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WNDO

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Coordinates: 28°39′08″N 81°29′40″W / 28.65222°N 81.49444°W / 28.65222; -81.49444
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28°39′08″N 81°29′40″W / 28.65222°N 81.49444°W / 28.65222; -81.49444

WNDO
Broadcast areaOrlando metropolitan area
Frequency1520 kHz
BrandingRadio Nouvelle Lumiere
Programming
Language(s)Haitian Creole
FormatTalk
Ownership
Owner
  • Sam Rogatinsky
  • (Orlando Radio Marketing, Inc.)
History
First air date
1964
Former call signs
WTLN (1964[1]–1998)
WHIM (1998–2010)
WBZW (2010–2020)
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID20350
ClassB
Power5,000 watts day
350 watts night
Translator(s)W264DU 100.7 (Apopka, CP)
Links
Public license information
Websiteorlando.sakpase.fm

WNDO (1520 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Apopka, Florida, United States. Owned by Sam Rogatinsky, through licensee Orlando Radio Marketing, Inc., the station operates on 1520 kHz with a daytime power of 5 kW & a nighttime power of 350 watts. Its transmitter is located in Apopka. The station currently programs a Haitian Creole-language format known as Radio Nouvelle Lumiere.

History

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Religious WTLN

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1520 kHz in Apopka was established as one of the first religious radio stations in central Florida in 1964. Tom Moffit, Sr., a Philadelphia announcer and consultant to preachers, saw an opportunity in a new 1,000-watt station on 1480 kHz, WXIV, owned by an Atlanta preacher, but after delays scuttled the purchase, he instead built WTLN. The call letters represented the four members of Moffit's family: wife, Tom, Linda and Nancy. It originally aired a middle-of-the-road music format with religious programs interspersed.[3]

Four years later, WTLN expanded with the launch of WTLN-FM 95.3 in 1968. The FM station offered the then-daytimer the opportunity to broadcast after sunset.[3] WTLN/WTLN-FM continued to operate on a simulcast basis until 1991. At that time, the AM frequency began airing a separate Southern Gospel format as "1520 The Word"; the FM continued with its soft contemporary Christian music, and the two stations continued to jointly broadcast selected programs.[4] One of those programs was Central Florida Forum, hosted by Dr. George Crossley; the program moved exclusively to WTLN in 1995.[5] Crossley was arrested in 1996 and convicted the next year after hiring a hitman—in actuality, an undercover federal agent—to kill his former lover's estranged husband;[6] said victim then started a campaign to encourage an advertiser boycott of WTLN.[7] After spending 40 months in prison, Crossley returned to radio at WEUS (810 AM); in 2010 he collapsed while at that station, dying shortly after.[8]

WTLN was approved in 1995 to begin nighttime service at its present 350 watts.[9]

New call letters, new owner

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In early 1998, Moffit struck a deal to sell WTLN-FM, which had retained the same owner since 1968, to Cox Radio for $14.3 million and Cox's AM station WZKD (950 AM).[10] The call letters of 1520 AM changed to WHIM on July 1, 1998, airing a traditional Christian music format it called "Christian heritage radio";[11] additionally, the WTLN religious programming moved exclusively to the 950 frequency on January 1, 1999.[12]

Alton Rainbow sold WHIM and WTLN after more than 40 years to Salem Communications in a $10 million acquisition in 2005. That same year, Salem acquired WORL (660 AM), giving the company three AM stations in Orlando.[13]

In 2010, WHIM changed its call letters to WBZW. Known as "1520 The Biz" and later simply as "1520 WBZW, Your Hometown Station", the station aired a business news format as well as talk programs of interest to the Apopka area. In 2016, talk show host Jim Turner, who helmed an afternoon show known as "My Community", was suspended after he called victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting "sexual deviants".[14]

Radio Nouvelle Lumiere

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In November 2019, Salem Media Group sold WBZW and the construction permit for its unbuilt translator for $185,000 to Orlando Radio Marketing, owned by Sam Rogatinsky.[15] It was the second sale by Salem that year of one of its Orlando stations, having reached a deal to divest the 660 frequency in July.[16] On March 1, 2020, WBZW dropped its business talk format and flipped to Haitian Creole, becoming the network's third station after WPBR in the West Palm Beach area and WTPA in the Tampa area, also owned by Rogatinsky.[17] The sale to Rogatinsky was consummated on April 6, 2020, at which point the station changed its call sign to WNDO.

References

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  1. ^ FCC History Cards for WNDO
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WNDO". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ a b Gholdston, John (March 24, 1984). "Father and son show durability with WTLN radio". Orlando Sentinel. p. B-7. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  4. ^ Hinman, Catherine (October 26, 1991). "Amicable divorce for WTLN-FM, WTLN-AM". Orlando Sentinel. p. E-2. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  5. ^ Hinman, Catherine (July 21, 1995). "Mark Samansky returns to air at WHTQ". Orlando Sentinel. p. Calendar 38. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  6. ^ "Street Talk" (PDF). Radio & Records. December 19, 1997. p. 30. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  7. ^ Stutzman, Rene. "Crossley trial fails to get far". Orlando Sentinel. pp. A-1, A-4. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  8. ^ Prieto, Bianca; Colarossi, Anthony (September 9, 2010). "George Crossley dead: Controversial Central Florida figure collapsed at radio station, later died". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  9. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. March 20, 1995. p. 72. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  10. ^ "Transactions" (PDF). Radio & Records. March 6, 1998. p. 6. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  11. ^ Abbott, Jim (October 16, 1998). "Gordon Bros. troll for Stern". Orlando Sentinel. p. Calendar 16. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  12. ^ Abbott, Jim (January 1, 1999). "Paco Lopez jams in movies too". Orlando Sentinel. p. Calendar 14. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  13. ^ Salem Communications (October 21, 2005). "Salem Communications to Acquire WLTN-AM & WHIM-AM in Orlando, Florida; Announcement Creates Three-Station Cluster in Growth Market". Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  14. ^ "Orlando Host Suspended for Shooting Comments". Inside Radio. June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  15. ^ Venta, Lance (November 6, 2019). "Salem Sells Another Orlando AM". RadioInsight. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  16. ^ "In Latest Sale, Salem Spins Orlando AM To JVC Media". Inside Radio. July 17, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  17. ^ Jacobson, Adam (April 13, 2020). "Salem Closes On A Central Fla. Spin". RBR. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
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