WAPI-AM
WAPI is an AM radio station licensed to
Birmingham, Alabama. Its daytime power is 50,000 watts and at nighttime it broadcasts at 5,000 watts. Calling itself
"Big Talk 1070", it is a talk radio station. It is the Birmingham outlet of numerous nationally syndicated talk programs, including
Neal Boortz,
Laura Ingraham,
Sean Hannity,
Michael Savage and Bill O'Reilly. WAPI is owned by
Citadel Communications. Other Birmingham area stations owned by Citadel include WTUG-FM (92.9),
WYSF-FM (94.5),
WZRR-FM (99.5),
WRAX-FM (100.5),
WUHT-FM (107.7), and
WJOX-AM (690).
In April 1922,
WSY radio signed on as the first radio station in Alabama, owned by
Alabama Power Company. Some five months later, the second radio station in the state,
WMAV, owned by Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now
Auburn University) began broadcasting from
Auburn. WSY was not successful, and in 1925, its broadcast facilities were dismantled and donated to WMAV and Alabama Polytechnic. At that time, the station's call letters were changed to WAPI, reflecting the ownership of the station.
In 1928, WAPI returned to Birmingham, due in part to
NBC's interest in affiliating with a station in
Alabama's largest city, rather than a station in a small town such as what Auburn was at the time. In 1929, ownership of the station was split between Alabama Polytechnic, the
University of Alabama, and Alabama College for Women (now the
University of Montevallo), and the broadcast power was increased to 5,000 watts. In 1932, the station was sold to private business interests.
WAPI remained affiliated with NBC until 1940, when it became an affiliate of
CBS. After sharing its dial position with KVOO in
Tulsa, Oklahoma for several years, it moved to its present dial position in 1942. In 1949, WAPI launched the first television station in Alabama, as WAFM-TV (now
WVTM) began broadcasting some six weeks before
WBRC-TV signed on.
The Birmingham News purchased WAPI and its FM and TV sister stations in 1953, and in 1954, WAPI-AM re-affiliated with NBC. As network radio programming began to lose its importance, the station evolved into a middle of the road music station in the mid-1960's, featuring several local call-in shows at night. By the mid-1970's, it was the only Birmingham AM
adult contemporary radio station, remaining in this format until 1985. When crosstown rival WSGN (now
WAGG) dropped adult standards, WAPI switched to that format. It retained the adult standards format until January 1, 1996 when it became an all-news radio station. Over the last decade, the station has evolved into a talk-radio station.
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Official Website of WAPI
