WISW

WISW

Columbia
Broadcast area	South Carolina
Frequency	1320 KHz
Branding	"Newstalk 1320 WIS"
Programming
Format	News/Talk
Ownership
Owner	Citadel Broadcasting
Sister stations	WNKT, WLXC, WOMG, WTCB
History
First air date	1945
Call sign meaning	"W"onderful "I"odine "S"tate (The same as news partner WIS-TV.)
Technical information
Class	B
ERP	5 kw. daytime pattern, 2.5kw. nightime directional pattern.
Links
Website	wisradio.com

WISW is a News/Talk station licensed to Columbia, South Carolina and serves the Columbia, South Carolina market. The Citadel Broadcasting outlet is licensed by the FCC to broadcast at 1320 kHz with an ERP of 5 kW daytime and 2.5kW nighttime directional. The station goes by the name Newstalk 1320 WIS.

Station History

1320 signed on as WKIX in 1945. The station featured local and national programing from the CBS Radio Network. In 1947, the station became WMSC, retaining the CBS Radio affiliation.

In 1953, WMSC was sold to new owners and the station became WOIC. WOIC became the first station to target the African American community in Columbia. In 1976, WOIC applied for an FM on 103.1, but was dismissed and awarded to another group. WOIC appealed, which caused the application to be held up. The case was dismissed in October, 1981 and 103.1 became WDPN (now WOMG) in 1982. Ironically, WDPN was acquired by WOIC's parent company, Nuance Corporation, by 1985.

By the 1980s, WOIC ratings started to decline due to the growth of new Urban Contemporary outlet WWDM. In the fall of 1989, it was announced by then-owners Price Broadcasting that the station would change over to a simulcast of WOMG-FM's Oldies format. In order to prevent any community backlash, an arrangement was worked out with 1230 WODE to move the staff and programing over to their station. WODE became WOIC, while WOIC became WOMG-AM, simulcasting the majority of WOMG's programming, breaking off at times for broadcasting various Clemson University sporting events.

In 1995, WOMG-AM became All-news WISW under a local marketing agreement with Cosmos Broadcasting then-owners of NBC affiliate WIS. The station featured AP News as well as simulcasts of WIS's newscasts. In 1997, the syndicated Imus In The Morning show was added. Despite the changes as well as exposure from WIS-TV, ratings did not materialized as hoped.

In August 1999, Imus was dropped for "Good Morning Columbia", hosted by longtime former WSCQ air personalities Bill Benton, Doug Enlow, and Gene McKay (who died in 2007). Ironically, both McKay and Benton began in the Columbia market on 560 WIS (now WVOC) until leaving in the mid 70's for WSCQ, which they were part-owners. WISW sales manager Charlie Benton joined the show in 2007 after McKay's death.

With the addition of "Good Morning Columbia", WISW shifted the format to a mostly satellite-fed Adult Standards format, but kept the WIS newscasts in the process.

By 2002, the station adjusted its format again to a full time news-talk format, competing head-on with rival WVOC. In addition to "Good Morning Columbia", the station features a rotating "Local Angle" hour (9 AM-10 AM) with nationally syndicated Neal Boortz, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Rollye James, and Jim Bohannon.

Until the format and transmitter move of WNKT from St. George to Eastover, a weeknight "Prime Time Sports" program and a weekly "Sporting News Radio" program were featured, but they moved to WNKT, which was now a Columbia-area station serving sports. That opened up Mark Levin's new Citadel Radio show to WISW.

Also in 2002, WISW became the official flagship station to broadcast the games of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks after Host Communications decided to take its program to Citadel Communications, who provided the Gamecocks with airtime on its more powerful FM stations. Clear Channel Communications (who owns WVOC) was not willing to move the Gamecocks programming to any of its more stronger FM stations in Columbia. The station is the exclusive home of the women's basketball program (when there is a conflict between men's and women's games, WISW broadcasts the women's games) and the official flagship station of the school.

Currently in the ratings, WISW trails behind WVOC in the ratings, having only half the number of WVOC listeners. In some occasions (especially during sporting events), WOIC has outranked WISW because of their successful sports teams compared to WISW, as the success of Clemson Tigers sports has led to higher ratings for WOIC and WZMJ, while Gamecock failures have led to decreased ratings and ad revenue for WISW, as WOIC was able to feature basketball and football postseason games in the 2007 calendar year, while WISW did not, and that attributed to increased ratings and revenues for WOIC when WISW was relegated to holiday repeats of their talk shows. .

The station is owned by Citadel Broadcasting, which also owns AC WTCB, Oldies WOMG, The Game, and Urban AC WLXC in the Columbia radio market.

See also

• List of radio stations in South Carolina

External links

• WIS Radio's Official Website
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