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WFIL <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr><tr><th>Broadcast area</th><td>Philadelphia, PA</td></tr><tr><th>Branding</th><td>"Philadelphia's Christian Radio"</td></tr><tr><th>First air date</th><td>1922</td></tr><tr><th>Frequency</th><td>560 (kHz)</td></tr>

Format	Religious <tr><th>ERP</th><td>5,000 watts</td></tr><tr><th>Callsign meaning</th><td>Combination of previous callsigns when those two stations merged (WFI and WLIT)</td></tr>
Owner	Pennsylvania Media Associates (Salem Communications) <tr><th>Website</th><td>www.wfil.com</td></tr>

WFIL is the name of a radio station, and also the former name of a television station, serving the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its transmitter is located in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania.

Located at 560 on the AM dial, WFIL is immediately adjacent to New York City's WMCA (at 570), and interestingly, the two stations have extremely similar histories: both were Top 40 stations in the 1960s, both underwent a format evolution as AM radio faded as a music medium, and both are Christian/religious-formatted today. Both stations also maintained Call For Action telephone help lines, being among the first radio stations in the United States to do so. The telephone number of WFIL's Call For Action line was GReenwood 7-5312.

[edit] History

The station first went on the air as two separate entities in 1922. One used the call letters of WFI, the other was WDAR. Each were owned by departments stores with strong ties to the Philadelphia area; WFI was operated by Strawbridge & Clothier, while WDAR was run by Lit Brothers. While operated independently of each other, the two were able to work out amicable share-time agreements (hundreds of other American stations at the time were unable to do so, and frequently engaged in "jamming wars"). Around 1924, WDAR applied for and received the custom callsign WLIT. By the late 1920s, the two stations were working jointly on various programs, promotions, and sponsorship efforts. In 1935, the two operators agreed to merge with each department store having representation on the new board of directors. The new callsign became WFIL, a combination of the two previous identifiers. Contrary to popular belief, the new call letters had nothing to do with the phonetic spelling of "Philadelphia". The new WFIL became a part-time affiliate of NBC, though the station never became established as either a "basic Red" or "basic Blue" outlet. Westinghouse's KYW was the primary for Philadelphia during much of this time.

WFIL was purchased in 1947 by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, Inc. which also owned The Philadelphia Inquirer, and joined the newly-named ABC Radio NetworkIt was related to WFIL-TV Now WPVI.

WFIL's sister stations under Triangle Publications ownership were WFIL-FM and WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, WNHC AM-FM-TV in New Haven, KFRE AM-FM-TV in Fresno, California, WFBG AM-FM-TV in Altoona, Pennsylvania, WNBF AM-FM-TV in Binghamton, New York, and WLYH-TV in Lancaster/Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Triangle Publications sold WFIL AM-FM-TV to Capital Cities Broadcasting (Capital Cities Communications) in 1971 with the radio stations spun-off to new owners, WFIL to LIN Broadcasting and WFIL-FM to Richer Communications which changed the call letters to WIOQ. WFIL-TV took on the new call letters of WPVI-TV.

Studios for the early WFIL radio stations were in the Widener Building in downtown Philadelphia. Under Triangle Publications' ownership the stations were moved to a new broadcast facility at 46th and Market Street in West Philadelphia adjacent to the Arena, the first broadcast facility in the nation specifically designed for television broadcasting. It was in this new broadcast center that Triangle began broadcasting Bandstand (later called American Bandstand), first with Bob Horn, then with Dick Clark as host. In February 1964, Triangle moved the WFIL stations to a new state-of-the-art broadcast center at the corner of City Line and Monument Avenues in Philadelphia, where WPVI continues to broadcast.

Starting on September 18, 1966, WFIL began playing "Top 40" rock and roll — a genre it stuck as the most famous non-RKO "Boss Radio" format until evolving into an "adult contemporary" format in 1977. The original line up of air personalities, or "Boss Jocks" were scheduled as follows:

6am -10am : Chuck Browning 10am - 2pm : Jay Cook 2pm - 6pm : Jim Nettleton 6pm - 10pm : George Michael 10pm - 2am : Dave Parks 2am - 6am: Frank Knigston Smith

In September of 1981 country music was tried, but this too proved unsuccessful.  The station switched to an "oldies" format in August of 1983 playing the hits of 1955 through 1973. The format did well until November of 1987, when WCAU-FM and WIOQ both took on oldies formats. 

WEAZ inc. bought WFIL in 1987, and dismantled the station's on-air lineup. Replacing all programming was Tran-Star's "Oldies Channel" satellite format. This continued with minimal success and listenership until 1989, when WFIL quietly began simulcasting sister station Easy 101.1 WEAZ (which had a soft adult contemporary format by then). Soon thereafter, the FM became WEAZ-FM so that WFIL could become WEAZ. In September 1991, the AM launched a mostly automated beautiful music format known as "Wish", a play on the old WWSH station which had a similar format in Philadelphia back in the 1970s. Then on May 26, 1993, WEAZ became WBEB while WEAZ-FM became WBEB-FM.

The AM station was sold for $4 million in October of 1993 to Salem Communications (which had almost bought the station three years earlier for $6.5 million but backed out of the deal at the last minute) and on November 1, 1993, the station was renamed WPHY, with a religious format focusing on Christian talk and teaching. WBEB-FM then became WBEB and to this day, continues on with its adult contemporary format.

The Christian teaching and talk format is still in use today; the call letters reverted to WFIL on September 6, 1994.

In its rock-and-roll heyday, the station was known colloquially as "Famous 56" and employed the slogan "Rockin' In The Cradle of Liberty." Its 5000-watt transmitter enabled its signal to be heard as far away at times as Staten Island, the southernmost borough of New York City. During its top 40 years, WFIL also consistently showed strongly in the ratings books in nearby Wilmington, Delaware, where it has an excellent signal. In addition, WFIL was a popular listening choice in Reading and Allentown, both in Pennsylvania.

Today, WFIL is locally co-owned with Salem's WNTP (990 AM). Interestingly, WNTP is the former WIBG. WIBG was WFIL's main rock 'n roll rival in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Both stations are housed and transmitted from the former WIBG complex on Ridge Pike in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania.

[edit] External links

• WFIL 560 AM's Website
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WFIL
• A history of WFIL
• Famous 56 WFIL tribute site