Update 12/2: As expected 730 WTNT and its pair of translators flipped to Spanish AC “La Capital“.
Update 9/30: DCRTV.com reports that the flip to Spanish AC will not take place until December 1 as the station has contractual obligations with its existing Talk programming to fulfill.
Original Report 9/29: Metro Radio LLC is pulling the plug on Conservative Talk on 730 WTNT Alexandria VA/Washington DC, 97.7 W249BE Alexandria and 102.9 W275BO Chantilly, VA.
Metro has registered SomosLaCapital.com for the stations and has already updated its webstreams to use the new moniker. The new website describes the new format as “La Capital features a Spanish Hits Music format targeting Hispanics 24-50 years old, local talk shows, music shows, and many other issue shows that address the culture in Washington, DC.”
WTNT currently programs a mix of brokered and syndicated Conservative Talk shows such as Coast To Coast AM, Laura Ingaraham, and Mike O’Meara. The 102.9 translator covers the area south of Washington in Virginia’s Fairfax county. Its 97.7 translator has applied to relocate across the Maryland border to Montgomery County, MD where it will cover Washington and adjacent suburbs such as Rockville and Silver Spring on 97.5.
In addition to WTNT, Metro Radio also operates Regional Mexican “La Ley” 1460 WKDV Manassas/106.3 W292EC Gainesville, VA.
Couple of things: (1) The translator has already been moved and has been broadcasting at 97.5 for several weeks at least. (2) Mike O’Meara’s show is far from “conservative talk”. It’s a comedy podcast (downloadable free from iTunes) along the lines of his old show on WJFK, and the station has seen fit to run disclaimers that the show is not necessarily in agreement with the views of the station ownership or advertisers.
It’s on 97.5, but hasn’t gained approval or built its upgrade to serve DC and Montgomery County, which is what we mentioned.
WTNT was pretty much leased-time programming, with a majority of the shows being conservative talk. They aired Mike O’Meara’s podcast-originated show because MOM’s sponsors paid the money to clear it.