WMAL-FM (105.9 MHz) – branded 105.9 FM WMAL – is a radio station licensed to Woodbridge, Virginia, serving the Washington, D.C. Metro area. WMAL-FM airs a talk radio format and is owned and operated by Cumulus Media. The station's studios are located at 4400 Jenifer Street NW in Washington, two blocks from the city's border with Maryland, and the transmitter site is in Falls Church, Virginia, off Lee Highway. WMAL-FM is co-owned with sports radio station WSBN at 630 kHz; the WMAL call sign and talk format originated on that station, and the two stations simulcast from 2011 to 2019. Programming Weekday mornings on WMAL-FM start with O'Connor & Company with Larry O'Connor. At 9 a.m., Chris Plante hosts a nationally syndicated show, based at WMAL-FM. Vince Coglianese hosts late afternoons. The rest of the schedule, nationally syndicated shows are heard from Dan Bongino, Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, and John Batchelor. Weekends feature shows on money, health, real estate and gardening, many of which are paid brokered programming. Most weekday hours feature local news at the beginning of each hour. Fox News Radio is carried at the beginning of most hours during nights and weekends. History Early years Before the current station was founded, an earlier station, called WHIP, existed on 105.9 FM in the Washington area. The station was on the air between 1948 and 1950 and licensed to Silver Spring, Maryland; therefore it is unrelated to the current station, which is licensed to Woodbridge. The call sign WMAL-FM was also used in the Washington market on the 107.3 MHz facility, known today as WLVW, from 1948 through 1977. On December 25, 1958, the station that would become today's WMAL-FM first signed on as WBVA. After several callsign changes, this station became known as WXRA, and during most of its early history it ran a mix of country and Southern gospel music daily from 6 a.m. until midnight. Beginning in September 1967 it simulcasted with WPIK, a co-owned station on 730 AM. Although WXRA was run from the same Alexandria studios as WPIK, WXRA's city of license has always been Woodbridge. Country music and classic rock (1967–1993) On December 31, 1967, WXRA began to run a full-time country format in response to listener requests. The station was assigned the call sign WVKX on September 9, 1980, followed by WPKX-FM on December 9, 1981. It kept the country format but