Fiktiv USA - WADO 1280

WADO (1280 AM) is a radio station licensed to New York City and is owned and operated by Uforia Audio Network. It broadcasts a Spanish-language news/talk radio format. Its transmitters are located in Carlstadt, New Jersey.

This station was launched as WGL on January 30, 1927, and was owned by the International Broadcasting Corporation. WGL president Colonel Lewis Landes stated on the inaugural broadcast, "The International Broadcasting Corporation's aim is to adhere to truth, to be free of partisanship, religious or political."

WGL was the first station to protest the frequency allocations of the Federal Radio Commission in May 1927. WGL was authorized to move to 1170 AM, but wanted to go to 720, occupied by WOR. When WOR was awarded the 710 frequency, both stations went to court, with WOR eventually winning the case. Finally in June 1927, WGL moved to 1020 AM and shared time with Paterson station, WODA.

In August 1927, studio manager Charles Isaacson announced one of the city's first attempts at local news coverage. WGL was organizing listeners to volunteer as radio reporters and call the station with breaking news stories.

On September 16, 1928, WGL changed calls to WOV and was sold to Sicilian-born importer John Iraci. The WGL call sign was then picked up by a Fort Wayne station, which uses them to this very day.

WOV's initial programming was aimed at a general audience, but by the mid-1930s, it strengthened its ethnic ties and expanded its Italian-language programming to fill the daytime hours. WOV soon became the dominant Italian voice in the Northeast through its affiliation with share-time station WBIL and Iraci's WPEN in Philadelphia.

The station was owned by WOV Broadcasting until 1959, when it was sold to Bartell Broadcasters, at which time the station call letters were changed to WADO. During the day, WADO broadcast Top 40 and R&B music. At night, they ran Italian programming. By 1962, some Spanish programming was run on weekends. By 1963, the only English programming found on WADO was in Sunday religious broadcasts.

In terms of music, the station played a blend of Spanish MOR and Spanish Oldies. They evolved to a Spanish Adult contemporary and Oldies format by the mid-1970s. They dropped Italian programming in 1971.

The station was sold to Command Broadcasting in 1979. In 1986, Heftel bought the station, and over the next three years, moved to a Spanish language adult contemporary and talk format. By the early 1990s, WADO became a Spanish news and talk station.

In 2002, Hispanic Broadcasting was sold to Univision, making WADO and WCAA Univision-owned and operated stations.

Of the four full-time Spanish stations that battled for listeners during the 1980s (WKDM 1380, WSKQ 620, and WJIT 1480 being the other three), only WADO remains. WSKQ's programming has since been moved to an FM frequency while WJIT (now WZRC) and WKDM have since changed formats.

WADO currently broadcasts all games of the New York Jets, and certain games for the New York Yankees, New York Knicks and New York Islanders.

For more than 55 years WADO has enjoyed the preference of listeners, contributing to the growth and development of our people in the Capital of the World. Today, we are pleased to offer you the radio that speaks to you and listens to you all the time. With a varied and rich selection of programs aimed at all ages, and where information, entertainment, sports and topics of human and community interest are present 24 hours a day, entirely in Spanish!

WADO has a strong community presence with involvement in all aspects of a proud Hispanic culture, ranging from heritage festivals and parades, to local political and civic organizations committed to building a better community. New York's Hispanics rely on us for guidance, news, and information on surviving in today's society!

The information needs of our audience are very complex, some want to know what is happening in their neighborhood, others in their countries, many want to have more information about the local, national, and international news as well as latest weather forecasts and current traffic conditions. Our dynamic newscasts every 30 minutes have all that and much more. WADO has reporters and correspondents around the world and an active 24-hour team working for you. We are also the only affiliate of CNN en Español Radio in New York, the largest news network in the world. Wherever the news comes out, in one way or another there is WADO.