WWWL (1350 AM, "The Bet New Orleans") is a commercial radio station in New Orleans, Louisiana. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts a sports gambling format. The station's studios are located at the 400 Poydras Tower in Downtown New Orleans. The transmitter site is in Algiers, near the city limits of Gretna and Terrytown. The station operates at 5,000 watts around the clock, although after sunset, it switches to a directional antenna. The station is simulcast on FM translator station W225CZ (92.9 FM). History Early years This station carried the call sign WSMB from its founding until 2006. It signed on the airwaves April 1, 1925, as New Orleans' first professional radio station, a joint commercial venture by the local Saenger Theatre and the Maison Blanche department store. Programming was provided by the Saenger, allowing Maison Blanche to sell radio sets in the store so customers could hear the station's programming. For most of its early history, the studios were located on the thirteenth floor of the Maison Blanche Building on Canal Street, a few blocks from the theater. By the 1930s, WSMB was an affiliate of the NBC Red Network, carrying its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the Golden Age of Radio. Switch to MOR and talk As network programming shifted to TV in the 1960s, WSMB moved to a full service format of middle of the road music (MOR), news and talk. WSMB found success in the ratings, primarily on the strength of morning drive time personalities Roy Roberts and Jeff Hugg, known as "Nut and Jeff," and midday political talk show host, Keith Rush. Musically, the station in the 1960s was a mix of pop standards and the softer sounds of rock and roll. In the 1970s, WSMB moved to a more adult contemporary music sound. The station played moderate amounts of music during morning and afternoon drive times while being music intensive and leaning toward oldies overnights and weekends. By 1980, as music listening shifted to FM, WSMB's ratings had dropped. The station gradually cut back on music through the early 1980s. By 1985, WSMB was strictly news and talk, using the ABC Radio Information Network and its Talk Radio service. Moving to all talk still did not bring ratings up. In 1988, WSMB was sold to Winton Communications, which kept the talk format in place