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WSB-FM
WSB-FM (98.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. It carries a hot adult contemporary radio format and is owned by the Cox Media Group, serving as the group's flagship FM station. WSB-FM is the oldest FM radio station in Atlanta. The studios and offices are on Peachtree Street NE in Atlanta, in the WSB-TV and Radio Group Building.
WSB-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts. The transmitter is at the end of New Street NE in the Edgewood neighborhood of Atlanta. It shares the tower with WABE-TV, WSTR-FM and WVEE-FM. It broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format; the HD2 subchannel carries the urban adult contemporary format heard on WALR-FM, and the HD3 subchannel carries the Regional Mexican format heard on WLKQ-FM, and also feeds FM translator W296BB (107.1) in Jonesboro.
In the early 1940s, the Atlanta Constitution started an FM radio station. After an experimental period, it became WCON-FM on 98.5 MHz. The call sign contained the letters "CON" for "Constitution". The competing Atlanta Journal had already put Atlanta's first AM station on the air in 1922, WSB. In 1948, the Journal added a companion FM station, WSB-FM, broadcasting on 104.5 MHz.
When the two newspapers merged under Cox Enterprises ownership in 1952, WCON-FM and WSB-FM went silent. WSB-FM returned to the air in 1955 on WCON-FM's dial position, 98.5 FM. While it has the call letters of WSB-FM, the station traces its founding to when WCON-FM first signed on.
During its early years, when few people had FM radio receivers, WSB-FM mostly simulcast the programming on WSB (AM). That included dramas, comedies, news and sports from the NBC Red Network, as well as local shows. As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WSB-AM-FM carried a full service, middle of the road format of popular music, news, sports and information.
In the 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission encouraged large market radio stations to provide separate programming on their FM outlets. WSB-FM would begin airing beautiful music, 15-minute sweeps of orchestral music, mostly cover versions of pop songs, as well as Hollywood and Broadway show tunes. It was mostly automated.
A planned merger of General Electric and Cox in the late 1970s would have caused WSB-FM to be spun off. Noted African-American broadcaster Ragan Henry had plans to acquire WSB-FM and use the call letters WEZA on the station, so it would no longer share its call sign with WSB-AM-TV, but the GE deal did not materialize.
In the 1970s, WSB-FM added some soft vocals to its beautiful music playlist. The ratio of vocals to instrumentals continued to increase until March 15, 1982, when the station formally switched to soft adult contemporary music and eliminated the instrumentals.
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WSB-FM
WSB-FM (98.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. It carries a hot adult contemporary radio format and is owned by the Cox Media Group, serving as the group's flagship FM station. WSB-FM is the oldest FM radio station in Atlanta. The studios and offices are on Peachtree Street NE in Atlanta, in the WSB-TV and Radio Group Building.
WSB-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts. The transmitter is at the end of New Street NE in the Edgewood neighborhood of Atlanta. It shares the tower with WABE-TV, WSTR-FM and WVEE-FM. It broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format; the HD2 subchannel carries the urban adult contemporary format heard on WALR-FM, and the HD3 subchannel carries the Regional Mexican format heard on WLKQ-FM, and also feeds FM translator W296BB (107.1) in Jonesboro.
In the early 1940s, the Atlanta Constitution started an FM radio station. After an experimental period, it became WCON-FM on 98.5 MHz. The call sign contained the letters "CON" for "Constitution". The competing Atlanta Journal had already put Atlanta's first AM station on the air in 1922, WSB. In 1948, the Journal added a companion FM station, WSB-FM, broadcasting on 104.5 MHz.
When the two newspapers merged under Cox Enterprises ownership in 1952, WCON-FM and WSB-FM went silent. WSB-FM returned to the air in 1955 on WCON-FM's dial position, 98.5 FM. While it has the call letters of WSB-FM, the station traces its founding to when WCON-FM first signed on.
During its early years, when few people had FM radio receivers, WSB-FM mostly simulcast the programming on WSB (AM). That included dramas, comedies, news and sports from the NBC Red Network, as well as local shows. As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WSB-AM-FM carried a full service, middle of the road format of popular music, news, sports and information.
In the 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission encouraged large market radio stations to provide separate programming on their FM outlets. WSB-FM would begin airing beautiful music, 15-minute sweeps of orchestral music, mostly cover versions of pop songs, as well as Hollywood and Broadway show tunes. It was mostly automated.
A planned merger of General Electric and Cox in the late 1970s would have caused WSB-FM to be spun off. Noted African-American broadcaster Ragan Henry had plans to acquire WSB-FM and use the call letters WEZA on the station, so it would no longer share its call sign with WSB-AM-TV, but the GE deal did not materialize.
In the 1970s, WSB-FM added some soft vocals to its beautiful music playlist. The ratio of vocals to instrumentals continued to increase until March 15, 1982, when the station formally switched to soft adult contemporary music and eliminated the instrumentals.