1280 first signed on in 1923 as WCBE, owned by Joseph Uhalt and based in his New Orleans backyard. In 1928, he moved the station to the DeSoto Hotel in downtown New Orleans and changed the calls to WDSU. For many years, it was a middle-of-the-road formatted station. In 1948, it spawned Louisiana's first television station, WDSU-TV. A year later, it added an FM station, now WQUE. The radio stations were sold in 1972, and the AM became WGSO with an adult contemporary format. Around 1984 it switched to a Top 40/CHR format as "Stereo 13Q" under the WQUE call sign. On December 21, 1985 the station switched to R&B oldies as WMKJ, "Majic 1280". Soon thereafter, it became a simulcast of WQUE-FM after the station evolved to a CHUrban format. In the early 1990s WQUE tried to change to an all-sports format that included broadcasts of the New Orleans Saints, but it was a failure. On February 1, 1996 the station flipped to an all-blues format as WODT. Despite good ratings, the format did not attract advertisers. In October 2003 WODT moved to sports/talk programing from Fox Sports Radio, ESPN Radio and The Jim Rome Show. WODT was the flagship station of the New Orleans Hornetsradio network from 2003–2006. Hornets radio color analyst Gerry Vaillancourt hosted a popular afternoon sports talk call-in show from May 2004—December 2006. The sports format ran for almost five years. The station's final sports-era legal ID was an homage both to the station's small, but loyal following, and to the Jim Rome Show; it contained a frequent Rome Show sign-off clip On June 25, 2008, WODT switched to an urban contemporary gospel format, complementing a similar format on sister stationWYLD. On September 4, 2012, the station flipped to the syndicated ESPN Deportes format. On September 15, 2014 WODT switched from ESPN Deportes' Spanish-language sports programming back to English-language sports, with programming from Fox Sports Radio. WODT is not available on HD on AM but it is on WNOE FM HD2. A translator on 96.7 FM is planned for WODT in 2020. On June 29, 2020, fifteen iHeart stations in markets with large African American populations, including WODT, began stunting with African American speeches, interspersed with messages such as "Our Voices Will Be Heard" and "Our side of the story is about to be told," with a new format slated to launch on June 30. That day, WODT, along with the other fourteen stations, became the launch stations for the BlackInformation Network, an African American-oriented all-news network.
