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WCKY (AM)
Encyclopedia
WCKY is an AM
radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio
, USA
, broadcasting at 1530 kHz with 50,000 watts, and its transmitter is located in nearby Villa Hills, Kentucky
. It is a class A clear channel station, sharing the frequency with KFBK
in Sacramento
, and can be heard, particularly at night, over most of the eastern U.S. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications
and uses the on-air nickname "Cincinnati's ESPN 1530."
WCKY carries a sports talk radio format, and is the Cincinnati affiliate for ESPN Radio
, including Mike and Mike in the Morning
, Colin Cowherd
, Scott Van Pelt
, and Brian Kenny
. The station also features local sports talker Mo Egger. WCKY is the flagship station of the Cincinnati Bengals
(along with WEBN
, and are also simulcast on WLW
after Cincinnati Reds
baseball season ends). The station also broadcasts football
and basketball
play-by-play of the University of Kentucky Wildcats & Louisville Cardinals
.
Its studios (along with all other Clear Channel Cincinnati stations) are in the Towers of Kenwood building next to I-71 in the Kenwood
section of Sycamore Township
.
and fellow 50,000 watt station WLW
. WCKY's city of license moved to Cincinnati by the early 1960s. During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, WCKY was used to broadcast news and information to the area, due to its southerly directional signal pattern. During the mid-1960's, it was the flagship station for the Cincinnati Reds
, identifying itself as "your 50,000 watt Big League Baseball Station".
By the early 1970s, the L.B. Wilson estate sold WCKY to The Washington Post
, who in turn sold it off to Elkhart, Indiana
-based Federated Media. WCKY switched to News & Talk and became the first all News/talk radio station in Cincinnati. The line-up included local host Mike McMurray and for a short time now national host Doug Stephan
. Syndicated personalities included Bruce Williams and Larry King. WCKY was the local home for Rush Limbaugh when he debuted.
Sold to Jacor Communications in 1994, now Clear Channel along with sister station WOFX-FM
(then WIMJ.). WCKY's format changed with the times, from easy listening in the 1960s, to a country format in the '70s and '80s, to a news/talk format in the '80s and early '90s.
In the 1990s, a swap of call letters by then-owner Jacor Communications turned 1530 AM to WSAI
, while the WCKY talk format and call sign were merged with WLWA
550-AM. The "new" WSAI featured a standards format. Nick Clooney
returned to the station as afternoon host starting September 13, 1999, moving to mornings in November to replace Bob Braun, who left for health reasons. WSAI eventually switched to an oldies
format in early 2003. "Real Oldies 1530 WSAI" played the Top 40 hits of the 1950s and 1960s.
Because of poor ratings, the station ended up switching to a liberal
/progressive
talk
format, with the WCKY call sign returning in 2005. The new WCKY was nicknamed "The Revolution of Talk Radio" and became one of Air America's few 50,000 watt affiliates in the east. The station introduced listeners from states all over the region to Air America personalities like Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Marc Maron
and Mike Malloy. As such it attained a loyal following outside of Cincinnati but ratings in the conservative Cincinnati market never materialized. The WSAI call sign quietly returned to its previous frequency on the AM dial as sports/talk
"1360 Homer" (which first appeared on-air in 1997 under the WAZU calls).
On July 7, 2006, WCKY and WSAI switched programming once again, with WCKY carrying the sports/talk
programming as "1530 Homer", and WSAI airing the liberal/progressive
talk
format. A short while later the liberal talk format was eliminated on WSAI in favor of syndicated talk and consumer advice shows that appealed to a largely female audience. WSAI went back to a sports format in July 2007, this time as an 24-hour ESPN Radio
affiliate to complement WCKY. WCKY and WSAI would switch network affiliations again on February 15, 2010, with Fox Sports Radio moving to WSAI and ESPN Radio moving to WCKY, dropping the "Homer" nickname on-air in favor of "ESPN 1530."
Due to its 50,000 watt status, WCKY can be heard at night as far away as Chicago, Detroit
, Ludington, Michigan
, Wichita, Kansas
, and Miami, Florida
. The station has a long history of a powerful night-time signal. Its country music programming of the 1950s and 1960s brought listener responses from many points even outside the United States. In 1964, in connection with WCKY obtaining the Cincinnati Reds games, the station held a contest for the farthest listener. The winner was a U.S. serviceman stationed in Japan. The runner-up was in West Berlin. Dating back to the early 1970s, the station leased out much of the overnight hours to religious ministers because of the signal's overall reach. It is a practice that has survived numerous format and call sign changes to this day, although with a reduced presence following the most recent change to sports talk.
While the station is owned by Clear Channel Communications
, There are technically no "clear channel" stations left in the United States, as other stations are located on the 1530 dial position, particularly KFBK
in Sacramento, California
. KFBK And WCKY are both Class A broadcast facilies on this channel in the United States. KFBK and WCKY both alter their signals at night to limit their signals interference towards each other at night. And being Class A they receive higher protection than most others on this channel. This also explains why WCKY does not have to alter their signal to directional till 3 hours past local sunset. The only station they are required to protect is KFBK, and since it does not get dark on the West Coast till 3 hours later than in Cincinnati the signal will not travel toward KFBK until after dark. Thus the later protection time.
station for:
Cincinnati affiliate for:
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, broadcasting at 1530 kHz with 50,000 watts, and its transmitter is located in nearby Villa Hills, Kentucky
Villa Hills, Kentucky
The median income for a household in the city was $73,523, and the median income for a family was $79,810. Males had a median income of $60,792 versus $34,949 for females. The per capita income for the city was $34,373...
. It is a class A clear channel station, sharing the frequency with KFBK
KFBK
KFBK is a radio station in Sacramento, California broadcasting on a frequency of 1530 kHz. KFBK is a class A clear channel station, formerly designated as a class "I-B" station, sharing 1530 with WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio...
in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, and can be heard, particularly at night, over most of the eastern U.S. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
and uses the on-air nickname "Cincinnati's ESPN 1530."
WCKY carries a sports talk radio format, and is the Cincinnati affiliate for ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
, including Mike and Mike in the Morning
Mike and Mike in the Morning
Mike and Mike in the Morning is an American sports-talk radio show hosted by Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg on ESPN Radio and simulcast on television, normally on ESPN2. If ESPN is broadcasting a live sporting event during the show's timeslot, Sportscenter will air on ESPN2, and the show's...
, Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd
Colin Murray Cowherd is an American sports radio personality. He is currently the host of The Herd with Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio and ESPNews. He is also the co-host of the television show SportsNation on ESPN2.-Career:...
, Scott Van Pelt
Scott Van Pelt
Scott Van Pelt is an American sportscaster. He is an anchor for the 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter on ESPN, the host of The Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN Radio and has also covered various golf events for the network.-Early life:...
, and Brian Kenny
Brian Kenny
Brian Kenny may refer to:*Brian Kenny , MLB Network personality and journalist*Brian Kenny , Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick*Brian Kenny , British Army General...
. The station also features local sports talker Mo Egger. WCKY is the flagship station of the Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...
(along with WEBN
WEBN
WEBN is a commercial radio station serving Greater Cincinnati, airing an album-oriented rock format. The station pioneered the concept of album-oriented rock, and is in fact the longest running AOR-formatted station in the United States, first airing this format in 1967. The station is owned...
, and are also simulcast on WLW
WLW
WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
after Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
baseball season ends). The station also broadcasts football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
play-by-play of the University of Kentucky Wildcats & Louisville Cardinals
Louisville Cardinals
The Louisville Cardinals are the athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. A member of the Big East Conference since 2005, they are known nationally as traditional powers in men's basketball, women's volleyball, and dance team...
.
Its studios (along with all other Clear Channel Cincinnati stations) are in the Towers of Kenwood building next to I-71 in the Kenwood
Kenwood, Ohio
Kenwood is a census-designated place in Sycamore Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 7,423 at the 2000 census...
section of Sycamore Township
Sycamore Township, Hamilton County, Ohio
Sycamore Township is one of the twelve townships of Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 19,675 people in the township.-Geography:...
.
History
WCKY dates back to the late 1920s, and achieved a 50,000 watt signal in the early 1940s. It was founded by L.B. Wilson, a longtime broadcaster in the region. The station went on the air on September 16, 1929 at a frequency of 1480 kilocycles on the AM dial. Originally, WCKY was licensed to Covington, Kentucky, and was treated as a Kentucky-based station. This status helped WCKY's case before the FCC to increase power from the original 5,000 watts to 50,000 watts by the late 1930s - even though it was literally across the river from Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
and fellow 50,000 watt station WLW
WLW
WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
. WCKY's city of license moved to Cincinnati by the early 1960s. During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, WCKY was used to broadcast news and information to the area, due to its southerly directional signal pattern. During the mid-1960's, it was the flagship station for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
, identifying itself as "your 50,000 watt Big League Baseball Station".
By the early 1970s, the L.B. Wilson estate sold WCKY to The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, who in turn sold it off to Elkhart, Indiana
Elkhart, Indiana
Elkhart is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, northwest of Fort Wayne, east of Chicago, and north of Indianapolis...
-based Federated Media. WCKY switched to News & Talk and became the first all News/talk radio station in Cincinnati. The line-up included local host Mike McMurray and for a short time now national host Doug Stephan
Doug Stephan
Doug Stephan is an American radio talk show personality and hosts the nationally syndicated Doug Stephan's Good Day.-Radio Programs:Doug Stephan's Good Day is a "call-in" and interview show airing live Monday through Saturday featuring a fast paced format covering variety of topics...
. Syndicated personalities included Bruce Williams and Larry King. WCKY was the local home for Rush Limbaugh when he debuted.
Sold to Jacor Communications in 1994, now Clear Channel along with sister station WOFX-FM
WOFX-FM
WOFX-FM is an American radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The station plays a classic rock format. The station is owned and operated by Cumulus Media. It broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 16,000 watts...
(then WIMJ.). WCKY's format changed with the times, from easy listening in the 1960s, to a country format in the '70s and '80s, to a news/talk format in the '80s and early '90s.
In the 1990s, a swap of call letters by then-owner Jacor Communications turned 1530 AM to WSAI
WSAI
WSAI is an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Its studios are in the Towers of Kenwood building next to I-71 in the Kenwood section of Sycamore Township and its transmitter is located in Mount Healthy.WSAI is known as "Fox Sports 1360," including The Dan Patrick Show and The...
, while the WCKY talk format and call sign were merged with WLWA
WKRC (AM)
WKRC is a radio station based in Cincinnati, Ohio that is owned by Clear Channel Communications and broadcasts at 550 kHz. Broadcasting under the branding of 55KRC, the station is a news/talk outlet featuring a local morning show and national hosts like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean...
550-AM. The "new" WSAI featured a standards format. Nick Clooney
Nick Clooney
Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Clooney is an American journalist, anchorman, and television host. He is the brother of the late singer Rosemary Clooney, and father of actor and film director George Clooney.-Early life:...
returned to the station as afternoon host starting September 13, 1999, moving to mornings in November to replace Bob Braun, who left for health reasons. WSAI eventually switched to an oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
format in early 2003. "Real Oldies 1530 WSAI" played the Top 40 hits of the 1950s and 1960s.
Because of poor ratings, the station ended up switching to a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
/progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format, with the WCKY call sign returning in 2005. The new WCKY was nicknamed "The Revolution of Talk Radio" and became one of Air America's few 50,000 watt affiliates in the east. The station introduced listeners from states all over the region to Air America personalities like Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Marc Maron
Marc Maron
Marc Maron is an American stand-up comedian and podcast host.He has been host of The Marc Maron Show, and co-host of both Morning Sedition, and Breakroom Live, all politically-oriented shows, produced under the auspices of Air America Media. He was also the host of Comedy Central's Short Attention...
and Mike Malloy. As such it attained a loyal following outside of Cincinnati but ratings in the conservative Cincinnati market never materialized. The WSAI call sign quietly returned to its previous frequency on the AM dial as sports/talk
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
"1360 Homer" (which first appeared on-air in 1997 under the WAZU calls).
On July 7, 2006, WCKY and WSAI switched programming once again, with WCKY carrying the sports/talk
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
programming as "1530 Homer", and WSAI airing the liberal/progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format. A short while later the liberal talk format was eliminated on WSAI in favor of syndicated talk and consumer advice shows that appealed to a largely female audience. WSAI went back to a sports format in July 2007, this time as an 24-hour ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
affiliate to complement WCKY. WCKY and WSAI would switch network affiliations again on February 15, 2010, with Fox Sports Radio moving to WSAI and ESPN Radio moving to WCKY, dropping the "Homer" nickname on-air in favor of "ESPN 1530."
Due to its 50,000 watt status, WCKY can be heard at night as far away as Chicago, Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Ludington, Michigan
Ludington, Michigan
Ludington is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,357. It is the county seat of Mason County.Ludington is a harbor town located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Pere Marquette River...
, Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
, and Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. The station has a long history of a powerful night-time signal. Its country music programming of the 1950s and 1960s brought listener responses from many points even outside the United States. In 1964, in connection with WCKY obtaining the Cincinnati Reds games, the station held a contest for the farthest listener. The winner was a U.S. serviceman stationed in Japan. The runner-up was in West Berlin. Dating back to the early 1970s, the station leased out much of the overnight hours to religious ministers because of the signal's overall reach. It is a practice that has survived numerous format and call sign changes to this day, although with a reduced presence following the most recent change to sports talk.
While the station is owned by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
, There are technically no "clear channel" stations left in the United States, as other stations are located on the 1530 dial position, particularly KFBK
KFBK
KFBK is a radio station in Sacramento, California broadcasting on a frequency of 1530 kHz. KFBK is a class A clear channel station, formerly designated as a class "I-B" station, sharing 1530 with WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio...
in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. KFBK And WCKY are both Class A broadcast facilies on this channel in the United States. KFBK and WCKY both alter their signals at night to limit their signals interference towards each other at night. And being Class A they receive higher protection than most others on this channel. This also explains why WCKY does not have to alter their signal to directional till 3 hours past local sunset. The only station they are required to protect is KFBK, and since it does not get dark on the West Coast till 3 hours later than in Cincinnati the signal will not travel toward KFBK until after dark. Thus the later protection time.
Play-by-play
FlagshipFlagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
station for:
- Cincinnati BengalsCincinnati BengalsThe Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...
footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
(shared with sister stations WEBNWEBNWEBN is a commercial radio station serving Greater Cincinnati, airing an album-oriented rock format. The station pioneered the concept of album-oriented rock, and is in fact the longest running AOR-formatted station in the United States, first airing this format in 1967. The station is owned...
and WLWWLWWLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
)
Cincinnati affiliate for:
- University of Kentucky Wildcats football and basketball.
- University of Louisville CardinalsLouisville CardinalsThe Louisville Cardinals are the athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. A member of the Big East Conference since 2005, they are known nationally as traditional powers in men's basketball, women's volleyball, and dance team...
football and basketball.
External links
- Official Website
- Official Social Network site of 1530Homer
- Jim Hawkins' WCKY Transmitter Page
- Scott Fybush's WCKY Transmitter Page (under the WSAI heading)
- WCKY at the Greater Cincinnati Radio History Page