Broadcast area Greater Orlando Class B Callsign meaning Way Down By Orlando City of license Orlando Owner Cox Communications Branding ESPN 580 Orlando | First air date 1924 Facility ID 48726 Frequency 580 kHz Format Sports radio Area Greater Orlando | |
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Power 5,000 watts day
5,000 watts night Sister stations WDBO-FM, WWKA, WMMO, WCFB, WPYO, WFTV | ||
WDBO (580 AM) — branded ESPN 580 — is a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format. Licensed to Orlando, Florida, USA, the station is owned by Cox Radio. Its studios are located in Orlando and the transmitter tower is in Lockhart.
History
WDBO was originally part of a cluster of AM, FM and TV stations all with the same callsign. In 1982, the company that owned all three at the time, The Outlet Company, sold the radio stations to Katz Broadcasting. The TV station eventually became WKMG-TV. When the stations were sold, WDBO-FM was re-formatted as a country music station, K92FM, with the callsign WWKA.
WDBO, at the time 58 WDBO, strayed from its original middle-of-the-road music format, joining ABC News Radio, and slowly adding more and more talk radio programs. By the 1990s, it had become NewsTalk 580 WDBO, which for years has been Greater Orlando's highest-rated AM news/talk station. In August 2011, Cox Communications took down its rock station, WHTQ, and gave it the callsign WDBO-FM, and became a simulcast of WDBO. WDBO was initially simulcast on that station's HD2 channel beginning in late February 2008. The news/talk station eventually re-branded with the FM frequency, NewsTalk 96-5 WDBO.
On November 12, 2012, WDBO ceased airing what had become the WDBO-FM feed, and re-launched as a sports talk radio station affiliated with ESPN Radio. That network had been dropped previously by WHOO, which chose to affiliate with NBC Sports Radio. It carries the full ESPN Radio schedule, save for a local program weekday afternoons hosted by Scott Anez.
WDBO has remained the radio home of the Orlando Magic even with the format change.