WDAS-FM

On September 1, 1959, WDAS-FM signed on the air.[2] It mostly simulcast its AM sister station, 1480 WDAS. The two stations were owned by Max Leon, who had acquired WDAS 1480 in 1950. Classical music was featured on Sundays on WDAS-FM, breaking away from the AM station's programming. By mid-1960s, FM stations were encouraged by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to air programming separate from their co-owned AM stations. WDAS-FM station moved to a classical music format exclusively.

In April 1968, the format changed to an "underground" free form sound. This short-lived period introduced much of the new voices of "progressive rock" radio including Michael Tearson and Ed Sciaky. Other voices included popular Top 40 disc jockey Hy Lit from 990 WIBG, and later a popular nighttime show by owner Max Leon's son Steve, who called himself "My Father's Son" on the air. Folk music host Gene Shay also did his program from WDAS-FM at this time.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, radio stations were under increased pressure by the Nixon Administration through the FCC to censor music that involved drug content. Steve Leon ignored this directive and continued to play the music that was popular at the time. While playing Arlo Guthrie's "Coming Into Los Angeles", which referenced smuggling marijuana, Leon charged into the station and ripped the turntable arm off the record. Leon then fired his son and the other on-air staff. To fill the void, the AM station's staff were used as replacements.

In 1971, the station changed to a progressive soul format.[3] The station playlist included R&B, soul and funk, playing what would become the classics of their genre and launching careers of "Philadelphia Soul" acts such as The O'Jays, The Stylistics, Patti LaBelle and Teddy Pendergrass. WDAS-FM's rising success paralleled the red-hot popularity of the new R&B sound developed at Philadelphia International Records.[4]

By 1975, as the Philly Sound laid the musical groundwork for disco, the station began to integrate more dance music into the station's playlist to go along with its rising popularity. By the end of the decade, WDAS-FM introduced its listenership to new sounds of Rap with artists such as Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Kurtis Blow as well showcasing local talent like Frankie Smith (of "Double Dutch Bus" fame). By 1980, WDAS-FM was the number one music station in Philadelphia.[5]

WDAS-FM's activist voice was as powerful as its musical one. Legendary broadcasters George "Georgie The Man With The Goods" Woods and Edward "Ed" Bradley shaped the political voice of the station.[5][6] WDAS-FM earned its position as the "voice of the Black community." Interestingly, its program director and afternoon DJ was a white radio professional, Joe "Butterball" Tamburro. He had a knack for knowing the records that would become successful hits among Philadelphia's young black fans. Tamburro, nicknamed "Butterball" for his rotund size, guided the station through several decades.

The station was sold in November 1979 to Black-owned Unity Broadcasting Network, and it honed the Urban Contemporary format in 1980. But in 1982 a brand new competitor arrived, WUSL "POWER 99fm". WUSL's popularity forced WDAS-FM to go into a CHUrban/Crossover format, playing more dance hits from the Mainstream Top 40 charts. WDAS-FM kept Rap and R&B, but it also added some Pop and Dance music to the playlists. It also further leveraged its community involvement and public affairs programming aimed at both the black and white communities.

As the Disco Era faded, the station moved away into more Rap, R&B and Hip Hop music. The station also introduced a new slogan: "105.3 WDAS-FM, We've Got The Juice!" inspired by Attitudes' song of the same name. Despite these efforts, WUSL, which played every type of Black, White, Latin, Canadian, and even British artists geared to both black, Latino and white audiences, had won the CHUrban ratings battle.

By 1989 WDAS-FM evolved into a successful, black community oriented Urban AC format after its AM station flipped to Urban Gospel. In 1994, Unity Broadcasting sold both WDAS stations to the Beasley Broadcast Group. In 1995, when the Tom Joyner Morning Show went into nationwide syndication through ABC, WDAS-FM became a founding network affiliate.

In May 1996, Beasley sold WDAS-AM-FM to Evergreen, which also owned WUSL, making them sister stations. In 1997, Evergreen and Chancellor merged to form Chancellor Media and later restructured in 1999 as AMFM, Inc. In 2000, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) acquired AMFM.

In 2004, the Tom Joyner Morning Show moved to a different Urban AC station, 100.3 WRNB. WDAS-FM subsequently picked up The Steve Harvey Morning Show as a replacement. The station also carried Michael Baisden in afternoon drive time until it dropped the show in January 2013.

Since 1979, WDAS-FM has sponsored Unity Day, an annual summer gathering on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. This ended with the death of longtime WDAS-FM program director Joe "Butterball" Tamburro. Tamburro passed away in July 2012 at age 70.