WAQI (710 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Miami, Florida, United States, featuring a Spanish-language oldies format known as . Owned by Latino Media Network and formerly operated by Uforia Audio Network, the radio division of TelevisaUnivision, under a transitional agreement, the station broadcasts with 50,000 watts and serves as South Florida's designated primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System, one of three in the state. The studios are located at Univision's Miami headquarters, and the transmitter is located at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Florida State Road 997, near the edge of the Everglades.
WFTL went on the air from Fort Lauderdale in 1939. The local station raised its profile by switching to its present frequency in 1943 and becoming the highest-power station in Florida at the time. It was acquired by George B. Storer in 1944, after a controversial acquisition that resulted in government scrutiny, and moved to Miami the next year. WGBS grew into a 50,000-watt station, and Storer became headquartered in Miami, starting first an FM station and an ill-fated TV station. It generally aired an adult music format after the 1950s. When Storer opted to exit radio at the end of 1978, Jefferson-Pilot Communications purchased its Miami radio properties, converting the low-rated WGBS to a talk format in February 1983.
In 1985, Jefferson-Pilot sold WGBS to buy WNWS (790 AM), then its direct competitor, merging the two stations' programming on the 790 frequency that had a better signal into Broward County. The 710 facility, with its strong signal into Cuba, was then spun off to Cuban-American businessman Amancio Suárez, resulting in the foundation of WAQI Radio Mambí. Known for its hardline anticommunist stance from the start, Mambí has ranked among the most popular Spanish-language stations in South Florida and is also jammed by the Cuban government; however, it was criticized for disseminating disinformation, particularly by groups on the left. Sales of Radio Mambí in 1995 and 2022 attracted attention in political circles. The station ceased regular programming on December 12, 2025.
WFTL in Fort Lauderdale On January 10, 1939, Tom M. Bryan filed for a construction permit to build a new local radio station to serve Fort Lauderdale on the frequency of 1370 kHz, with 250 watts during the day and 100 at night. (Guide to reading History Cards) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted Bryan the permit on July 12, 1939, and on December 3, 1939, WFTL made its first broadcasts from studios and a transmitter site on Andrews Avenue. Bryan had brought other pioneering local businesses to Lauderdale prior to building WFTL; these included the city's first ice plant and telephone company. The station upgraded nighttime power to 250 watts in 1940 and moved to 1400 kHz in 1941 with the frequency changes of NARBA.
In February 1941, Bryan filed to sell WFTL to Ralph A. Horton. While there was concern that the association of Horton with a local newspaper, the morning Fort Lauderdale Times, could block the sale, the FCC approved on July 1. Within months of Horton acquiring WFTL, the station joined the Mutual Broadcasting System, becoming the closest Mutual station to Miami, and in October, Horton filed to move to 710 kHz and increase power to 10,000 watts from a new transmitter site west of the city, which the FCC approved on January 6, 1942. At the time, one Miami station (WIOD) broadcast with 5,000 watts, and a second, WQAM, was slated to join it. Materials restrictions associated with the outbreak of World War II slowed work, but by late 1942, the building expansion had been completed, as had the necessary three-tower array. Not only was the station increasing its power to become the largest in Florida, it announced it would set up Miami studios in the Mayfair Theater, quarters originally used by the Miami Conservatory of Music.
The upgrade and new frequency took effect on February 24, 1943, bringing a full-power Mutual signal to Miami.
WGBS Storer purchase and move to Miami
Two months after activating the 10,000-watt facility and new Miami studios, Horton—later citing his lack of knowledge of the radio business—announced he would sell WFTL to the Fort Industry Company, led by George B. Storer, for $275,000; Storer would move the station on a full-time basis to Miami, where he owned a home in Surfside. The FCC slated the transaction for hearing, during which time it was revealed that Fort Industry was keeping the station afloat while the transaction was pending.
The FCC approved the sale on February 29, 1944, and work began to move the station's operations to Miami on a full-time basis. However, several legal concerns and even questions before a House committee investigating the FCC were raised over two issues: the fact that the same attorney, Andrew Bennett, worked for both Horton and Storer, and allegations that FCC chairman James Lawrence Fly had accepted a $17.30 gratuity from Storer to pay for a stay at an Atlanta hotel. Fly denied having any influence with regard to the sale of WFTL. John Sirica, serving as counsel to the House committee, declared that there had been a conspiracy by Fly, Storer, Bennett and others to obtain WFTL. An editorial in the Fort Lauderdale Daily News pointed out Horton's admitted lack of expertise, quipping that "he didn't know a kilocycle from a station-break and he admitted it" and noting that Horton had entered into a refinancing contract that was an unauthorized transfer of control. A final statement from the committee, released at the start of 1945, chided Fly for "putting the heat on" to pressure Horton to sell, declared Bennett's actions to be a "double-crossing" of Horton, and found the sale price "entirely too low" in view of WFTL's business prospects.
In December 1944, WFTL announced it would leave Mutual on June 15, 1945, to join the Blue Network, replacing WKAT (1360 AM). Prior to the change in network affiliation, the station dropped the WFTL call sign and took Storer's initials as its own, becoming WGBS on April 16. WGBS and WQAM exchanged network affiliations in 1947, with WGBS picking up the CBS affiliation, as part of a group deal that also gave affiliation to Fort Industry's WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia, and WAGA in Atlanta. The FCC approved a daytime power increase to 50,000 watts in 1947, and work was completed in January 1949, making WGBS the first 50,000-watt station in Florida. In 1952, the Fort Industry Company, named prior to owning radio and television properties, changed its name to Storer Broadcasting Company.
Expansion into FM and TV
In 1948, an FM radio station, WGBS-FM, was launched primarily to simulcast WGBS's AM transmission. However, by 1957, it was operating just six hours a day, six days a week.
Storer had been attempting to enter Miami television, but ownership limit complications complicated its path until Storer was able to buy a UHF television station, WFTL-TV (channel 23), in 1954, the same year it moved its corporate offices to Miami Beach. Like with WFTL radio a decade before, Storer moved the station to Miami as WGBS-TV. After losing the NBC affiliation to new VHF station WCKT (channel 7) in 1956, WGBS-TV continued for a year as an independent before shutting down on April 13, 1957, and selling its studio facility and other assets to Public Service Television, which was preparing to put WPST-TV (channel 10) on the air. Storer declared it to have never been profitable.
WGBS in the 1960s and '70s
CBS Radio's elimination of the bulk of its entertainment programming on November 28, 1960, spurred WGBS to disaffiliate from the network and become an independent. Likewise, WGBS adopted a format of beautiful music/middle of the road format similar to one successfully implemented by co-owned WJW in Cleveland, Ohio, earlier in the year. To assist the 10-person news department, WGBS established or arranged for international news bureaus throughout Europe and Asia, along with bureaus in the U.S. In October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, WGBS's high power became of utility to the federal government. It requisitioned airtime on WGBS, WCKR (the former WIOD), and WMIE for three weeks to broadcast Spanish-language Voice of America output to Cuba at night; during this time, normal WGBS programs were heard only on FM. In November, this was relaxed after VOA built its own station at Marathon, though WGBS still continued to air three hours a day of VOA output at night.
In 1964, Storer made a $1 million investment in WGBS. It built a new transmitter site in South Broward, allowing it to raise its nighttime power to 50,000 watts, and a new, colonial-style office building was constructed at 710 Brickell Avenue, leaving the Mayfair after 20 years. The building opened in December 1965; Storer commissioned a custom song, "Make Ours Miami", to mark the occasion, and local governments declared "WGBS Week" in Miami. Arnie Warren, formerly of WKAT, joined WGBS in 1966 and would serve as its morning show host for 13 years. By this time, the station was cemented as an adult contemporary outlet. WGBS-FM also saw an upgrade: Storer repurchased the former WGBS-TV transmission tower from Public Service Television (whose license for WPST-TV had been revoked by the FCC) to help enable a power upgrade to 100,000 watts. The station broadcast the Miami Floridians of the American Basketball Association for three of their four seasons of existence, taking over from WOCN (1450 AM) in 1969.
Storer renamed WGBS-FM as WJHR, in honor of Storer Broadcasting co-founder J. Harold Ryan, in 1969, then sold off both it and their Detroit FM outlet in 1970 to Bartell Broadcasters. Storer would return to FM by buying WLYF (101.5 FM) from Sudbrink Communications for $5.56 million in early 1978.
Jefferson-Pilot ownership Storer opted to exit radio entirely in late 1978 and began to find buyers for its radio properties, using the profits to invest further in cable TV systems. Storer asked $14 million for its Miami radio operation, but WGBS and WLYF-FM were ultimately sold for $12.5 million to Jefferson-Pilot Communications in February 1979; the FCC approved of the transaction that December. The stations moved in 1982 to studios in North Dade, allowing Jefferson-Pilot to sell the Brickell studios to Northern Trust Bank of Florida in what marked a record for a property sale on that major thoroughfare. (The building, last used by the Miami Today newspaper, was demolished in 2013.)
Ratings for the adult contemporary format declined during Jefferson-Pilot ownership as music listening continued to shift to FM, and WGBS was the last station to broadcast such a format on the AM dial. In February 1983, WGBS switched to a news/talk format, with hosts including David Gold and Mike Siegel. However, ratings were low throughout the run as three other stations battled with WGBS in that format, and by mid-1984, it was attracting ratings comparable to its prior adult contemporary sound with higher programming costs, though it was making a profit.
WAQI Sale to Suárez
In July 1985, Jefferson-Pilot announced it would purchase one of the direct competitors to WGBS, WNWS (790 AM), with its superior signal in Broward County and stronger ratings. The stations worked toward a merger in November, in which four WNWS hosts and two WGBS hosts headed the new WNWS talk lineup.
Because at the time no company could own multiple AM stations in the same area, the WGBS facility and license—though not the studios—was sold to the Mambisa Broadcasting Corporation for $3.5 million. Mambisa was headed by Amancio Víctor Suárez, a 49-year-old self-made millionaire with no broadcast experience, and named for the , Cuban independence fighters of the 19th century. Suárez had arrived in Florida penniless as a 19-year-old, with interests in home construction and the manufacture of watches and telephone answering machines.