WFBR

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WFBR (1590 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Talk/Personality format. Licensed to Glen Burnie, Maryland, USA, it serves the Baltimore area. The station is currently owned by Way Broadcasting Licensee, LLC.

The "WFBR" call letters have a long and storried history in the Baltimore media market. Beginning in the 1920's, they were assigned to the 1300-AM signal. "WFBR" stood for First Baltimore Regiment, in whose Armory on Preston St. it broadcast from. It was the first broadacst radio station in the state of Maryland.

By the 1960s WFBR had a CBS affiliation and was a Top-40 music station with a solid news department and extensive local sports coverage. The station had its studios on E. 20th Street in Baltimore City, and a transmitter on the south side of the mouth of the Patapsco River off Waterview Avenue.

In the 1970's, WFBR's on-air talent featured popular personalities such as "The Flying Dutchman" Pete Berry; Ron Matz, and his fictitious alter-ego, "Harry Horni"; Johnny Walker, a wildly popular morning DJ who was "cutting edge" for his time; "The Coach", Charley Eckman, a former NBA basketball coach and referree, who later became a Baltimore sportscasting legend [1]; and a young, but experienced, broadcaster named Tom Marr who pulled double-duty as a newsman and sportscaster for the station. For years, WFBR marketed itself as "Mad Radio 13."

In addition to its extensive sports coverage and Top-40 rock & roll music, WFBR had an award winning news team. One of its most popular news programs was a weekday afternoon panel discussion known as "Conference Call." The award winning program covered news topics of local, state, and national interests and was moderated by longtime newsman Ken Maylath. Regular panelists included WFBR's general manager Harry Shriver, veteran broadcasters Tom Marr and Ron Matz, as well as various local politicians from throughout Maryland.

In 1979, WFBR's president and general manager Harry Shriver pulled off a major upset of a deal by acquiring the broadcast rights for the Baltimore Orioles, beating out the club's longtime flagship station WBAL (1090-AM), where the ballclub had a stronger signal but an older audience and a management that barely promoted the team.[2]

From 1979 through 1986, WFBR was the radio flagship station for the Orioles. Under the leadership of Shriver, WFBR promoted the O’s to levels unprecedented by its previous flagship station, creating what became known as "Oriole Magic". According to Michael Olesker from the Baltimore Examiner, "it did it nonstop, and it did it at the top of its lungs. The ballclub’s fan base grew younger and louder." [3] Highlights from the previous night were replayed on Johnny Walker's morning show, who was arguably the city's most popular DJ at the time. And with WFBR being a partial Top 40 rock & roll station, game highlights were played throughout the day reaching a younger generation of listeners. The eight-year marriage of the Orioles and WFBR —1979 to 1986 — included two pennants, a world championship and a couple of close calls (100 wins in 1980, and a 1982 pennant race that was decided on the final day of the season against the Brewers). It also included, not coincidentally, the full emergence of Wild Bill Hagy up in Memorial Stadium’s Section 34, and a remarkable surge in Orioles’ home attendance. According to former O's play-by-play announcer Tom Marr, WFBR helped "put fans in the seats who had never been there before." [4]

From '79 through '82, the O's radio broadcast team featured longtime O's announcers Chuck Thompson and Bill O'Donnell, along with WFBR veteran Tom Marr. O'Donnell left the broadcast team early in the 1982 season due to an illness from which he eventually died later that year. After the 1982 season, the Orioles moved Chuck Thompson from the radio booth to do the TV broadcasts full-time on WMAR-TV, with Brooks Robinson. Once Thompson left the radio booth, WFBR's general manager Harry Shriver replaced him by hiring the now legendary Jon Miller to team up with Marr on the radio broadcasts. [5]

After the 1986 season, the Orioles sold their broadcast rights to another station. By that time, Miller was under contract directly with the Orioles and stayed with the team, while Marr was under contract with WFBR and remained at the station to start a successful career as a radio talk-show host. Shortly thereafter, WFBR switched to a "news/talk-radio" format featuring other hosts such as Alan Christian, Les Kinsolving, Joe Lombardo, former Baltimore TV anchor Frank Luber, and Stan "the Fan" Charles.

In 1988, WFBR was sold, changed its call letters, and switched to an "oldies" music format. After the sale and format switch, most of WFBR's former on-air personalities moved to WCBM (680-AM) which was under new management at the time, and adopted WFBR's news/talk format.

Meanwhile, Baltimore's 1300-AM signal briefly became WLIF-AM and was a soft music station similar to its sister station WLIF-FM. Eventually the station was sold to Emmis Broadcasting and was renamed WJFK-AM. It was eventually sold to Viacom/CBS.

Currently, the WFBR call letters are used by a small AM radio station on 1590 kHz in Glen Burnie, Maryland, which coincidentally, was the home of the late Charley Eckman .

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WFBR
• Radio Locator Information on WFBR
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WFBR

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