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| City of license | Charleston, South Carolina |
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| Broadcast area | Charleston |
| Branding | News-Talk 1250 AM WTMA |
| Slogan | The Lowcountry's Big Talker |
| Frequency | 1250 kHz |
| First air date | June 1939 |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | 5,000 watts daytime 1,000 watts nighttime |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | Where Talk Means Action. |
| Affiliations | ABC News |
| Owner | Cumulus Media |
| Sister stations | WSSX, WIWF, WWWZ |
| Website | WTMA.com |
WTMA (branded as 1250 WTMA: The Big Talker) is an AM radio station serving the Charleston market area with a News/Talk format. This station operates on AM frequency 1250 kHz and is under ownership of Cumulus Media.
History [edit]
WTMA began its broadcasting activities on June 16, 1939 as an NBC affiliate and is the Charleston, SC area's second oldest AM radio station, and of those two, the only one to maintain its current call letters. From the early '60s through 1981 it broadcast a Top 40 format but like many other AM Top 40 stations switched to an adult contemporary format until 1986 when FM became more popular. It tried a couple different formats including an R&B-flavored oldies format and country music until on June 1, 1989 it switched to a news/talk radio format. WTMA has since then maintained its news/talk format, as a Citadel Broadcasting Owned and Operated station, from ABC News and its own local team. It provides news for Columbia radio station WISW and receives weather from WCIV.
In May 1999, WTMA lost Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura to newcomer WSCC. Still, the station jumped from 13th to 7th in the morning and from 16th to 12th with 25-54 listeners. Program director Jason Wilmot said WTMA was still the number one station for news.[1]
In 2002, it became the home of University of South Carolina Gamecock sports, and in November 2007, became the exclusive home of Gamecock sports in the Charleston area, as cluster-mate WNKT (which carried only the USC football games) was moved out to Eastover (in the Columbia market). WTMA broadcasts with 5,000 non-directional watts of power during the day, 1,000 directional watts of power at night.
Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[2]
Programming on the station includes Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Geraldo Rivera and Mike Huckabee. Neal Boortz aired on the station prior to August 2012.
In 2012, Tara Servatius moved from WRNN-FM in Myrtle Beach to host Tara on TMA, a morning show.[3]
References [edit]
- ^ Lipman, Lisa (1999-11-11). "Stern becomes No. 1 morning radio show". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
- ^ "Cumulus now owns Citadel Broadcasting". Atlanta Business Journal. September 16, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
- ^ Washburn, Mark (2012-10-06). "Struggles remain in the air for WTVI". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
External links [edit]
- News-Talk 1250 AM WTMA official website
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WTMA
- Radio-Locator Information on WTMA
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for WTMA
- WTMA History Site
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Coordinates: 32°49′21″N 79°58′49″W / 32.82250°N 79.98028°W
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