasting Corp.) when its original studios were located adjacent to Interstate 75 on Cincinnati Street. Billed as "the soul of Dayton" it broadcast the hits of the Memphis and Motown soul era of the 1960s and into the Philadelphia disco sound of the 70s. Like its Top 40 AM competitor WING, it also had a stable of on-air personalities including "Big Ray" Meaders, Bill "Biggie B.C." Carr, "Shotgun" Pleasant, Long John Silver, Michael Ecton and the late Rick Smith (later of WHIO-TV). WING alumnus Gene "By Golly" Barry also worked at WDAO as program director in the late 1970s in addition to hosting a weekend oldies program on WAVI in the early 1980s. WDAO-FM was the most popular of Crowl's stations,the other being "people power" WAVI-AM with a talk format sometimes mixed with adult standards and a simulcast of WDAO-FM's Sunday evening jazz program. Sunday morning Gospel was hosted by Stanley Henry of Springfield and Sunday evening had a program called "Backpage", hosted by Raymond Graham and RoNita Hawes.

[edit] AM History

Bud Crowl sold both WDAO-FM and WAVI-AM to Stoner Broadcasting shortly before his death in 1985. Stoner chose to move WDAO to the former WAVI AM frequency and rebranding the FM as adult contemporary WWSN "Star 107.7" (now Clear Channel-owned WMMX "Mix 107.7.") where both remain to this day. WDAO's morning soul gospel DJ Jim Johnson became station manager of WDAO while Alan Gray became General Manager for both stations. Johnson eventually purchased WDAO-AM from Stoner when they were no longer interested in the station. Stoner merged with Jacor in the 1990s and later with Clear Channel Communications in 1998.

In 1955,Crowl purchased the former WWSO (then licensed to and located in Springfield) after it went off the air a year earlier and successfully moved its city of license and entire operation to Dayton and given the WAVI calls that same year. (WAVI was short for "Aviation" to become synonymous with Dayton being known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" and that of Wilbur and Orville Wright.) The move to Dayton was practically coincidental with the move of AM daytimer WJEL from Dayton to Springfield where it became known as WBLY from 1954 to 2002. That station is now known as WULM. WAVI aired mostly adult standards in the 1950s and 60s before switching to the talk format in the early 1970s. Bob Kweisell, Mike Scinto, A.J. Austin, Brad Clay, and the late Bernie "B.W." Wulkotte (a Dayton Daily News columnist) were some of WAVI's talkmasters and personalities. For a time, the legendary Gene "By Golly" Barry made WAVI his weekend home, spinning his brand of old 45 RPM Rock & Roll wax.

[edit] WDAO Today

WDAO today has not only earned the distinction of being the first minority-owned commercial radio station in Dayton, it is also one of the last locally owned commercial stations in Dayton. Even the Cox-owned stationsWHIO (AM) and FM, WZLR FM and WHKO FM are now based in Atlanta. WDAO-AM continues its commitment to the Dayton african-american community by airing classic soul, jazz, blues, gospel, news and the local community talk show "Expressions" with Michael Ecton and WAVI alumnus Mike Scinto.

[edit] Source

• Greater Cincinnati Radio Guide

[edit] External links

• Official WDAO site
• WDAO information page from Wright-Dunbar website
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WDAO
• WDAO technical information from Radio-Locator website