WWDC (101.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Maryland, near Washington, D.C. The station is owned by iHeartMedia through licensee iHM Licenses, LLC, and broadcasts an alternative radio format. Studios and offices are in Rockville, Maryland. WWDC serves as the flagship station for the syndicated radio show Elliot in the Morning and as the local affiliate for Skratch 'N Sniff.
The transmitter is on Brookville Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, at (). WWDC broadcasts using HD Radio technology and simulcasts the sports talk and sports betting programming of WTSD "1190 iHeart Sports DC" on its HD2 digital subchannel.
History
WOL-FM
On October 5, 1945, Cowles Broadcasting Company applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a construction permit for a new FM station on 97.5 MHz. The FCC granted the permit on June 9, 1946. The permit was modified several times, with the station's frequency changing to 94.5 MHz, then 100.5 MHz, and finally 98.7 MHz. The station was originally given the call sign WOL-FM, as the FM counterpart to WOL (1260 AM). The FCC granted the station its first license on February 17, 1949.
Cowles Broadcasting sold WOL-AM-FM to the Capital Broadcasting Company on October 3, 1949. At the time, Capital Broadcasting owned WWDC (1450 AM) and WWDC-FM (101.1 FM). The FCC approved the sale on the condition that WWDC's 250-watt signal on 1450 AM would not be upgraded.
WWDC-FM
Capital Broadcasting decided to swap the licenses, call signs and facilities of the two AM stations and the two FM stations. WOL-FM's call sign would be changed to WWDC-FM while its frequency would be changed to 101.1 MHz. Simultaneously, WWDC-FM's call sign would be changed to WOL-FM while its frequency would be changed to 98.7 MHz. To prepare for these changes, Capital Broadcasting applied to the FCC for a construction permit on January 26, 1950, to change WOL-FM's frequency to 101.1 MHz. The call signs were swapped on the effective date of the sale, February 20, 1950. The FCC granted Capital Broadcasting a new license for the station, with the new call sign, for operation on the new frequency on August 26, 1952.
Also on February 20, 1950, the call sign swap for the AM stations took place, with the WWDC call sign now on the more powerful 5-kilowatt 1260 AM facility. Capital Broadcasting then sold WOL to Peoples Broadcasting. Unlike the AM stations, the FM stations were near each other and on equal footing at 20 kilowatts of power.
Rock DC 101
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it simulcasted the programming of its middle of the road (MOR) AM sister station on weekdays, and played oldies at night and on weekends. In the mid-1970s, it played progressive rock at night for a few months, and then switched full-time to an album rock music format. Its AM counterpart, WWDC, was the first American radio station to play the Beatles' song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" when it aired in December 1963; this led to the song's planned American release being pushed up by a few weeks, launching Beatlemania in the United States.
WWDC-FM enjoyed success with the rock format in the 1980s. The station was #1 in men (Arbitron) and was quite profitable. One of the premier album rock stations in the country, the disc jockey staff featured Greaseman in the morning, Dusty Scott in midday, Steveski in afternoons and Kirk McEwen in the evening. With this lineup and format, WWDC-FM consistently ran in the 6s, dominating men in the nation's 7th largest market. The format was a combination of current rock releases along with rock tracks from the 1960s and 1970s. Other DJs ("Boss Jocks") during the 1980s included Adam "Smash" Smasher, Ernie D'Kaye, Cerphe, Sandy Edwards, Buddy Rizer, Rich Levinson, Tim Shamble, YDB (Young Dave Brown), Sean Donohue (Rusty Brainpan), and Vinnie Brewster.
Alternative rock
Currently, WWDC's rock playlist typically swings toward the hard rock end of the rock spectrum, playing acts like Foo Fighters and Metallica. Early on, though, pop-oriented acts including Elton John, Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac, Hall & Oates and Rod Stewart were core artists. During the 1990s, the station began adding more modern and alternative rock acts including Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots to compete with its chief rival, WHFS-FM. Originally a mainstream rock station, WWDC changed to its current alternative rock format by 2005 because of WHFS-FM flipping to tropical music as WLZL.
In 2007, the station was nominated by Radio & Records for top alternative station in a top-25 market.