WNIS is the oldest radio station in Virginia. The station was first licensed, as WTAR, on September 21, 1923.[6] The original call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs. WTAR signed on the air at 780 kHz with a power of 15 watts.[7]
A second Norfolk station was licensed as WSUF, which in early 1928 changed its call sign to WPOR.[8] As part of a consolidation, WTAR was formally licensed as WTAR-WSUF and later WTAR-WPOR, with WPOR only used when the station was broadcasting from an auxiliary studio.[9] However, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) requested that stations using only one of their assigned call letters drop those that were no longer in regular use, so on May 15, 1933 WPOR was eliminated from the dual call sign, with the station reverting to just WTAR.[10]
By the late 1930s, WTAR got a power boost to 5,000 watts by day, 1,000 watts at night.[12] In the 1940s, the nighttime power was increased to match the daytime power, 5,000 watts.
WTAR added an FM counterpart in 1947, WTAR-FM (97.3), which mostly simulcast the AM station.[13] However, few people owned FM radios at that time, and WTAR gave up its FM license a couple of years later. The 97.3 frequency returned to the air in the mid-1950s as WGH-FM.
1950 advertisement for the new facility to be occupied by WTAR and recently started WTAR-TV.[14]
In 1950, WTAR signed on a TV station, WTAR-TV (Channel 4, now WTKR on channel 3).[13] Because WTAR was an NBC affiliate, the TV station primarily carried NBC-TV programs. As the first TV station in the Norfolk area, it also ran some shows from CBS, ABC and the DuMont Television Network. Within a year of the TV station's debut, both the TV and radio facilities moved into a new broadcasting center at 720 Boush Street.
By 1986 or 1987, WTAR switched its full-service format to an oldies format and became an affiliate of CBS Radio News. In the early 1990s, the station stopped playing music and became a news/talk station, adding an affiliation with CNN as well as CBS Radio.[16] Around the same time, rival talk station WNIS got a big boost in power, going to 50,000 watts by day, 25,000 watts at night. Eventually, both stations would become co-owned, with Sinclair acquiring AM 850 in June 1997.
WNIS
On July 15, 1997, WTAR and its sister station on AM 850, WNIS, exchanged call letters, with AM 790 becoming WNIS, while WTAR was moved to 850 kHz.[17][18] 850 has the stronger signal, broadcasting at 50,000 watts by day, the highest power authorized for AM stations by the Federal Communications Commission. At night it runs 25,000 watts, while 790 kHz transmits 5,000 watts day and night. Both stations had talk formats, although 850 WTAR later became a sports radio station and network affiliate of Fox Sports Radio.
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