WLOF-AM
950
Orlando
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Original Call Letters: WLOF |
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Originally Licensed: Oct 26, 1940 |
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Original City of License: Orlando |
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Original Frequency: 1230 |
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Origin of Call Letters: Slogan; We Love Orlando Florida |
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Original Power: 5,000 Watts |
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Original Location: Angebilt Hotel |
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Original Format: Block Programming |
Network Affiliation(s): |
NBC Blue Network |
| Mutual Broadcasting System | |
| United Press International | |
| Associated Press |
| Owner(s): |
1940-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| 1949-Hazelwood, Inc. | |
| 1952-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. | |
| 1964-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. ($525,000) | |
| 1972-Home Security Broadcasting Company ($2.5 Million) | |
| 1977-Rounsaville of Cincinnati, Inc. | |
| 1982-Nationwide Communications (Purchase price for WLOF and WBJW-FM 105.1 $6.5 million) | |
| 1983-New City Communications | |
| 1991-ABC, Inc. ($5 Million) | |
| 1997-Cox Broadcasting | |
| 1998-Thomas Harvey Moffit, Sr. | |
| 1998-TM2, Inc | |
| 2006-Salem Communications |
History Of Call Letters and Formats: |
WLOF-1940-Block Programming On 1230 kHz |
| WLOF-1947-Moved to 950 kHz-5,000 Watts | |
| WLOF-1972-Top 40 | |
| WCOT-1982-Adult Standards 1 | |
| WBJW-1984-Simulcast of WBJW FM 105.1 (WBJW would change to WOMX) | |
| WOMX-1989-Simulcast of WOMX FM 105.1 | |
| WZKD-1994-Children "Radio AAHS" 3 | |
| WTLN-1998-Religion Station sold (simulcast of WTLN-FM) Moved from 1520 AM | |
History of WLOF ![]() Orlando's second radio station, WDBO-AM 580 being the first, WLOF-AM, began broadcasting at 6:30AM Oct. 26, 1940 with 250 watts of power and radius of 50 miles on 1230 kHz . The studios and offices were located on the mezzanine floor of the Angebilt Hotel. The station was an affiliate of the National Broadcasting Co. (NBC). The station was moved to 950 kHz in 1947 and power was increased to 5,000 Watts. |
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Here is an early 1969 photo of WLOF, new turntables, additional cart machines as top five or so songs were now on tape, remote start switches all rewired, and some other changes to the studio. Courtesy of Dennis Snyder |
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WLOF Personalities
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Bob
Keith-1952-Farm News
Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting/1957-3-6PM/1963-Commercial
Manager-Mid Florida
Radio |
| R. B. Smith-1952-Sports Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| John Hugh-1952-Program Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| Louise Grant-1952-Office
Manager/Talk
Show Host, Bookkeeper/Secretary-Hazelwood Broadcasting (died May 13, 2000 at the age of 99) |
| Bob Kilgore-1952-Farm News Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
Ernie
Legge-1953-Program Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting/1954-Program
Director-Mid-Florida Radio /1957-"WLOF Hot Parade"-Noon-3PM /1958-News Director/Program Director/Operations Manager-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. In Memory |
| Tom Doyle-1954-Sports Director-Mid-Florida Radio Corp./1958-Promotions Director-Mid Florida Radio Corp. |
![]() Bocky Smith-1954-Sports Director-Mid-Florida Radio Corp./1957-"Sunshine Special"-6AM-Noon |
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![]() Ben Aycrigg-1955-News Director-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
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![]() Bob Brown-1957-"Top 40 Show"-6-10:30PM |
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| Howard McKenney-1959-News Director-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. | |||||||
| Robert Bartl-1959-News Director/1960-Program Director-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. | |||||||
Peter
Jay(#1)-(Pete Forgione)
Biography
Dick Camnitz tells us. "There were around 13 DJs in Orlando that went by the name of Peter Jay. All but one were on WLOF Channel 95. It will be a surprise to most that the first, who's real name was Peter J., was on WHOO-AM 990. When he came over to WLOF he used the same name. I last saw him when I worked with him at WFTV Channel 9 (formerly WLOF-TV just as a historical note). He hosted dialing for dollars for several years. His full name....Peter J. Forgione" |
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![]() Top 40 Hits for the Week June 8,1957 courtesy of Dick Camnitz |
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| Blue Christy-1974-Music Director-Home Security Broadcasting Company | |||||||
| Joe Montione-1978-Program Director-Rounsaville of Cincinnati, Inc. | |||||||
| Reggie Blackwell-1978-Music Director-Rounsaville of Cincinnati, Inc. | |||||||
| Richard Hunt-1978-News Director-Rounsaville of Cincinnati, Inc. | |||||||
| Bob Whitney | |||||||
| Tom Sawyer | |||||||
| Bob Andrews Biography In Memory | |||||||
| Clyde Sanders-"Clyde on a Cloud"-10PM-Midnight, weeknights playing rhythm and blues. In her book on the history of Orlando's black community, Geraldine Thompson says Sanders was the "first African American in the city to work as a radio announcer." Sanders also wrote a weekly column called "As Clyde Sees It" in the section dubbed "the Negro Edition" that the Orlando Sentinel produced for a time in the 1950s and early 1960s. | |||||||
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Darrel Douglas-1976 |
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Dave Edwards-1981-1982 Biography |
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Steve Kane 1981-1982 Steve brought his show over to
WLOF
after being fired from WKIS-AM 740. On his
firing Kane said; "When you run a controversial show and say what you
think, you always upset some people and it's hard. Steve said he had few guests
because he had to act as his own producer" Steve is now on the air in south
Florida. |

Sean King cover 1972
Courtesy of Sean King "Fun
40" for the week of June 6, 1972
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Sean King tells about his
day as a "male model" |
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"The Janitor" (Warren Miller)-Warren would also work at WKBW, Buffalo, NY (1973) and KNOX, Grand Forks, ND |
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Brandy Alexander-"Dateless and Desperate"-Brandy, (not her real name) is now married, has two children, lives in the West Palm Beach area and has a PH.D. in psychology. Thanks to Dave Edwards for this info. |
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"Hostile Harve" (Bob Jenkins)-took over for Steve Kane who was fired in 1982 |
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Barbara Barri-Sean King tells us about Barbara "...she was the first female jock at WLOF, I think it was 1976. She was my one and only "discovery". I found her working as a waitress in a night club and, thought she had a good voice & introduced her into radio at WCKS-AM 860, Cocoa Beach. She went on to be a top country jock in Los Angeles for 15 years and is currently doing voice work in New York" For more on Barbara see www.barbarabarri.com |
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Bob Bacon-From Ray Slaton; "..."The Morning Mayor" ..., in real life Stan Barrett. I want to say 1963 or 64. He left WLOF and went to WMFJ-AM 1450 to do mornings there." And this from Dennis Snyder; "...one of the things he used to say was "Breakfast with Bacon" - he worked mornings right about that time, before Pat O'Day. |
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Al Dunaway |
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Arnold Kaufman-General Manager |
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Johnny Gilbert-From Ray Slaton on the name Johnny G; "...The first one called himself Johnny Gilbert around 1963-64... |
Tom Clark "The Body Beautiful" (Wayne Trout) Biography In Memory |
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Michael Jordan Ken Katt Mike Mazur Paul Knepper-Sales Sir Arthur Knight (Cal Hendricks)-1965-1968-Mid-days Ed Lazear Ron Louis |
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![]() John Lander |
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| Bill MacCormick | |
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Gary Mitchell-1982 |
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The "old" Gates board at WLOFCourtesy of Larry Flegle |
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Tom West |
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![]() courtesy of Dick Camnitz |
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Chris Kampmeier aka T.C. Dooley Banana Joe Montione-Program Director/Afternoons ![]() Niki Sarner-1966-Commercial Manager-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. |
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| James Sandridge-1968 | |||||||||
| Larry Blucher | |||||||||
| Columbus ''Lobby Charlie" Williams-doorman at the old Angebilt Hotel would occasionally go on the air, reading poems he had written. In 1922, Williams was working on a construction crew at the hotel when he fell off a sixth-floor beam. A sand pile cushioned his landing, but he lost an eye. The hotel offered him a job for life. Charlie took them at their word. After the Angebilt opened in 1923, Charlie signed on as doorman and remained there until 1972, when he began losing sight in his other eye. Charlie died at age 92 in 1991. | |||||||||
| Deborah (Shreve) Moore-1975-1978-Sales | |||||||||
| Steve Wein aka Steve Taylor-1975-1976-Overnights/Saturday Afternoons | |||||||||
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![]() courtesy of Ric Collins |
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| Greg "The Disaster" Masters | |||||||||
| Terry Lee-News | |||||||||
| Alan Dean "Superdude"/(Peter Jay #?) (A.D. Whitehurst)-1970-1974 | |||||||||
| Don Angelin | |||||||||
| Steve Craig (Steve Biddle) |
| Peter Jay (IV) (Jim Shirah) |
| Stan Barrett (Bob Bacon)-Program Director/Mornings. |
Other Names In WLOF History |
| George Hazelwood-1940-President-Hazelwood Broadcasting/1952-President-Mid Florida Radio Corp. |
| Victor Buisset-1940-General Manager-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| William Sears-1949-President-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| R. Donahue-1949-Program Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| Dodd Daniel-1949-Chief Engineer-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| Walter Shea-1950-Secretary/Treasurer-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| Donn R. Colee-1950-Commercial Manager/1952-Secretary/Treasurer-Hazelwood Broadcasting/1954-Vice President/ General Manager-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Ruth Donahue-1950-Program Director/1951-Women's Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| Ruth Bartelt-1950-Sales Manager/Promotions Manager-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| J. Allen Brown-1951-Executive Vice President/Commercial Manager/1952-General Manager--Mid Florida Radio Corp. |
| Pat Kerr-1951-Program Manager-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| John Thorwald-1951-Executive Vice President/General Manager-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| Freda Hilton-1951-Promotions Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| Joseph L. Brechner-1952-Presiden-Hazelwood Broadcasting In Memory |
| John Kluge--Hazelwood Broadcasting |
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Thomas Donohue-1952-Commercial
Manager-Hazelwood Broadcasting/1954--Commercial
Manager-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Charles Batchelder-1952-Sporting Events Director-Hazelwood Broadcasting |
| Joseph Brechner-1954-President-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| W. Dodd Daniel, Jr.-1954-Chief Engineer-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Lee Hall-1955-Program Manager-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Cathy Sorey-1955-Women's Director-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Howard Kester-1957-Executive Vice President/1958-Vice President/General Manager-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Gene Cook-1957-Commercial Manager-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Douglas Coombs-1957-Production Director-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| R. G. St. Clair-1957-Chief Engineer-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Ellen Wendt-1957-Women's Director-Mid-Florida Radio Corp. |
| Robert Bartl-1959-Program Director-Mid Florida Radio Corp. |
| Harris Thomson-1959-President-Mid Florida Radio Corp. |
| Dutch Holland-1963-Program Manager-Mid Florida Radio Corp. |
| Raymond Smith-1964-Vice President/Station Manager-Mid Florida Radio Corp. |
| Robert Clarke-1964-President-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. |
| John Rutledge-1964-Executive Vice President/General Manager/1971-President-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. Biography In Memory |
| Don Welch-1964-General Sales Manager/1967-Vice President/Sales Manager/1971-General Manager-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. |
| Jerry Thompson (Pat O'Day)-1964-Program Director/Promotions Director/1970-Operations Director/Program Director/1971-Production Manager-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. |
| Timothy Sawyer-1964-Chief Engineer-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp./1972-Chief Engineer-Home Security Broadcasting |
| D. Sidebottom Isaacs-1966-1969-Secretary to John Rutledge-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. |
| Jack Curran-1967-Vice President/General Sales Manager-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. |
| Marjorie Clark-1970-President-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. |
| Corey Meyer-1970-Chief Engineer-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp. |
| Carl Glicken-1972-President/General Manager-Home Security Broadcasting Company/1977-General Manager/Commercial Manager-Rounsaville of Cincinnati, Inc. In Memory |
| Jerry Frericks-1972-Commercil Manger-Home Security Broadcasting Company |
| Luke Beasley-1973-Chief Engineer-Home Security Broadcasting Company |
| Robert Rounsaville-1977-President-Rounsaville of Cincinnati, Inc. |
| Melody (Layburn) Lang-1977-1980-Billing-Rounsaville of Cincinnati, Inc. |
| Joseph Lang-1979-1981-Chief Engineer-Rounsaville of Cincinnati, Inc. |
| Warren F. Miller-Music Director |
| Jerry Ferricks-Sales Manager |
| George Crossley-Sales |
| M.F. Kershner-General Manager |
| Pamela Lawrence-Traffic Director |
| Tom Thacker (One of the many Peter Jays) |
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Terry Lee-1972-In an email from Steve Rutledge;"...Terry (Lee) really was the guy who got the dedicated news operation off the ground at WLOF and set the tone for the rest of us. He was a real digger and showman too." |
| David Waterman |
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Carl
"Buzz" Hallberg |
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Its Bernie's Turn (Weekends, Barnard of London mid 60s) |
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Casey Kasem-"American Top 40" syndicated |
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![]() Pat O'Day gets a haircut 12-10-65 courtesy of Dave Edwards 9-3-65 |
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