WDBO (AM)


WDBO is a commercial radio station broadcasting a news/talk radio format. Licensed to Orlando, Florida, the station is owned by Cox Media Group. The studios and offices are located on North John Young Parkway in Orlando.
WDBO is powered at 5,000 watts. At night, it uses a directional antenna to protect other stations on AM 580. The transmitter tower is off West Kennedy Boulevard in Maitland. Programming is also heard on FM translator W297BB at 107.3 MHz.

History

Early Years

WDBO is Orlando's oldest radio station, signing on the air on May 24, 1924. In its early years, it used a number of frequencies. But by 1933, it settled on 580 kilocycles. In 1935, it got a boost in power from 250 watts to 1,000 watts. It was owned by the Orlando Broadcasting Company and was a network affiliate of CBS Radio. WDBO carried the CBS line up of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio."
In 1949, WDBO-FM was added. And in 1954, it signed on Channel 6 WDBO-TV, the first television station in Central Florida. In 1982, the firm that owned WDBO-AM-FM-TV, The Outlet Company, sold the radio stations to Katz Broadcasting. The TV station eventually became WKMG-TV. When the stations were sold, 92.3 WDBO-FM was re-formatted as a country music station, K92FM, with the call sign WWKA.

Middle of the Road to Talk

As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WDBO switched to a full service middle of the road format of popular adult music, news and sports. By the 1980s, 58 WDBO began to scale back on MOR music. It joined the ABC News Radio Network, and slowly added more talk radio programs.
By the 1990s, it had become NewsTalk 580 WDBO, which for years has been Greater Orlando's highest-rated AM news/talk station. In 1997, WDBO and WWKA were acquired by Cox Radio. In August 2011, Cox ended the classic rock format on 96.5 WHTQ, and gave it the call sign WDBO-FM, becoming a simulcast of 580 WDBO. The news/talk station eventually re-branded, using the FM frequency, NewsTalk 96-5 WDBO.

Switch to Sports

On November 12, 2012, the simulcast ended. 580 WDBO re-launched as a sports radio station affiliated with ESPN Radio, while 96.5 WDBO-FM continued the news/talk programming on its own. The ESPN Radio Network had been dropped previously by WHOO, which switched its affiliation to NBC Sports Radio. 580 WDBO carried the full ESPN Radio schedule, except for a local program weekday afternoons hosted by Scott Anez.
WDBO 580 remained the flagship radio station of the Orlando Magic basketball team until 740 WYGM became the home of the Orlando Magic at the start of the 2018–2019 season.

Return to Talk

On June 24, 2020, Cox Radio announced that 580 WDBO would drop its sports programming to return to news/talk. Meanwhile WDBO-FM flipped to a Spanish-language Latin Hits format.
To give listeners in Orlando and its adjacent communities the option to hear WDBO programming on FM, Cox added an FM translator. On June 29, 107.3 W297BB began simulcasting 580 WDBO. The translator is powered at 250 watts. The station now uses both frequencies in its logo, "WDBO 107.3 FM and 580 AM."

Programming

Weekdays begin with Orlando's Morning News with Joe Kelley. There are also hour-long local newsblocks at noon and 6 p.m. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of nationally syndicated talk shows from Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade, Dana Loesch, Clark Howard, Chad Benson and Markley, Van Camp & Robbins.
Weekends include shows on money, health, law, real estate, home improvement, gardening and cars. A technology show with Kim Komando is heard Sunday evenings. Some weekend hours are paid brokered programming. Most hours begin with world and national news from ABC News Radio.