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WMAL is one of the oldest radio stations in Washington, D.C. The Citadel Broadcasting-owned outlet...

WMAL is one of the oldest radio stations in Washington, D.C. The Citadel Broadcasting-owned outlet is a news-talk formatted station, broadcasting on 630 kHz in the AM band. The station is affiliated with ABC. WMAL first went on the air on October 12, 1925, using call letters incorporating the initials of M.A. Leese, a local optician. WMAL was originally owned by a company run by Leese, and shifted through various frequencies in its first three years, until the Federal Radio Commission's national frequency allocation plan assigned WMAL the AM 630 frequency in 1928; WMAL still broadcasts on that frequency today. WMAL was a CBS affiliate from 1928 until October 19, 1932, and then was briefly unaffiliated until joining the NBC Blue network in January 1933; this network later became ABC, with which WMAL is still affiliated today. In addition to being the first owner and manager of WMAL, Washington optician M.A. Leese was also the station's first announcer. In 1927, Leese left his optical business to focus full-time on running the station. By mid-1932, M.R. Baker had been appointed Manager of the station, and Kenneth H. Berkeley was appointed station director of WMAL in 1933. While still