WTEL (610 kHz), branded "Philadelphia's BIN 610", is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, the station is operated by iHeartMedia under a long-term local marketing agreement (LMA). It airs a Black–oriented all-news radio format as part of iHeart's Black Information Network (BIN). The station's studios are on City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd.
WTEL is powered at 5,000 watts using a directional antenna. Its two towers and transmitter are off Creek Road in Bellmawr, New Jersey, near Interstate 295. WTEL is also heard over the second HD Radio subchannel of WDAS-FM 105.3, and is available online via iHeartRadio. WTEL is a primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System in eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.
History WIP
On December 1, 1921, the U.S. Department of Commerce, in charge of radio at the time, adopted a regulation formally establishing a broadcasting station category, which set aside the wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) for entertainment broadcasts, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for market and weather reports."Amendments to Regulations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10. Philadelphia's first broadcasting station, WGL, was licensed on February 8, 1922, to Thomas F. J. Howlett."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, March 1, 1922, page 2. WGL was deleted on December 31, 1924.
This was followed by a scramble among four of the city's department stores to become the first to establish its own station."Department Stores and the Origins of American Broadcasting" (dissertation) by Ronald J. "Noah" Arceneaux, University of Georgia, 2007, pages 81-86. On March 20, 1922 Gimbel Brothers, with Benedict Gimbel Jr. as its president, was issued a license with the randomly assigned call letters WIP, for a new station operating on the 360-meter "entertainment" wavelength."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, April 1, 1922, page 3. Although the WIP call sign was randomly assigned, later slogans based on the call letters have included "Wireless In Philadelphia", "We're In Philadelphia" and "Watch Its Progress". The station later received an additional authorization to broadcast weather reports on 485 meters."Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, December 1, 1922, page 7.
The other three Philadelphia department store stations authorized in the first half of 1922 were WOO (licensed March 18, 1922, to John Wanamaker), WFI (later WFIL, licensed March 18, 1922, to Strawbridge & Clothier), and WDAR (later WLIT, licensed May 20, 1922, to the Lit Brothers).
Because 360 meters was the only designated broadcasting wavelength, WIP had to operate within the restrictions of a timesharing arrangement with the other local stations. In the race to be the first department store on the air, Strawbridge & Clothier's WFI debuted on March 18, starting with a 10:16 a.m. speech by John F. Braun, president of the Art Alliance and the Music League."Strawbridge & Clothier" (advertisement), Philadelphia Inquirer, March 18, 1922, page 7. WIP's formal debut came a short time later, beginning with an 11:00 a.m. speech by J. Hampton Moore, Mayor of Philadelphia. However, an advertisement placed by Gimbels on the previous day claimed that "Philadelphia's first radio broadcasting by any store, opened this morning at 9 o'clock", and, somewhat vaguely, "Details of programs will speedily unfold"."Gimbel Brothers" (advertisement), Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, March 17, 1922, page 14. The department store's March 18 advertisement for WIP further asserted that "Yesterday's broadcasting was most successful", although it provided no details about the nature of any earlier transmissions. Under the local timesharing agreement, WIP's August 17, 1922, schedule on 360 meters consisted of a variety of short programs, beginning with New York and Philadelphia stock price quotes at 1:00 pm, and ending with its "Uncle Wip" children's programs starting at 7:15 pm."Radio Features", Philadelphia Inquirer, August 17, 1922, page 12.
In late September 1922, the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming,"Amendments to Regulations: Regulation 57", Radio Service Bulletin, September 1, 1922, pages 10-11. and WIP was assigned use of this more exclusive wavelength, joining WOO,"Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, October 2, 1922, page 7. WFI,"Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, November 1, 1922, page 7. and WDAR."Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, April 2, 1923, page 7. WIP's March 27, 1923, time slots were entertainment programs from 2:00 to 3:00 and 6:00 to 6:30 pm, followed by "Uncle Wip's Bedtime Stories and roll call" beginning at 7:00 pm."Radio Features", Philadelphia Inquirer, March 27, 1923, page 7. In May 1923 additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, which included two Philadelphia allocations,"Radio Conference Recommendations: New Wave Lengths", Radio Age, May 1923, page 11. with WIP and WOO assigned to 590 kHz on a timesharing basis, while WFI and WDAR were assigned to the second Philadelphia Class B frequency, 760 kHz."Class B Calls and Waves", Radio Age, June 1923, page 12. In late 1927 WIP and WOO were reassigned to 860 kHz."Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, November 30, 1927, page 9.
On November 11, 1928, as part of the implementation of a major nationwide reallocation under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40, WIP was assigned to a "regional" frequency, 610 kHz, along with a new timesharing partner, the Keystone Broadcasting Company's WFAN."Revised list of broadcasting stations, by frequencies, effective 3 a. m., November 11, 1928, eastern standard time", Second Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission (June 30, 1928), page 201. WFAN was first licensed, as WABQ, in 1923 and changed its call sign to WFAN in December 1927. On January 20, 1933, WIP's owners took over WFAN, eliminating that station to allow WIP to begin broadcasting on an unlimited schedule."Actions of the Federal Radio Commission: Decisions: January 20", Broadcasting, February 1, 1933, page 32.
Beginning in the mid-1930s, WIP's Morning Cheer program presented by George A. Palmer was a popular daily feature."Program on Fire", Broadcasting, November 1, 1935, page 64. In the 1940s and 1950s, the station was an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System. From the 1950s until the early 1960s, the station was owned by Metropolitan Broadcasting (successor to Dumont) and had a rock and roll format. In the early 60s the parent company name was changed from Metropolitan to Metromedia, and WIP adopted an MOR format (after an unsuccessful attempt at a Top 40 format branded as Color Radio). With this format, the station played pop hits of the 1960s, along with some 50s pop mixed in. Announcers during this time period included Joe McCauley (the "Morning Mayor"), Ned Powers, Tom Brown, and Chuck Daugherty.
During this time WIP called themselves "The Big W" after a phrase in the 1960s comedy, "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," and the slogan was justified. WIP was number one in the market ratings through the 1960s and for most of the 1970s. In the late 60s they began including more soft-rock until the format gradually evolved into an Adult Contemporary format which survived through the 1970s and into the 1980s. The music mix continued to include pop from the previous two decades. In addition, the station was full service in approach, as they had a heavy emphasis on news as well.
1970s and 1980s By the early 1970s, WIP evolved to an adult contemporary format, and for a while, they were heavy on 1950s and 1960s rock and roll oldies. At the height of its popularity as a full service/adult contemporary station in the early to mid-1970s, WIP was the home to some of the most well-known air personalities in the city, including popular rush hour host Ken Garland (who had replaced Joe McCauley, the "Morning Mayor"), late morning host Bill "Wee Willie" Webber, early afternoon host Tom Moran, late PM host, Dick Clayton, evening host Tom Lamaine, and overnight host Nat Wright. Weekend coverage included Allan Michaels, Alan Drew, Bill St. James, and Mark Andrews. During this time, Metromedia's station in New York, WNEW, had similar programming and it was not uncommon for DJs to swap back and forth for subbing duties. WNEW's Julius LaRosa was a frequent guest. WIP's presentation, like other full-service stations, was heavily dependent on its personalities to entertain the audience as much as the music itself.
In addition to music, full-service music stations in that era were typically home to strong news operations, and WIP had local newscasts every hour, seven days a week (at one point they offered half-hourly newscasts around the clock). The weekday morning news was so extensive that they had two anchors in later years, and even introduced a 5 a.m. 30-minute newscast. One of WIP's news reporters, Jan Gorham, remained with the station after the switch to sports and continued to work there until retiring in 2009.
The station hosted a popular radiothon for one weekend a year for several years, raising funds to fight leukemia. The events were staged on a large scale, in venues like hotel ballrooms, with local and national celebrities visiting the live broadcast.
WIP's best-known contest was Cash Call, a call-out game in which the DJs picked numbers out of the phone book or from postcards submitted by listeners. The intro to the contest was the first 10 seconds of a song called "The Sound Of Money" by the J's with Jamie, a vocal group that recorded many commercial jingles and three albums. If the person at the other end of the call could identify the exact amount of money in the "jackpot," down to the standard 61¢ ending, they won the current jackpot. Players who knew the 61¢ but not the dollar amount typically won a token prize from a sponsor. Every incorrect guess lead to a few dollars being added to the jackpot; a correct guess resulted in the jackpot being reset to $61.61. Another long-running contest late in WIP's run as a music station was Team Trivia. Two area businesses competed, one on the morning show with Ken Garland, the other on the afternoon show with (Bruce) Stevens and (Nick) Seneca (who had replaced Tom Moran).
As the popularity of music on FM radio grew, stations like Magic 103 (now 102.9 WMGK) and Kiss 100 began to eat away at WIP's audience. For a time, the station experimented with general interest talk. Michele Iaia was brought on to host "WIPeople Talk", a weeknight call-in show from 8 p.m. to midnight. The show later expanded to include a weekend edition, and over time the talk block was extended to run from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. (with the station touting that it played music all day and talked all night). One of the regular features was a Friday night segment called Desperate & Dateless, a show that eventually spun off into a stand-alone Saturday night program that included music mixed in with the calls from single listeners.
The local talk was scaled back to make room for Larry King's syndicated radio show in the overnight hours, and eventually most of the local talk was replaced by music once again. The station later tried a programming experiment known as Midday Infotainment, a features-based midday show hosted by Bill Gallagher and Lynn Adkins. That move pushed Bill Webber out of his longtime midday slot into the early evening shift. The show was canceled in less than a year, and the regular music format, hosted once more by Webber, returned.