WFOB
Encyclopedia
WFOB is a commercially licensed AM radio station
, broadcasting at 1430 kilohertz at a maximum power output of 1,000 watts, with a three-tower directional antenna pattern, with differing constants day and night. WFOB is licensed to Fostoria, Ohio
, which is located in Wood
, Seneca
, and Hancock
counties.
in Findlay, Ohio
; the seat of government for Hancock County. At the time, there was no local radio station on the air serving Seneca and Wood Counties. For many years, WFOB operated from its transmitter site at 1407 U.S. Route 23 just south of Fostoria, but would move to its present location at 101 North Main Street in downtown Fostoria by 1990.
Tri-County Broadcasting, also known as TCB Holdings, purchased WFOB and its sister station, WBVI
, in 1986. TCB Chairman Donald P. Miller, was also president of Roppe Corporation, known for its rubber products, particularly for matting staircases in office buildings and other commercial dwellings. Miller, a loyal Fostorian, purchased the station to assure the community that the mission of WFOB and WBVI would continue to be that of a "community first" radio station, and not turn its back on its community roots to serve Toledo or other area outside of its licensed community.
Under TCB's direction, WFOB thrived more than ever before, thanks to constant re-investment in the station, as technology continued to evolve over the years. Vinyl records and magnetic tape would be replaced by CDs, satellite technology and computer hard-disk audio storage, thus reducing periodic maintenance costs. WFOB's constant presence in the community from its local news coverage and broadcasting of special events further bolstered its position as a full-service station serving Seneca, Wood and Hancock Counties.
on the same channel and with the same power and an almost identical antenna pattern propagation. WBRB, having been in financial difficulty for some time, fell silent in 1989. Attempts to find a buyer for the bankrupt station proved futile, and that station was silenced for good after competitor Walter Wolpin (who owned WCAR
in Livonia) purchased the license and assets in a 1992 bankruptcy court sale, returning the license to the FCC, with its towers being dismantled the following year, and the razing of its studio building not long after that. After WBRB went off the air, WFOB's signal, no longer inhibited by WBRB, could be heard clearly in the Detroit Metropolitan Area except where adjacent channel interference from AM 1440 WMKM
(which debuted in 1990) in the Detroit suburb of Inkster
was too great.
WFOB serves both Fostoria and Bowling Green
, the county seat of Wood County, and once was the home of Bowling Green University. To better serve the listeners of Bowling Green, TCB built a second studio facility for WFOB on the second floor of a building in downtown Bowling Green. This studio was be manned by its own news director, who would also break in with local news and sports from the Wood County area, and also serve as a satellite sales office for reps selling WFOB and WBVI airtime in this area. Transmissions were made from this studio to the main Fostoria facility via FM STL
microwave.
. The station eventually used ABC Radio's Memories
and then Timeless Favorites
programming during some day parts.
WFOB on Monday, September 1, 2008 dropped all music programming and began broadcasting ESPN Radio. It also aired local news, weather and sports such as the Cleveland Indians
and Cleveland Browns
. (It had held the local broadcasting rights to the Indians, Browns, and Ohio State University
football and basketball prior to the switch.)
On June 1, 2009, WFOB switched to Sporting News Radio
and also added The Dan Patrick Show
to its lineup along with reinstating a live weekday morning show originating from Fostoria. The morning show is hosted by Josh Hohman and Vic Travagliante (www.wfob.com/mornings) . WFOB also provides local sports programming, including local high school football and basketball along with local shows such as "The Sports Huddle" hosted by Vic Travagliante and "Scoreboard Show" hosted by Burley Stapley, Brian Cooper and Shannon Miller during the football season and Vic Travagliante & Josh Hohman during the basketball season. WFOB broadcasts professional sports including the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toledo Mud Hens and Cleveland Browns as well as the Ohio State University (Football, Men's & Women's Basketball)
WFOB was also one of the first stations in the country to invest in AM stereo
technology. The FCC didn't adopt a standard for AM Stereo until 1993. Following the lead of other stations who had given up on it, WFOB dropped its AM stereo transmission in 2005.
WFOB has enjoyed a long history of tenured personnel over the years such as Burley Stapley, Mike Fry, and John Conlin. Donald and Judy Miller currently oversee the operation of the station.
WFOBsports.com is the station's online source for high school sports in the Hancock, Wood and Seneca County region, and generally broadcasts football and basketball. During the fall, WFOBsports.com consists of a online portal, where every Friday night, and many Saturdays as well, local high school sports can be heard through the calls of Trevor Newby, the voice of WFOBsports.com.
On August 1, 2011, Sporting News Radio changed its branding to become Yahoo! Sports Radio. WFOB changed along with the network to be known as WFOB 1430- Yahoo! Sports Radio.
www.wfob.com/mornings
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...
, broadcasting at 1430 kilohertz at a maximum power output of 1,000 watts, with a three-tower directional antenna pattern, with differing constants day and night. WFOB is licensed to Fostoria, Ohio
Fostoria, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,931 people, 5,565 households, and 3,628 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,917.6 people per square mile . There were 6,024 housing units at an average density of 829.2 per square mile...
, which is located in Wood
Wood County, Ohio
Wood County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 125,488. Its county seat is Bowling Green. The county was named for Captain Eleazer D. Wood, the engineer for General William Henry Harrison's army, who built Fort Meigs in the War of 1812...
, Seneca
Seneca County, Ohio
Seneca County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 56,745. Its county seat is Tiffin and it is named for the Seneca Indians.The Tiffin Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Seneca County....
, and Hancock
Hancock County, Ohio
Hancock County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 74,782. Its county seat is Findlay and was named for John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence...
counties.
History
WFOB first went on the air in 1948, and was the second radio station to go on the air serving this immediate area, seven years after the premiere of WFINWFIN
WFIN is a radio station broadcasting a Talk radio format. Licensed to Findlay, Ohio, USA, the station is currently owned by Blanchard River Broadcasting Company....
in Findlay, Ohio
Findlay, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 38,967 people, 15,905 households, and 10,004 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,266.3 people per square mile . There were 17,152 housing units at an average density of 997.6 per square mile...
; the seat of government for Hancock County. At the time, there was no local radio station on the air serving Seneca and Wood Counties. For many years, WFOB operated from its transmitter site at 1407 U.S. Route 23 just south of Fostoria, but would move to its present location at 101 North Main Street in downtown Fostoria by 1990.
WBVI
WBVI is a commercially licensed radio station, broadcasting from Fostoria, Ohio, but is marketed as a Findlay radio station. WBVI is owned and operated by the Roppe Corporation, but does business as TCB Holdings, Inc. It airs a Hot Adult Contemporary music format.-History: Beginnings as...
, in 1986. TCB Chairman Donald P. Miller, was also president of Roppe Corporation, known for its rubber products, particularly for matting staircases in office buildings and other commercial dwellings. Miller, a loyal Fostorian, purchased the station to assure the community that the mission of WFOB and WBVI would continue to be that of a "community first" radio station, and not turn its back on its community roots to serve Toledo or other area outside of its licensed community.
Under TCB's direction, WFOB thrived more than ever before, thanks to constant re-investment in the station, as technology continued to evolve over the years. Vinyl records and magnetic tape would be replaced by CDs, satellite technology and computer hard-disk audio storage, thus reducing periodic maintenance costs. WFOB's constant presence in the community from its local news coverage and broadcasting of special events further bolstered its position as a full-service station serving Seneca, Wood and Hancock Counties.
The Power Increase That Wasn't
In 1989, WFOB listeners were able to hear their local radio station at a much greater distance. Prior to this time, WFOB's signal transmission would barely be heard in the Toledo city limits, due to the presence of another radio station, WBRB, broadcasting from the Detroit suburb of Mount Clemens, MichiganMount Clemens, Michigan
Mount Clemens is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 17,312. It is the county seat of Macomb County.-Early history:...
on the same channel and with the same power and an almost identical antenna pattern propagation. WBRB, having been in financial difficulty for some time, fell silent in 1989. Attempts to find a buyer for the bankrupt station proved futile, and that station was silenced for good after competitor Walter Wolpin (who owned WCAR
WCAR
WCAR, 1090 AM, in the Detroit market, is a 24-hour talk radio station based out of Livonia, Michigan. The station airs a variety of talk show programs, including the nationally syndicated Imus in the Morning.- History :...
in Livonia) purchased the license and assets in a 1992 bankruptcy court sale, returning the license to the FCC, with its towers being dismantled the following year, and the razing of its studio building not long after that. After WBRB went off the air, WFOB's signal, no longer inhibited by WBRB, could be heard clearly in the Detroit Metropolitan Area except where adjacent channel interference from AM 1440 WMKM
WDRJ
WDRJ is an AM radio station broadcasting at 1440 kHz licensed to Inkster, Michigan, and serving the Detroit radio market. Owned by Davidson Media Group, the station airs an Urban Gospel format branded as Rejoice 1440 AM...
(which debuted in 1990) in the Detroit suburb of Inkster
Inkster, Michigan
Inkster is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2010 census, the city population was 25,369. It is one of several suburbs in Metro Detroit whose population is majority or plurality African American.- History :...
was too great.
WFOB serves both Fostoria and Bowling Green
Bowling Green, Ohio
Bowling Green is the county seat of Wood County in the U.S. state of Ohio. At the time of the 2010 census, the population of Bowling Green was 30,028. It is part of the Toledo, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bowling Green is the home of Bowling Green State University...
, the county seat of Wood County, and once was the home of Bowling Green University. To better serve the listeners of Bowling Green, TCB built a second studio facility for WFOB on the second floor of a building in downtown Bowling Green. This studio was be manned by its own news director, who would also break in with local news and sports from the Wood County area, and also serve as a satellite sales office for reps selling WFOB and WBVI airtime in this area. Transmissions were made from this studio to the main Fostoria facility via FM STL
Studio/transmitter link
A studio-transmitter link sends a radio station's or television station's audio and video from the broadcast studio to a radio transmitter or television transmitter in another location....
microwave.
WFOB today
WFOB continued into the beginning of the twenty-first century as a full-service news, weather, sports and music station, with the music being a blend of Adult Contemporary and OldiesOldies
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....
. The station eventually used ABC Radio's Memories
Unforgettable Favorites
Unforgettable Favorites was a satellite driven format distributed by ABC Radio Networks...
and then Timeless Favorites
Timeless (radio network)
Timeless was a 24-hour satellite music service of Citadel Media . It has distributed a mix of soft oldies and adult standards to radio stations around the USA...
programming during some day parts.
WFOB on Monday, September 1, 2008 dropped all music programming and began broadcasting ESPN Radio. It also aired local news, weather and sports such as the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
and Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. (It had held the local broadcasting rights to the Indians, Browns, and Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
football and basketball prior to the switch.)
On June 1, 2009, WFOB switched to Sporting News Radio
Sporting News Radio
Yahoo! Sports Radio, formerly Sporting News Radio is a United States sports radio network that broadcasts sports news, talk, scores, and highlights 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On August 1, 2011, it was announced the network would change its name to Yahoo! Sports Radio, effective...
and also added The Dan Patrick Show
The Dan Patrick Show
The Dan Patrick Show is a syndicated sports talk show hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by DirecTV Sports Group and is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. The three-hour program broadcasts live every day beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern/6 a.m. Pacific time on Fox...
to its lineup along with reinstating a live weekday morning show originating from Fostoria. The morning show is hosted by Josh Hohman and Vic Travagliante (www.wfob.com/mornings) . WFOB also provides local sports programming, including local high school football and basketball along with local shows such as "The Sports Huddle" hosted by Vic Travagliante and "Scoreboard Show" hosted by Burley Stapley, Brian Cooper and Shannon Miller during the football season and Vic Travagliante & Josh Hohman during the basketball season. WFOB broadcasts professional sports including the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toledo Mud Hens and Cleveland Browns as well as the Ohio State University (Football, Men's & Women's Basketball)
WFOB was also one of the first stations in the country to invest in AM stereo
AM stereo
AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for wireless radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers...
technology. The FCC didn't adopt a standard for AM Stereo until 1993. Following the lead of other stations who had given up on it, WFOB dropped its AM stereo transmission in 2005.
WFOB has enjoyed a long history of tenured personnel over the years such as Burley Stapley, Mike Fry, and John Conlin. Donald and Judy Miller currently oversee the operation of the station.
WFOBsports.com is the station's online source for high school sports in the Hancock, Wood and Seneca County region, and generally broadcasts football and basketball. During the fall, WFOBsports.com consists of a online portal, where every Friday night, and many Saturdays as well, local high school sports can be heard through the calls of Trevor Newby, the voice of WFOBsports.com.
On August 1, 2011, Sporting News Radio changed its branding to become Yahoo! Sports Radio. WFOB changed along with the network to be known as WFOB 1430- Yahoo! Sports Radio.
External links
- Official Website
- 1949 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1953 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1959 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1963 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1965 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1967 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1971 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1975 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1978 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1981 Broadcasting Yearbook
www.wfob.com/mornings