| WAXY | |
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| City of license | South Miami, Florida |
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| Broadcast area | Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Florida |
| Branding | Sports Talk 790, The Ticket |
| Frequency | 790 (kHz) |
| Format | Sports/Talk |
| Power | 25,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio Westwood One Florida Panthers Florida Marlins |
| Owner | Lincoln Financial Media |
| Website | 790theticket.com |
WAXY (790 AM, "The Ticket") is a radio station licensed in South Miami, Florida broadcasting on 790 kHz with a sports talk format. The station is owned by Lincoln Financial Media, which was previously known as Jefferson-Pilot Communications. The callsign was formerly used on FM at 105.9 until Jefferson-Pilot acquired the callsign due to their competing station WMXJ Majic 102.7 having the same format, Oldies. 105.9 FM is now WBGG-FM and owned by Clear Channel with a Classic Rock format.
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History
This station was once WFUN-AM, a legendary Top 40 station that competed with WQAM. Originally, the station was located at 800 on the AM dial, and was a daytime-only operation. While on 800, it was licensed to Miami Beach and was the first station in the area to hold the WMBM call letters, now on 1490 kHz. In the early 1960s, the station migrated down to 790, and went full-time as WFUN. The 790 dial position was a moderately directional signal, as there was already a 790 in Havana, Cuba, and another in central Florida (Leesburg-Eustis). Despite coverage limitations, especially to the southwest (in the Florida Keys, toward Havana), WFUN competed vigorously with WQAM throughout the '60s, and even won some of the ratings sweeps. During the early '70s, pop music showed up first on FM at WMYQ, and then on Y-100, and the field of top 40 stations (including WQAM and even WINZ for a brief time) became crowded; ultimately many listeners moved to FM for music, and consequently WFUN abandoned their top 40 format. WFUN was used by one of its disc jockeys to create the revolutionary and hybrid Boss Radio broadcasting sound of Swinging Radio England from the coast of southern England during 1966. For a short time in 1965 Morton 'Doc' Downey was a DJ on this Miami legend station.
WFUN was the home of several D.J.s who became famous on both sides of the Atlantic in 1966. They included Ron O'Quinn and Larry Dean. The format of WFUN in Miami was used in part by Ron O'Quinn as the foundation for the hybrid mix of sounds that were heard over the 50,000 watts offshore pirate radio station Swinging Radio England between May and November 1966.
The station subsequently became WNWS-AM with a news/talk format. Popular talk show host Tom Leykis was heard in the early 1980's. It changed back to music and became WMRZ-AM ("790 Memories") on November 28, 1990, running "AM Only", a Satellite-based Adult Standards format from the Unistar radio network (now America's Best Music from Dial Global). WMRZ switched to a schedule of brokered programming in late 1993, and became WAXY-AM on October 12, 1994 after the original WAXY on FM abandoned those call letters.
Current format
Since 2004, WAXY has been an all-sports station. At one point, the station was branded as "ESPN Radio 790", but it no longer carries ESPN Radio programs. It does carry the Sporting News Radio shows of Todd Wright and David Stein. It also previously carried Fox Sports Radio between the ESPN and SNR affiliations. WAXY is now affiliated with ESPN Radio again, since WQAM took the Sporting News Radio affiliation.
Other than that, the weekday lineup is mainly local, with such hosts as Jonathan Zaslow (middays), Jorge Sedano (middays), Miami Herald sportswriter Dan LeBatard (afternoons), and the Tony Bruno Show (late night). Zaslow, Israel Guttierrez (Miami Herald), Armando Salguero (Miami Herald), Craig Mish, Josh Friedman, and Alex Donno are permanent fixtures on the weekends.
On May 5, 2009 Dan LeBatard reported on his show on 790 the Ticket (WAXY-AM) that Krystal Fernandez will join Jorge Sedano as the new host of 790's morning show.
It also broadcast Super Bowl XLI from Westwood One. It was formerly the flagship station of the Miami Dolphins along with Majic 102.7 in 2005 and Big 105.9 in 2006.
The station is now the flagship station for the Florida Panthers and the Florida Marlins after both teams were not renewed by WQAM-AM at the request of the Miami Dolphins[1]. If the Marlins and Panthers are both playing simultaneously, the Marlins will air on 790 The Ticket and the Panthers will move to another station. WFTL 640 has served this role in the past[2]. WMCU 1080 currently is serving in this role for FIU Golden Panthers football and basketball conflicts with the Marlins and Panthers[3].
References
- ^ "WQAM to dump the Marlins". The Marlins Ballpark News. 2007-04-26. http://capefish.blogspot.com/2007/04/wqam-to-dump-marlins.html.
- ^ "Panthers' Final Three Games Air On 640AM". Florida Marlins. 2008-04-01. http://panthers.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=358809&page=NewsPage&service=page.
- ^ "New Radio Home for FIU Golden Panthers Football". Miami Herald. 2009-04-22. http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fiusports/2009/04/new-radio-home-for-fiu-football.html.
External links
- WAXY official website
- Sports Talk 790 The Ticket Web Site
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WAXY
- Radio Locator Information on WAXY
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for WAXY
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