WFTD

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WFTD
City Marietta, Georgia
Broadcast area Atlanta metropolitan area
Branding Viet Song Media
Frequency 1080 kHz (analog)
First air date November 30, 1955
Format Vietnamese Music and Talk
Power 50,000 watts day
30,000 watts critical hours
Class D
Transmitter coordinates 34°01′24″N 84°40′03″W / 34.023303°N 84.667372°W / 34.023303; -84.667372
Callsign meaning Waiting For The Day
Former callsigns WBIE (1955-1974)
WCOB (1974–1985)
WEKS (1985–1987)
WECA (1987–1988)
Owner Prieto Broadcasting, Inc.
Website Website

WFTD AM is a local Atlanta area AM broadcasting station (licensed to Marietta, Georgia). The station's programming is in Spanish consisting of music and talk under the branding of "Radio La Ley 1080 AM". It broadcasts at a frequency of 1080 kHz with 50,000 watts of power during the daytime and 30,000 watts during critical hours using a directional antenna system. WFTD is classified as a class D AM broadcast station according to the Federal Communications Commission. WFTD must sign off during nighttime hours at avoid interference to the clear channel stations WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut and KRLD in Dallas, Texas on the same frequency.

History

The station was originally WBIE,a full-service daytimer facility owned by James M. Wilder, who later started a simulcast on WBIE-FM 101.5 MHz (now WKHX-FM, and still a country music station owned by Citadel Broadcasting). WBIE's original operating frequency was 1050 kHz, with 500 watts of non-directional daytime power. In 1965, WBIE moved to 1080 kHz with 10,000 watts directional daytime; shortly thereafter WBIE picked up the CBS Radio affiliation for the Metro Atlanta area, which it held onto well into the 1970s. Several noted newsmen worked at WBIE early in their careers, including Steve Walsh (later at KGO/ABC News), and Chris Little (KFI News Director). The station has had the call signs WCOB in 1978, WEKS in 1985, and WJYA in 1987. WFTD's current call sign has remained with the station since the late 1980s.

From the 1980s through the 1990s, WFTD was the official radio home of Roswell Street Baptist Church and broadcast the weekly sermon of longtime pastor Dr. Nelson L. Price as well as additional RSBC programming. Roswell Street renamed the station as WFTD, which stands for "Waiting For The Day" Jesus Christ returns.

WFTD in July 2007 dropped the regional Mexican-type radio format and switched formats to carry a Korean language radio format, branded as "Atlanta Radio Korea", as a result of a leased-time basis.

On June 9, 2008, WFTD was a victim of a molotov cocktail bomb when a former employee who had been fired two months earlier walked into the station's studios and left a bomb there. As a result of the bomb, a small fire was sparked, but was quickly extinguished and the man who threw the cocktail suffered severe burns.[1]

By mid-2009, the station was "Atlanta Radio Korea" was simulcasting with WPBS. The Korean language programming of "Atlanta Radio Korea" was then heard exclusively on WPBS and dropped from WFTD. WFTD then started carrying Spanish language music and talk programming under the "Radio La Ley 1080 AM" branding. Since 2015, this station has been broadcasting Vietnamese programming.

References

  1. ↑ "Gwinnett Firebombing Suspect Burned During Attack". WSB-TV. June 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
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