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WTEM (980 AM broadcasting) is a commercial Sports radio radio station licensed to serve Washington, D.C. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station services the Washington metropolitan area as the flagship station of the Washington Wizards and the Washington Mystics. WTEM is also the co-flagship station of the Maryland Terrapins (shared with Audacy-owned WJZ-FM in Baltimore), and is the Washington affiliate of Fox Sports Radio.
WRC was a charter network affiliate of the National Broadcasting Company when it launched in November 1926. NBC split its programming into two networks two months later and WRC was assigned to the Red Network. NBC's other radio chain, the Blue Network, had no affiliate in the national capital until RCA entered into a lease agreement with WSBN in 1933. WRC and WMAL would become de facto during the lease term, which ran for eight years. WRC moved its frequency to 950 AM in 1928, and then shifted to 980 AM in 1941 as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA).
RCA/NBC later launched WNBW television (channel 4, now WRC-TV) and WRC-FM (93.9 MHz, now WKYS), with both stations sign-on in 1947. For its first couple of decades, WRC-FM mostly simulcast WRC. One popular WRC show featured Willard Scott and Ed Walker as the Joy Boys from 1955 to 1972. WRC also carried the Monitor radio program on weekends. From 1972 to 1975, WRC broadcast a Top 40 format and was known as the Great 98. A popular DJ on WRC was Doug Tracht, known as the "Greaseman," who would later host mornings for many years on WWDC-FM and in radio syndication.
The AM's former Top 40 format was moved to WRC-FM and later evolved into a disco music format in the late 1970s as WKYS "Kiss FM." When the disco format cooled, WKYS evolved to an Urban Contemporary format.
NBC sold WRC to Greater Media in 1984 as it began its exit from radio ownership. FCC rules at the time did not allow two separately-owned stations to share a call sign. Since NBC retained WRC-TV and the right to the call sign, the AM station became WWRC. The station remained the Washington affiliate of the NBC Radio Network well into the late 1980s. With the sale, the station changed to a full-service middle of the road format, of popular music, talk and information, on September 1, 1984. During the early 1990s, WWRC was the home to popular shows hosted by Joe Madison, Mark Davis and Joel A. Spivak. It was also one of the brief homes for the last radio show to be hosted by Morton Downey, Jr. (the other being WRC's former sister station WTAM in Cleveland). By the mid-1990s, WWRC was a full-time talk station.
Two weeks prior to swapping call signs and formats, in February 1998, WWRC dropped its talk radio format for a financial news and talk format, one that would last over to a second dial position move to WQOF kHz.
At the beginning, Paul Harris hosted the morning show between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser took over in late mornings, and CBS Sports announcer/WUSA sportcaster James Brown hosted early afternoons. Kevin Kiley and Rich "The Coach" Gilgallon hosted Kiley and the Coach during afternoon drive time, which emulated WFAN's highly successful Mike and the Mad Dog radio program. Jean Fugett and Ira Mellman anchored the night-time hours. WTEM also acquired the radio rights to broadcast the Washington Redskins NFL between 1992 and 1994.
However, the ratings of WTEM struggled in the beginning. Harris was quickly replaced by Bruce Murray and Bob Berger in late 1992. WTEM introduced the syndicated Imus in the Morning on July 19, 1993, to replace Murray and Berger in the 6–10 a.m. morning slot. For cost-cutting reasons, WTEM canceled Kiley and the Coach, and shows hosted by Phil Wood (8 p.m. to midnight) and Rob Weingarten (midnight to 6 a.m.) at the end of 1994.Leonard Shapiro (December 9, 1994), All-sports station's survival requires a team effort, The Washington Post. After Kiley and the Coach was canceled, WTEM tried several afternoon-drive shows before it settled on Kornheiser live between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and then replayed between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to boost the afternoon drive-time ratings until the show moved to ESPN Radio in January 1998. After his contract not renewed by WMAL, Ken Beatrice and his show, Sports Call, moved to WTEM in late 1995.
When The Tony Kornheiser Show launched in 1992, because Tony needed to focus on writing his "Style" column in the Washington Post weekly, he usually did not host the show on Thursdays. Usually Andy Pollin, the Sports Director at WTEM, would guest-host Tony's show on Thursdays. Between November 1995 and December 1996, Warner Wolf was named the guest host of The Tony Kornheiser Show on Thursdays until he moved to New York as a sports anchor on WCBS-TV.Warner Wolf and Larry Weisman (2000), Let's go to the videotape: all the plays and replays from my life in sports, Warner Books (). Tony started to host on Thursdays when he was on ESPN Radio.
When The Tony Kornheiser Show was on hiatus between November 14, 1997, and January 5, 1998, WTEM filled the 10 a.m.-1 p.m. slot with Kevin Kiley and the 4–7 p.m. slot with comedian Chuck Booms and Scott Linn. Booms joined WTEM as part of a stunt revolving the Comedy Central show Comics on Delivery, where viewers were asked write in and enlist the aid of comedians to help them get through experiences from daily life. Because of on-air wildness and inexperience, Booms was later paired with the experienced Kiley.
When The Tony Kornheiser Show on ESPN Radio debuted on January 5, 1998, the show aired between 1–4 p.m. WTEM filled the 10 a.m.–1 p.m. time slot with Rick Walker and Al Koken hosting The Doc and Al Show and the 4–7 p.m. time slot with Kiley and Booms.
Because of poor ratings, Kiley and Booms were canceled on November 13, 1998, which happened to be Friday.Frank Ahrens (December 17, 1998), Kiley, Booms fired up, The Washington Post. WTEM moved the highly rated The Tony Kornheiser Show to the 4–7 p.m. slot as a tape delay show to replace Kiley and Booms. Kornheiser did not like the idea because he would lose the callers from the WTEM broadcasting area. WTEM moved The Doc and Al Show into the 1–4 p.m. slot and created a new show hosted by Rich Cook and Kris O'Donnell in the 10 a.m.–1 p.m. slot.
When John Thompson resigned as the head coach of the men's basketball team at Georgetown University, WTEM moved The Doc and Al Show into the 10 a.m.–12 p.m. slot and invited Thompson to host a one-hour show within The Doc and Al Show (10:30-11:30 a.m.) called Timeout with Thompson starting March 3, 1999, before the 1999 NCAA Tournament began. At the same time, WTEM introduced The Jim Rome Show, assigned it into the 12–3 p.m. slot. Between The Jim Rome Show and The Tony Kornheiser Show, there was a one-hour program called The Playground hosted by WTEM news anchors.
After the 1999 NCAA Tournament, because of the positive reviews, Thompson was named the host of The John Thompson Show airing 10 a.m.–12 p.m. with Walker and Koken as co-hosts, replacing The Doc and Al Show.
On September 13, 1999, ESPN Radio moved The Tony Kornheiser Show to his favorite 10 a.m.–1 p.m. slot to make room for The Dan Patrick Show. WTEM accommodated the move by moving The John Thompson Show to 3–5 p.m., reducing The Jim Rome Show to 2 hours and creating a new program called The Sports Reporters hosted by Andy Pollin between 5–7 p.m.
After the new lineup announced, Jim Rome voiced his displeasure on the air, attacked Kornheiser and demanded WTEM to get his third hour back. In The Sports Reporters, Steve Czaban began as a news anchor. Later on, Czaban became the co-host with Andy Pollin.
On April 20, 2000, veteran sports talk personality Ken Beatrice retired.Leonard Shapiro (April 21, 2000), He could talk the talk, The Washington Post. His show, Sports Call, was replaced by Steve Czaban in the 7 p.m.-10 p.m. slot.
On April 9, 2001, WTEM became a secondary Fox Sports Radio affiliate, picking up ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning (6–9 a.m.) and Fox's The Tony Bruno Extravaganza (9–10 a.m.). Both shows replaced Imus in the Morning, which moved to WTNT to boost the station's ratings. Czaban's evening program would also be picked up nationwide by Fox Sports Radio later that year; the show would be moved by the network to morning drive in January 2005, with WTEM followed suit later that year.
On May 23, 2002, WTEM celebrated its tenth anniversary as a sports talk station with a special Sports Reporters show starting at 5 p.m.
From December 2003 until January 2005, WQOF, by this point on the 1260 kHz frequency, carried a complementary sports/talk format as "SportsTalk 1260." WWRC carried the majority of Fox Sports Radio's lineup, simulcast WTEM's afternoon programming, and picked up Jim Rome in its entirety, enabling WTEM to become an exclusive ESPN Radio outlet (save for Czaban's syndicated program).
In December 2005, the station's studios were moved from Bethesda, Maryland, to 1801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, to consolidate Clear Channel's Washington operation.
Because of Tony Kornheiser's preparation for ESPN's Monday Night Football, The Tony Kornheiser Show on WTEM ended on April 28, 2006, and Kornheiser eventually left for WTWP. Starting on May 1, 2006, The Sports Reporters with Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban filled in the 9 a.m.-12 p.m. slot, a new show hosted by Brian Mitchell and Bram Weinstein aired between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., and The John Thompson Show was extended through 7 p.m.
In early June 2006, The Brian Mitchell Show changed again. Bram Weinstein left WTEM and was replaced by Kevin Sheehan.
Starting February 12, 2007, The Brian Mitchell Show moved to the 10 a.m.–1 p.m. slot, The John Thompson Show moved to the 1 p.m.–4 p.m. slot and The Sports Reporters with Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban filled in the 4 p.m.–7 p.m. slot.
On April 30, 2007, Doc Walker went solo and hosted The Doc Walker Show from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. WTTG's Dave Feldman and Comcast SportsNet's Carol Maloney hosted a new show called Feldman and Maloney between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Brian Mitchell moved to The John Thompson Show as co-host. Regarding going solo, Walker said, "Management came to me and I thought that it was time to do my own show. If you are lucky enough to get a chance to do your own show you would be foolish not to take it. I will miss Al and Coach, but it was a perfect time for me to go out on my own."
On May 26, 2007, Phil Wood returned to WTEM, and hosted a weekly baseball show from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Then, on October 22, 2007, The Dan Patrick Show, syndicated by the Content Factory, was back on WTEM in the 11 a.m.–1 p.m. slot as a tape delay show, replacing Feldman and Maloney. Both hosts were dropped following the merger of WTEM with Triple X ESPN Radio.
Red Zebra Broadcasting then purchased WTEM, WWRC (570 AM, Gaithersburg, Maryland) and WQOF (1260 AM, Washington) from Clear Channel in a deal announced in 2008."Deals," Broadcasting & Cable, June 16, 2008. WTEM became the new flagship of the Triple X ESPN Radio network, while WXTR became the Washington outlet for ESPN Deportes. The deal also marked the return of Redskins football to WTEM; as mentioned above it had fronted the Redskins radio network from 1992 to 1994 while it was on 570 AM.
Due to the new contract with ESPN Radio that guaranteed a full clearance for Mike and Mike in the Morning, Steve Czaban's morning show on Fox Sports Radio was dropped. That show, however, continued to be produced from WTEM's studios until Fox Sports Radio canceled the program in December 2009.
On September 8, 2009, The Tony Kornheiser Show returned to WTEM in the 10am-noon slot, dropping Cowherd's show entirely.
Red Zebra flipped WTNT (570 AM) from its conservative talk format to sports/talk to "WWRC" on September 20, 2010, running the ESPN Radio network feed all day as a complement to WTEM. The station changed call signs to WSPZ on October 18, 2010, after Red Zebra sold WXTR to Metro Radio. WSPZ was the primary Washington-area affiliate of the Virginia Cavaliers radio network and acted as a backup station in the case of any play-by-play scheduling conflicts with WTEM.
Red Zebra sold off all of its radio properties in 2017-18. WWXT went to Urban One on April 20, and the station is now WDCJ and runs a simulcast of WMMJ. WWXX was sold to Educational Media Foundation and runs the K-Love contemporary Christian music network as WLZV. WSPZ was also sold to Salem Media Group, and now airs a conservative talk radio as WWRC. Rights to University of Virginia sports remained with the new WWRC.
On January 31, 2018, WTEM rebranded as The Team 980.
On June 13, 2019, Cumulus Media announced that ESPN Radio would move to WSBN on July 1, 2019, as that station changed to full-time sports programming. Concurrently, WMAL announced it would carry Washington Redskins broadcasts, though WTEM remains the team's flagship station. Following the loss of ESPN Radio, WTEM rejoined Fox Sports Radio, airing its evening, overnight, and weekend lineups, while still featuring local hosts during the day on weekdays.
In September 2019, WTEM added a 250 watt FM translator, W240DJ, broadcasting from Silver Spring, Maryland at 95.9 MHz.
On November 5, 2020, Urban One announced that it would swap WTEM and three other stations in Philadelphia and St. Louis to Entercom, in exchange for its Charlotte, North Carolina stations. Entercom took over the stations under a local marketing agreement on November 23. FM translator W240DJ was not included in the sale and remained with Urban One. The swap was consummated on April 20, 2021.
On March 24, 2021, WTEM lost its longtime status as the Washington home of the Baltimore Orioles to WSBN. On September 14, WTEM became the flagship station for the Washington Wizards.
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