WTSD (AM)

The station first signed on the air on March 6, 1958. Its original call sign was WAGE, broadcasting on 1290 kHz.[6] For its first 37 years on the air, WAGE was a daytimer, powered at 1,000 watts and required to go off the air at sunset to protect other stations on 1290 AM. It was started by Richard Field Lewis Jr., who also founded WINC in Winchester and WFVA in Fredericksburg. The original studio and transmitter site was a field behind Loudoun County High School in Leesburg. To this day, the street on which the studio stood is named Wage Drive.[7]

An anecdotal story claims that CBS TV and radio host and Leesburg resident Arthur Godfrey was the original owner, and the call letters stood for Arthur Godfrey Enterprises.[8] In fact, the construction permit was owned by Lewis and passed to his widow upon his death in 1957. The call sign was reassigned from what is now WHEN in Syracuse, New York, and was almost certainly sequential as it had no known meaning in either city.[9] Once built, the station was sold first to William T. Stubblefield and again in 1962 to a group headed by James and Valeria Symington.[10][11]

In 1995, WAGE moved to 1200 kHz, allowing the use of a stronger full-time signal.[6] While WAGE covered local news throughout its history, the format changed over the years, going from classical music, to easy listening, to country music, to middle of the road.[6]

WAGE was sold to WUST owner New World Radio Group, through its subsidiary Potomac Radio, Inc., in 2005. Local programming ended in 2007.[7]

On October 29, 2008, WAGE received a permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move to 1190 kHz and increase its power to 50,000 watts. This would require existing station WBIS, which operated on the same frequency in Annapolis, Maryland, to shut down.[5]

On August 2, 2009, WAGE fell silent due to "tough economic conditions" and an ongoing attempt to move the station to AM 1190 and up the power to 50,000 watts.[12] On April 21, 2010, the FCC approved WAGE's application to increase its daytime power to 50,000 watts and its nighttime power to 1,300 watts from different antenna sites, along with the frequency shift to 1190 kHz. The station was also forced to move out of Leesburg as the existing transmitter site was not large enough to accommodate the required towers.[13][7]

The station returned to the air on April 11, 2011, with programming from China Radio International (CRI), the Chinese state broadcaster,[14] and a designated foreign mission in the U.S.[15][16][17] The call sign was switched to WCRW to reflect this programming. On November 2, 2015, it was reported that the FCC would investigate allegations of whether WCRW was controlled by CRI.[18][19] At the same time, the United States Department of Justice announced an investigation to determine whether CRI was in compliance with legal obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).[18] Reuters reported that 60 percent of the station's airtime was leased by a subsidiary of CRI.[20]

WCRW was granted 1,200 watts of nighttime power in 2017, upgrading from class D to class B in the process. The station received permission to begin test operations at night on May 4, 2018.[21]

New World Radio Group sold WCRW to the unrelated Potomac Radio Group, Inc., partially owned by Marquee Broadcasting owners Brian and Patricia Lane, in September 2018.[22] The sale was consummated on January 2, 2019, at a price of $750,000.

In December 2021, The Washington Free Beacon reported that the Chinese Communist Party had paid WCRW $4.4 million over a two year period to broadcast propaganda.[23] In January 2022, WCRW co-owner Brian Lane told reporters that his station is no longer airing programming from China Radio International. Reports say the station failed to receive payment for its airtime over the previous six months from China Radio International.[24]

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s watchdog has been asked to investigate Potomac Radio, owner of WCRW, after receiving more than $100,000 through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Congress enacted law that prohibits PPP loans to “certain entities organized under the laws of the People’s Republic of China” as well as “any person required to submit a registration statement” under FARA.[25]

On December 30, 2022, WCRW announced that it would end its "New World Radio" brokered programming; under a three-year local marketing agreement, iHeartMedia began operating the station on January 4, 2023, concurrent with a call sign change to WTSD. Potomac Radio Group had previously sold WUST to iHeartMedia in 2020.[26] iHeartMedia used WTSD to launch a sports format, branded as "iHeart Sports DC" and featuring programming from Fox Sports Radio and Vegas Stats & Information Network; this programming is also simulcast on FM translator W284CQ (104.7) and the HD2 channel of WWDC, replacing talk radio station "WONK-FM".[27]