WLEE

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WLEE (990 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News format. Licensed to Richmond, Virginia, USA, it serves the Richmond area. The station is currently owned by Davidson Media.The station currently carries the audio for CNN Headline News, and bartered talk programming mostly on the weekends.

[edit] WLEE Call Letter History

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The WLEE call letters had originally been on the 1480 frequency during the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s. WLEE at 1480 had been a legendary Top 40 station in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1989, the calls were moved to the 1320 frequency , and in 2000 they were once again moved to 990. 990 had originally been R&B station WANT for many years. (See WTOX )

[edit] The WANT Years

During the 50s, 60s, 70s , and 80s, this frequency was popular R&B music station WANT. Signing on in 1951, the WANT call letters stood for " With All Negro Talent ". Some of the more popular personalities on the old WANT included Kirby Carmicheal, Ben Miles, Tiger Tom Mitchell, Chip "Chocolate Chip" Johnston, Jody Cross, Ken Crandall, Mr.C ( later of WOL Washington fame ) and Calvin King. newsman Max Robinson , who later became a national news anchor on ABC News, and announcer Alan Leeds , who later worked as an assistant for James Brown ( and wrote liner notes for the James Brown Box Set "Star Time"), as well as later running Prince's Paisley Park Records, also worked at WANT.

In 1981 the station experienced some unwanted publicity when an angry listener walked into the WANT studios, then on Front Street in the Highland Park section of Richmond and shot Morning Man Ken Crandall. Crandall survived the attack.

By the mid 80s, WANT switched to a gospel format. In 1987, Longtime DJ Kirby Carmicheal left the station for crosstown WRVQ.

[edit] The Final Demise of WANT

In the early nineties WANT was experiencing financial problems and had lost most of its employees. The owners were attempting to keep it on the air with volunteers who would come in and change CDS and make church announcments, but there were long periods of "dead air" ( broadcasting a signal with no programming ) on the station , which eventually forced it off the air by the FCC in 1992.( The WANT call letters now reside on an FM country station in Lebanon, Tennesee . )

[edit] Birth Of a New Station

In the mid 90s, the 990 frequency and transmitter tower location were purchased by a group of investors that became known as Richmond Radio Inc and signed back on as all news WNVZ. The calls were later changed to WLEE with a "Hot Talk" format , then to Big Band format , then Southern Gospel and finally to its current News format. In 2004, the Radio Richmond station were purchased by Davidson Media .

[edit] External links

• official website
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WLEE
• Radio Locator Information on WLEE

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