City South Bend, Indiana Branding U93 Frequency 1620 kHz | Broadcast area South Bend, Indiana Slogan Today's Best Music Repeater(s) 92.9 WNDV | |
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WDND (1620 kHz) is an AM radio station serving South Bend, Indiana. The station is owned by Artistic Media Partners, Inc. The station simulcasts the Hot AC format of sister station 92.9 WNDV. WDND's transmitter is near Lincoln Highway (Route 31) and the studios and offices are on South Michigan Street, in South Bend.
History
Artistic Media Partners' station at 1620 AM first signed on the air as WJVA on March 6, 1998. It simulcast Westwood One's Adult Standards nostalgia-based music format with WHLY 1580 AM (Radio Hollywood) before taking over the WHLY call letters and the music format in February 1999, while the WJVA call letters went to the station at 1580 AM.
In late October 2001, the WHLY call letters and music went back to the station at 1580 when Artistic gave South Bend its first full-time sports talk station. The 1620 operation became known as WDND and was ESPN Radio's first affiliate in the South Bend area. In March 2004, the sports format and call letters moved to 1490 while the WHLY calls and nostalgic music returned to 1620.
That format continued until March 2006 when the call letters were changed to WWLV and the station branded itself as "Love Songs 1620." Less than two years later, in May 2008, the station became known as WPNT ("The Point") and began to broadcast an all-news format from CNN Headline News.
In late April 2009, Artistic's station at 1490 AM (where the WDND calls and ESPN Radio programming had moved in May 2006) left the air as its transmitting tower on the campus of Notre Dame University was dismantled to make room for a new hockey arena. Artistic moved sports programming from 1490 to its station at 1620.
On May 13, 2009, the call letters WDND were assigned to 1620 AM and WPNT was assigned to 1490. The station at 1490 is expected to return to the air when Artistic finds a new tower location.
On September 23, 2011 WDND changed its format from ESPN sports to a simulcast of then-Top 40-formatted "U93" WNDV 92.9 FM. U93 has since evolved to a Hot AC sound.
WDND is not licensed to broadcast a digital HD signal.