While owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, the station is currently operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. as part of their Philadelphia cluster under a long-term local marketing agreement.

In addition to a standard analog transmission, WTEL programming is simulcast over the second HD Radio digital subchannel of WDAS-FM, and is available online via iHeartRadio.

In the race to be the first department store on the air, Strawbridge & Clothier's WFI debuted on March 18, starting with a 10:16 a.m. speech by John F. Braun, president of the Art Alliance and the Music League.

[2] However, an advertisement placed by Gimbels on the previous day claimed that "Philadelphia's first radio broadcasting by any store, opened this morning at 9 o'clock", and, somewhat vaguely, "Details of programs will speedily unfold".

[9] The department store's March 18 advertisement for WIP further asserted that "Yesterday's broadcasting was most successful", although it provided no details about the nature of any earlier transmissions.

[18] On November 11, 1928, as part of the implementation of a major nationwide reallocation under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40, WIP was assigned to a "regional" frequency, 610 kHz, along with a new timesharing partner, the Keystone Broadcasting Company's WFAN.

Announcers during this time period included Joe McCauley (the "Morning Mayor"), Ned Powers, Tom Brown, and Chuck Daugherty.

During this time, Metromedia's station in New York, WNEW, had similar programming and it was not uncommon for DJs to swap back and forth for subbing duties.

The events were staged on a large scale, in venues like hotel ballrooms, with local and national celebrities visiting the live broadcast.

WIP's best-known contest was Cash Call, a call-out game in which the DJs picked numbers out of the phone book or from postcards submitted by listeners.

The intro to the contest was the first 10 seconds of a song called "The Sound Of Money" by the J's with Jamie, a vocal group that recorded many commercial jingles and three albums.

As the popularity of music on FM radio grew, stations like Magic 103 (now 102.9 WMGK) and Kiss 100 began to eat away at WIP's audience.

After many years of ownership by Metromedia the station was purchased by Ed Snider's Spectacor Group, the longtime owner of the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers, in 1988.

WIP continued playing music on Saturday mornings for a short time before the transition to all-sports (save for an overnight talk show with Larry King/Jim Bohannon) was complete in November 1988.

Joe Conklin left WIP in January 2003, and was followed by Mike Missanelli that May 1; both joined WMMR to begin a morning show called Philly Guys.

Missanelli rejoined WIP in July 2005 to co-host a midday show with Anthony Gargano, but was fired on March 20, 2006, for on- and off-air altercations with workers.

The station, and Angelo Cataldi, made headlines when Cataldi arranged for a group of Eagles fans to attend the 1999 NFL draft in New York City and demand the Eagles select University of Texas at Austin running back Ricky Williams with the team's #2 pick; this led to the infamous booing of the decision to select Donovan McNabb.

Howard Eskin's achievements included a "funeral" for Terrell Owens following the announcement of Owens's four-game suspension from the Eagles during the 2005-2006 season, and a short-lived hunger strike in support of trading Philadelphia 76ers superstar Allen Iverson; Eskin was suspended by WIP for 30 days on September 9, 2004, in order to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Richard Sprague, a lawyer for Iverson.

WTEL airs ESPN shows almost around the clock, except for Philadelphia Union Soccer Games, the Philadelphia Phillies farm team, the Reading Fightin Phils, Villanova Mens Basketball, Villanova Football and public access shows on weekends which include food, real estate, gardening and Italian-American programs.

On August 18, 2020, it was initially reported by Philadelphia sports blog Crossing Broad, and later independently verified by radio news website RadioInsight, that Beasley Broadcast Group would soon lease out WTEL's operation to iHeartMedia.