Technical Profile: WODT

AM Technical Profile: WODT

Frequency:: 1280
Format:: Black Talk
Transmitter Location:: [map] [bird's eye] [street view] Across Tullis Drive from the Lakewood Country Club.
Power (ERP):: Day and night: 5 kW
Antenna:: 3 towers, nulls to the northeast and south; primary lobe heads northwest towards New Orleans, secondary is southeast. [pattern - PDF]
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files
[FCC]
[FCCdata.org]
[FCCInfo]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
[Studio] Street View imagery of the Clear Channel New Orleans facility on Howard Avenue.; Owned by iHeartMedia
History:: 1280 was originally WDSU, a high-class NBC radio affiliate with an adult sound. WDSU TV 6 was borne from this AM — as the South's first TV station in 1948. This station also spawned WDSU FM 93.3.

In the early 70's, TV and radio were sold separately and the AM became WGSO (Gulf SOuth radio). The format became News/Talk with some music. For a while, the station became more music-oriented (with drive-time news blocks) and WGSO came to mean "Gentle SOund". WWL finally beat out WGSO in the late 80's, thanks in part to a superior signal. By then, the FM began catering to black audiences, so 1280 went to the Classic R&B "Heart and Soul" format as WMKJ (Magic 1280).

Later it became WQUE AM as essentially a simulcast of the FM counterpart; also the station was All-Sports briefly.

In the mid-90's there was a brief attempt at News/Talk again, as WODT (for a New Orleans street-slang expression, "WhO DaT?")

The station later went to a Blues music format, but in November 2003 switched to Sports Talk. After Hurricane Katrina knocked the station off for several days, they came back doing News/Talk for a while until things got more under control in the city, then moved back to Sports. In June 2008 Clear Channel flipped the station to Gospel, to complement WYLD at 940.

The station became an ESPN Deportes affiliate in September 2012. In September 2014 it moved back to English programming with Fox Sports.

In June 2020, the station was one of over a dozen iHeart stations that dropped their programming and began simulcasting prominent speeches by African Americans, promoting that, "Our voices will be heard." The station launched the Black Information Network talk format after noon on June 30^th.

The station was taken off the air for a few days in late August 2021 by Hurricane Ida.