In 1985, Dolly Banks retired after the African-American employees of sister station WHAT, along with the Black Media Caucus in Washington, D.C., sued the estate, receiving millions of dollars and forcing an estate sale of WWDB. The sale, which was overseen by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), required the stations to go to black ownership. WWDB was sold to Ragen Henry, a black Philadelphia attorney, for an undervalued amount of $6 million. Henry's law firm had worked for the Banks family. Irv Homer had to testify before the FCC. In 1986, Charles Schwartz purchased WWDB from Ragan Henry and ran it under the name of Panache Broadcasting. In 1996, Mercury Broadcasting purchased WWDB for $48 million. After having been all-local, WWDB, under Mercury ownership, added nationally syndicated personalities such as Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura. Beasley Broadcasting of Florida purchased WWDB-FM for $65 million from Mercury Broadcasting in 1999. The new owners at first said that the talk format would continue, but the high salaries earned by the veteran talk hosts became an expense the new owners did not want to pay. To earn extra money, the station began playing extended infomercials. After lawsuits filed by the Gay Alliance of Philadelphia, Beasley Broadcasting decided to change the format with no notice given ahead of time. On November 3, 2000, Beasley registered the new call sign WPTP for the station. At 9 a.m. on November 6, the day before the U.S. Presidential Election, the station began stunting with a computer-generated countdown. At 5 p.m. that day, WWDB's format was changed to 1980s hits, known as "96-5 The Point." The first song was "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds. The buyout of the WWDB hosts' contracts is said to have cost Beasley $5 million. The WPTP call sign went into effect on November 22, 2000. WPTP shifted to Hot AC in early 2003. The Hot AC format would not last long, as the station continued to see low ratings. (WPTP's closest rival with the format, WMWX, also had low ratings during this time.) On November 17, 2003, at 7:50 a.m., WPTP began stunting with Christmas music as "Snowy 96.5." At 5 p.m. that day, after a bit with morning host Paul Barsky, WPTP changed to rhythmic contemporary as "Wild 96.5", and changed call signs to WLDW.