WNTM

WNTM (710 AM, "NewsRadio 710") is a talk radio station based in Mobile, Alabama, USA. The station, which began broadcasting in 1946, is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications and the broadcast license is held by CC Licenses, LLC.

History

The station was originally owned by movie theater owner, architect, and broadcasting pioneer Kenneth R. Giddens, whose family-owned WKRG-TV Inc. put WKRG (710 AM) on the air on September 26, 1946. The station would have an FM companion broadcasting on 99.9 MHz starting on October 16, 1947 (today's WMXC), followed by television partner WKRG-TV on September 5, 1955. Like competitor WABB-FM, WKRG-FM was a simulcast of the AM station before finding its own format of beautiful music in 1965. In March 1970, the Federal Communications Commission enforced new rules preventing future radio and television ownership combinations in the same market, which allowed the stations of WKRG-TV, Inc. to remain standing, or "grandfathered".

For much of its history, the former CBS-affiliated WKRG had a format of middle of the road music and talk shows. Such talk shows included an afternoon program hosted by future WKRG-TV sports director Randy Patrick, but the talk radio format would soon dominate the schedule later in the 1980s as FM reigned with its superior sound. The next change for WKRG Radio in the 1980s was a new location, as WKRG-TV, Inc. moved from its long time home on downtown Mobile's St. Louis Street to its current...
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