The WUST studios are located on Rockville Pike in the district suburb of Rockville, Maryland, while the station transmitter resides in Capitol Heights. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WUST programming is available online via iHeartRadio. While WUST operates at 50,000 watts during the day, the station is required to reduce power during critical hours in the early morning—and go off the air during nighttime hours—to protect the signal of KMOX in St. Louis, the dominant Class A station on 1120 AM.[5]
History
WUST first signed on in 1947 as WBCC, licensed to the Washington, DC suburb of Bethesda, Maryland with 250 watts of power, broadcasting in the daytime only.[6] It had been a rhythm and blues station. Its call letters came from its studio location at 1120 U Street, NW, later moving to 815 V Street NW, site of today's 9:30 Club.
During the 1950s, DJs Lord Fauntleroy Bandy and "Terrible" Thomas popularized R&B music with high school students, weaning them from Top 40. Part of the appeal of WUST was its location in the red light district of the time.[citation needed]
New World Radio sold WUST to Herndon, Virginia-based Potomac Radio Group for $750,000 on September 18, 2018.[9] On August 31, 2020, WUST switched from ethnic programming to an all news format using programming from iHeartMedia's Black Information Network; several programs from the previous ethnic format were moved online.[10][11][12] iHeartMedia subsequently purchased WUST for $1.2 million.[13]
