WREY (630 kHz, "94.9 El Rey") is a Spanish-language AM radio station with studios located in the Westside neighborhood in St. Paul. It is licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it was licensed to Hudson, Wisconsin from 1997 to 2005. The station's signal covers the Minneapolis-St. Paul media market. The transmitter and towers are located in Woodbury, Minnesota along South Washington County Highway 19. WREY broadcasts a Regional Mexican music format, at 3,000 watts by day and 2,400 watts at night. WREY simulcasts on FM translator station W235CT (94.9) St. Paul. History The 630 kHz frequency is perhaps best known as the longtime home of KDWB from 1959 until 1986. For almost two decades, KDWB was a heated rival of the original WDGY, located at 1130 kHz. When WDGY dropped its call letters in 1991 to become KFAN, KDWB's owner adopted the abandoned WDGY call sign for 630 kHz, where it remained until 2008. Early history The station signed on in 1951 at 1590 kHz as WCOW, playing country and old-time music. In its early days, WCOW signed on with a cowbell. The station's owners, the Tedesco brothers (Vic, Nick and Al), had previously launched WSHB in Stillwater, Minnesota, and attempted the following year to get into television on channel 17 but financial backing fell through. The channel 17 allocation was later awarded to Twin Cities Public Television in 1965. 63 KDWB WCOW was not very successful, so the station transitioned to a female-oriented format with the call sign WISK in 1957, and the frequency was changed to 630 kHz. the next year. This format was also unsuccessful, so WISK tried a pop/rock format that was also unsuccessful. The station was soon sold to Crowell-Collier Broadcasting Company, which owned KFWB and KEWB in California. The Top 40 format of those stations was used to launch the new KDWB on October 1, 1959. KDWB quickly became a major competitor to WDGY, which had been playing a pop music format for a few years. With the 630 kHz frequency, KDWB called itself "Channel 63", and the station began its long uninterrupted run as a pop music station. KDWB also held the distinction of the first radio station ever to be fined by the Federal Communications Commission. In March 1961, six months after a revision to the Communications Act of 1934 granted it such power, the agency assessed a $10,000 penalty to the