|
Original Call Letters: WDBO |
|
Original City of License: Winter Park (Rollins College) |
|
Original Frequency: 1250, moved to 1040 in 1927, moved to 620 in 1928, moved to 1120 in 1929 then to 580 in 1932 |
|
Origin of Call Letters: Slogan; Way Down By Orlando |
|
Original Power: 50 Watts |
|
Original Location: Rollins College, Winter Park |
|
Original Format: Concert programming and college lectures |
Network Affiliation(s): |
CBS |
| NBC Talknet | |
| ABC | |
| CNN |
Owner(s): |
1924-Rollins College |
| 1926-Orlando Broadcasting | |
| 1929-Central Florida Broadcasting Station, Inc. (563 N. Orange Ave., Orlando) | |
| 1957-Cherry Broadcasting Station of Providence, Rhode Island (later acquired by the Outlet Co) | |
| 1963-The Outlet Company ($6 million) | |
| 1982-Katz Broadcasting (Purchased WDBO AM/FM for $9.5 million) | |
| 1986-New City Communications (New City would purchase Katz in 1986) | |
| 1997-Cox Broadcasting (Cox acquires New City in 1997) |
History Of Call Letters and Formats: |
WDBO-1924-Variety “Way Down By Orlando” |
| WDBO-1957-Pop | |
| WDBO-1985-News/talk "News & Weather Leader" |
From Dick Camnitz; "Here's a later 60s shot of Dick Ravenhill on the air in the WDBO Ivanhoe studio. Ya gotta love those big Altec mics." photo courtesy of Dick Camnitz |
![]() WDBO studio in 1982 when the studios were on Lake Ivanhoe photo courtesy Dave Edwards |
|
WDBO Bumper stickers |
|
|
|
Dorothy Morton Parks-gave 15-minute piano recitals |
|
Walter Kimble -performed 15-minute organ recitals |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tom Marshall-Original Host of WDBO's Niteline In Memory |
|
Bob Raymond-News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Carson Rennie-1981-1982 Host of "WDBO's Nightline" |
Reagan Smith-Host of "WDBO's Nightline" Biography |
Tom Barry-Host of "WDBO's Nightline" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tom Fallin-News Director |
|
Tracy Dent-Orlando's first radio sports talk show host. "Sports Line with Tracy Dent" debuted in the late 1960s. There was no method of screening calls back then, just a seven-second delay button. Tracy interviewed such guests as Mickey Mantle, Richard Petty, Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Unitas. In 1977, while at WDBO he helped start an independent running-shoe store that consultants told him could not possibly succeed. By the time Dent sold his share of the Track Shack in 1983, the Orlando store was a full-blown success, and continues to thrive celebrating 30 years in Orlando. Dent hit the big time in 1979 when he was named evening sports anchor at WDBO-TV Channel 6. TV took up much more of his time than radio so in 1983, choosing family over fame, Dent retired from broadcasting. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Donna Howell-News |
|
|
|
Eric Brown-Airborne traffic reporter |
|
Jack Boston-Accuweather |
|
Steve Craig (Steve Biddle) |
|
|
|
Steve Morris-1994 (Jun)-1994 (Aug) |
Bill Stamper-1964-1991-Sports Director/1989 winner of the Green Eyeshade Award for Sports Reporting |
|
George McNeilly-News/Sports Reporter |
|
|
"Blue Collar" Bob Rose-now morning man at WSKY-FM 97.3 in Gainesville |
Bill Gephart In
Memory |
Bill Thompson-News In Memory |
|
Jeff Marshall -Afternoon Anchor-formerly of WMEL-AM 920 |
|
Michelle Wright -Reporter/Anchor for both WDBO-AM and WCFB-FM 94.5 "Star 94.5" now at CNN Radio in Atlanta |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bill Patti-1985-1990-9AM-11AM-Program Director/Operations Manager |
|
Ellen McFarlane-Consumer reporter |
|
|
|
Tom
Blair-1982-News-Tom
passed Jan. 10, 2007 at the age of 68. In
Memory |
|
Bob Brown-1976-1980-First airborne traffic reporter for WDBO. From 1952 to 1957, he did the Skipper Bob Show on WDBO-TV. Bob was also a member of the Blue Angels Flight Team from 1964 to 1967. |
|
|
|
Rod Grant (aka Shadow)-1983-1985-Production Director/air personality |
|
Dan Shaffer-1987-1992-Biography -The original Good Samaritan van driver/a producer, Music Director and Traffic reporter/even hosted an overnight show for a while Saturday night/Sunday morning/Bruce Hamilton’s midday show producer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Levi May-Associate Program Director/Afternoon Producer/Board Operator |
|
Beth Perrell-Public Affairs Director/Host of "Retrospect" |
|
Jack Nelson-2000-"Dollars and Cents" |
|
Jack Kelly-Evening news anchor |
Madalyn Woods-News Reporter (Former BET TV Reporter courtesy of Mark Logas |
|
Marcie Elliot-Traffic Reporter |
|
Ron Bison-Traffic Reporter |
|
Glenn Victor-Traffic Reporter |
|
Dave Lopez- Afternoon Traffic Reporter |
|
Andrew Giles-Fill-In Associate Producer for Jim Turner |
|
John Fusco- Neal Boortz Show Producer |
|
Bobby Mitchell-Nighttime Producer |
|
Zach Stein-2008-News |
|
Kevin Baldinger-Traffic
Biography |
|
Eileen
Byrne-1998-7pm - 9pm,
Monday - Friday |
|

1985 WDBO News Team
Front Row (left to right): Rebecca Randall,
Bill Stamper, Donna
Howell.
Back Row (left to right): David Brandau, George
McNeilly, Lee Hall (News
Director), Jim Barroll, Wayne
Weinberg.
|
Other Names In WDBO History |
|
Arnold "Doc" Schoen, Jr.-1959-VP/General Manager at WDBO AM/FM/TV (Channel 6) |
|
Violet Osborn-bookkeeper/secretary |
|
Joseph Sinclair-1963-Chairman of the Board-Outlet Company |
|
David Shurtleff-1963-Vice President-Broadcast Division |
|
Carl Hallberg-1963-Vice President/General Manager/Commercial Manager-Outlet Company |
|
Bill Taylor-1963-Program Director-Outlet Company |
|
Fred Bradshaw-1963-News Director-Outlet Company |
|
Chalmers Stromberg-1963-Chief Engineer-Outlet Company |
|
Robert Barager-1969-nightly newscaster/sales |
|
Tom Kennington-1979-1983 |
|
Glen Lewis-Program director |
|
Steve Holbrook-Program director |
|
David Bernstein-Program Director/Operations Manager |
|
Kipper Watson-2001-Program Director |
|
Tom Doyle-Manager |
|
George Crossley-Sales |
|
Steve Fluker-Director of Engineering for Cox Radio/Orlando |
|
Susan Larkin-Vice President/General Manager |
|
|
|
|
Arthur Godfrey from the CBS Radio Network | |
| 1945-46-Mon-Fri 9:15 AM | 1949-50-Mon-Fri 10:15 AM | |
| 1946-48-Mon-Fri 9:15 AM & 11 AM | 1950-58-Mon-Fri 10:00 AM | |
|
Godfrey's Last Program |
1958-60--Mon-Fri 9:05 AM | 1960-64-Mon-Fri 10:05 AM |
| 1948-49-Mon-Fri 10:30 AM | 1964-72-Mon-Fri 10:00 AM | |
|
Gene Burns-Syndicated program from WOR-New York Biography |
|
|
|
Larry King-Mutual |
|
Bill O'Reilly-2002-"The O'Reilly Factor" |
|
Rush Limbaugh-syndicated |
|
"Have Gun Will Travel"-broadcast
106 episodes on CBS between 1958 and 1960. It was one of the last radio
dramas featuring continuing characters. John Dehner played Paladin.
Many episodes were adapted from the TV programs while others were written
specifically for the radio version. |
|
Tom Snyder and Elliott Forrest-1995-"The Late Late Radio Show"-2AM-5AM |
|
|
|
Sounds of WDBO |
| Paul Harvey stager | WDBO Newsradio 580 | Bottom of the Hour ID | WDBO Newsradio 580 |
| Tom McCarthy | Tom McCarthy | Tom McCarthy | James Earl Jones |
|
|