) | |
| City | Richmond, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Metro Richmond |
| Frequency | 1380 AM kHz |
| Branding | Poder 1380 Power 1380 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Spanish Religious[1] |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Mount Rich Media, LLC |
| History | |
First air date | September 1926[2] |
Former call signs | WMBG (1927-1966) WTVR (1966-2000) WVBB (2000-2001) WBTK (2001-Present)[3] |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 57831 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 Watts day and night |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°37′16.0″N 77°26′56.0″W / 37.621111°N 77.448889°W |
| Links | |
| Webcast | WBTK Webstream |
| Website | WBTK Online |
WBTK is a Spanish Religious formatted broadcast radio station licensed to and serving Richmond, Virginia.[1] WBTK is owned and operated by Mount Rich Media, LLC.[4]
History
The station was founded in 1927 as WMBG (Magnetos, Batteries, and Generators"), a 10-watt station on AM 1380, by auto parts dealer Wilbur Havens. It was based on the second floor of Havens' shop on West Broad and Laurel streets in downtown Richmond. Havens spent $500 to build the station. By 1939, it had moved to a new studio a few blocks down West Broad. In 1947, he added an FM station on 98.1, WCOD (now WTVR-FM),[5] followed a year later by the South's first television station, WTVR-TV (channel 6).[6] Channel 6 is still located on West Broad, years after its former radio sisters moved out.
Havens sold WTVR, WMBG, and WCOD to Roy H. Park Communications in 1966. Park changed the radio stations' callsigns to WTVR (AM) and WTVR-FM, respectively. When Park died in 1993, the company's assets were sold to a Lexington, Kentucky group of investors that sold the radio properties separately to various owners, with WTVR-AM-FM going to Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia) in 1995. The AM station changed its calls to WVBB in 2000. Clear Channel sold the AM station to Salem Communications in 2001 and changed the format to Christian talk under its current calls, WBTK. It has since been sold to locally-based Mount Rich Media and airs Spanish Christian talk.
References
- ^ a b "Arbitron Station Information Profiles". Nielsen Audio/Nielsen Holdings. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
- ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 2010 (PDF). ProQuest, LLC/Reed Publishing (Nederland), B.V. 2010. p. D-569. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
- ^ "Call Sign History". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
- ^ "WBTK Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
- ^ History of NBC 12. WWBT.
- ^ "WTVR (TV) to Start April 22, Channel 6" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 19, 1948. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
External links
- Poder 1380 Online
- WBTK in the FCC's AM station database
- WBTK on Radio-Locator
- WBTK in Nielsen Audio's AM station database