Fiktiv USA - WINZ 940

WINZ (940 AM) is an all-news formatted radio station that serves Miami-Fort Lauderdale and their suburbs. Its daytime signal reaches as far north as Ft. Pierce, as far west as Ft. Myers and Naples, and as far south as Cuba. The station has managed to score ratings in the Ft. Myers-Naples radio market despite its transmitter being over 100 miles away.

WINZ's studios are located in the iHeart Radio complex in Miramar and the transmitter site is in Miami Gardens.

The station was originally a 3 tower directional day with 46,000 watts to protect the FCC monitoring station just to the north. In 1985 Guy Gannett planned to construct a new tall tower, known as Gannett Tower between Miami and Fort Lauderdale for its FM station. 9 other FM stations joined the project which set the standards for FM combining. Gannett was advised the FCC monitoring stations located in Fort Lauderdale would have too much interference and turned down the request. Gannett management was successful in having the FCC monitoring stations moved to Vero Beach, which opened up the entire market, resulting in the 10 FM stations, 2 new TV stations (WBFS and WHSN) and one existing TV station (WSCV) to go on-air from the new tower. Later that year WINZ applied for and received the ability to broadcast during day with 50,000 watts non-directional. During nighttime hours (sunset to sunrise) the WINZ directional skywave pattern must not interfere with stations in Canada and Mexico. Those countries have Class A Clear Channel rights to the 940 kHz frequency. Those stations are XEQ-AM in Mexico City, and CINW in Montreal.

On February 17, 1981 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted WINZ special temporary authority to transmit with 25,000 watts at night instead of the 10,000 watts for which it is licensed. A station in Cuba causes interference and consequently a loss of service in some areas of WINZ's listening area. This authority has been renewed regularly since then.

From the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, WINZ went head-to-head with top 40 WQAM at night, featuring Bob Green, from 7pm to 11pm. When Green left the station, he was replaced by "Cousin Brucie" Bruce Morrow. Morrow left the station to begin a legendary career at WABC (AM), in New York City. He is now with SiriusXM.

On June 18, 1975, WINZ switched to an all-news format, carrying NBC Radio's 24-hour News and Information Service. Even though NBC cancelled this service two years later, WINZ continues as an all-news station using local anchors and reporters.

WINZ is currently owned by iHeartMedia, the largest U.S. radio owner. iHeartMedia (as Clear Channel Communications) purchased the station from West Palm Beach-based media entrepreneur Bud Paxson.

WINZ is an affiliate of the ABC News Radio Network, as well as CNN Radio, and AP Radio for national and international news as well as some features. The station also has a news and weather sharing agreement with ABC affiliate WPLG (channel 10).

The station's basic schedule includes ABC News updates on the hour and half hour, regular traffic and weather reports every 10 minutes on the "sevens", business news at :15 and :45 past each hour, and sports at :25 and :55 past. This format wheel can be interrupted for breaking local or national news events that necessitate longer-form coverage.