Wikipedia
WIOD (610 AM) is a talk radio-formatted radio station in Miami, Florida, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.. Its studios are located at the iHeart Broadcasting Complex in Miramar and the transmitter site is in North Bay Village. Most of WIOD's weekday schedule is made up of nationally syndicated talk programs, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and George Noory. A weekday morning news-talk program is hosted by Jimmy Cefalo.
Experimental broadcasts began in the spring of 1925 by Carl Graham Fisher, a Miami Beach developer. The station made its formal debut on the South Florida airwaves on January 19, 1926. Carl Fisher selected WIOD as the call letters signifying the "Wonderful Isle of Dreams" to commemorate Collins Island, on which the station was situated. WIOD is Florida's seventh oldest continuously licensed broadcast radio station.
From 1959 to 1962, the call letters were changed to WCKR (for Cox-Knight Broadcasting, who also owned television station WCKT, now WSVN). Branded Wacker Radio, it broadcast a middle-of-the-road format, but offered a Top 40 program at night, featuring Rick Shaw. It also carried NBC Radio's "Monitor" program on weekends. To accommodate WCKT, a new addition housing television studios was built on Broadcast Key in North Bay Village, Florida.
On June 16, 1981 WIOD began operating with 10,000 watts day and night to overcome interference caused by a station in Cuba. This special temporary authority, granted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has been renewed on a regular basis since then.
WIOD has been a frequent winner in annual Florida Associated Press statewide competitions. WIOD may be best known for its continuous hurricane coverage, particularly Andrew, Katrina and Wilma. Despite the station's class B status, it has strong daytime and nighttime signals.
WIOD is an affiliate of the Fox News Radio network. It also is affiliated with AccuWeather and has a news and weather content sharing relationship with WFOR-TV. WIOD was the radio flagship of the 2006 NBA champions Miami Heat from 1996 until 2008. From 1966 until the late 1990s, it was the radio flagship of the Miami Dolphins, the longest partnership between a Miami sports team and a radio flagship station. It also was the Florida Panthers' original flagship station from 1993 until 2003. Currently, WIOD is the official broadcast emergency station for the Broward County Commission.
From April 2010 to March 2014, WIOD had launched a simulcast on FM translator W262AN 100.3 MHz. It also broadcasts on WBGG-FM 105.9 HD2.