begun operations in 1939. In October 1945, Everett Dillard filed an application to convert W3XL into a commercial station. A construction permit was granted the following September, and initially assigned the call letters WSDC, which were changed to WASH two months later, prior to the station beginning operations. WASH debuted as Washington's second commercial FM station at 6:30 p.m. on December 17, 1946. (W3XO had already been converted into Washington's first commercial station, originally as WINX-FM, and started regular broadcasts in September 1946.) In the early era of FM broadcasting, most stations were co-owned with an AM station and often simulcast its programming, when few listeners had FM receivers. WASH was a rare stand-alone FM outlet. Everett Dillard served as the president and general manager, and studios were located at 1319 F Street NW. WASH's assignment was for operation on 101.3 MHz. However, it received a special temporary authority to broadcast on 98.9 MHz with reduced power, employing W3XL's transmitter in Northwest Washington. WASH was reassigned to its current frequency, , in mid-1947 without ever broadcasting on 101.3. From September 16, 1947, through May 3, 1950, the station relayed BBC Overseas Service programming and thrice-daily time signals from WWV via shortwave while it constructed a studio. From September 18, 1958 through December 31, 1958, it was granted unusual permission to operate as a non-commercial station, identified by the experimental call sign KG2XIG instead of its normal call sign. Metromedia ownership In 1968, Metromedia acquired the station, making WASH a sister station to television station WTTG. Metromedia also owned successful radio stations across the U.S., including WNEW and WNEW-FM in New York City, WIP and WMMR in Philadelphia and KLAC and KMET in Los Angeles. WASH has been an adult contemporary station in one form or another since the 1970s. Under Metromedia ownership, it was considered a personality-oriented middle of the road (MOR) station, similar to WNEW. This was a format almost always found on AM radio, where people could hear it on kitchen radios and in the car; however, Metromedia didn't own an AM station in Washington, so WASH took on the format. Disc jockeys played the adult hits of the day, from Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand to The Carpenters and Dionne Warwick, chatting between the songs and airing hourly news updates. For a few years in the early 1980s, the station attempted to do a Top 40/CHR format,