As WBET WBMS signed on as WBET on November 27, 1946. The station was owned by The Brockton Publishing Company, with studios on 60 Main Street in Brockton, inside the headquarters of
The Enterprise newspaper. The original frequency was 990 kHz, daytime only, but by 1952 would move to its current 1460 kHz frequency due to the owners of WBET buying the two other Brockton stations, WBKA (1450 AM) and WBKA-FM (107.1). WBET then turned in the licenses for 990 and 107.1 and moved WBET to 1460. WBKA had been owned by Joseph Curran. The 1951 Broadcasting Yearbook does not list either WBKA or WBKA-FM but the 1953 Broadcasting Yearbook lists WBET as having a construction permit for 1460 with 1,000 watts and the following year is listed as being on 1460. FM simulcast service would be added with the 1948 launch of WBET-FM (97.7). When WBET would sign off at sundown, WBET-FM provided service through the nighttime hours. In 1976, WBET-FM ended its simulcasts of the AM station and began broadcasting a
top 40 format. A year later, its call letters were changed to WCAV. In 1982, the station switched to a
country music format and remained with it until 1999 when
Radio One purchased the station and moved its studios out of Brockton. The station was put up for sale in 2011. On May 2, 2012, WXBR staff was evicted from its studios for failure by its owner to pay rent. During this time, the station aired only those programs syndicated by the Business Talk Radio Network.
Sale to Azure Media On May 18, 2012, the
Federal Communications Commission approved the sale of WXBR to Azure Media, LLC., a
Haitian American-owned radio group based in
Miami Gardens, Florida. The station's local programming returned to the air that day with its rent paid. On August 3, 2012, Azure Media officially took control of WXBR and signed the station off at 7 P.M. the same day. Former station personalities Dawn Carr and Dennis DeNapoli were on hand at its 60 Main Street studios to announce that the station would be off the air as its studios were relocated and thank all of its current personalities and staff at the time. This was followed by a vintage programming
promo voiced by Jack Ainslie from its days as WBET and the playing of "
Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)" by
The Four Seasons. DeNapoli read the final station identification before the station went silent. Azure Media constructed new studios on 250 Belmont Street in Brockton with new studio equipment and replaced the station's transmitter. Also, a new logo and website was designed. The new owners intended to return most of WXBR's original programming and hosts under the previous ownership and invite local businesses and community members to start new programs on the station. The station was originally scheduled to return to the air on September 12, 2012. However, problems with the installation of the new transmitter delayed that return. It was later revealed that copper plates needed to transmit were allegedly stolen from its transmitter site in West Bridgewater among other unexpected issues. Those issues were successfully resolved and almost six months to the day after the station signed off, WXBR returned to the air on February 2, 2013, at 6:50 P.M. with a 30-minute test broadcast consisting of a mix of classic rock and country music played from its new studios. More
stunting was periodically conducted in the days that followed. The station officially returned to the air on March 5, 2013. Azure attempted to restore WXBR's original format of local news, talk, sports and variety programming with a mix of longtime personalities, new faces and syndicated offerings. They also encouraged community members to purchase time on the station to develop new programs under a
time-brokered format. However, according to reports, the station had been unsuccessful with these efforts and was losing revenue under this format. On July 7, 2014, Azure Media announced that it would be ending WXBR's in-house broadcasts and change the station's format to ethnic
Haitian Creole. The station's last day of airing local news and talk programs was July 11, 2014. The station was branded as
Radio Azure 1460, adopted the slogan ''La Radio Haitienne de
Boston (Boston's Haitian Radio Station)'', and had its studios relocated to
Randolph, Massachusetts.
Sale to Marshfield Broadcasting Company, as WATD/WBMS On April 29, 2015, the Marshfield Broadcasting Company and owner Ed Perry entered into an agreement to purchase WXBR from Azure Media. The station was taken silent shortly thereafter and the sale was closed on July 17, 2015, at a purchase price of $165,000. The new owner planned to bring the station's studios back to Brockton, restore its original full service format and change its call sign to WATD, in reference to the company's
flagship station,
WATD-FM in
Marshfield. The station changed its call sign to WATD on April 28, 2016. Beatrice Innocent Cesar's Fraternity Broadcasting Group agreed to purchase WBMS from Marshfield Broadcasting for $350,000 in late 2023. The sale was completed on January 31, 2024. ==Programming==