WBEM (1350
AM) was a radio station in
Windber, Pennsylvania
Windber is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, which is located approximately south of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Johnstown. The population was 3,930 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A former manufacturing tow ...
, United States that operated from 1964 to 1991. The station was built by Windber Community Broadcasting System as WWBR in 1964. It was last owned by JOTOCOM Communications, Inc., which bought it in 1989 before taking it off the air in 1991.
History
Originally known as WWBR, the station signed on May 18, 1964, from studios and offices at 1311 Midway Avenue in Windber and under the ownership of Windber Community Broadcasting System. Dr. E.Z. Epperjessy served as company president.
First sale
In January 1975, the station was sold by Windber Community Broadcasting System to WWBR, Inc. Louis Popp, an original partner in the station, served as company president and general manager.
Station operations were moved to 1724 Scalp Avenue, in
Richland Township, overlooking the city of Johnstown, in 1979. The following year, the station increased its power from 1,000 to 2,500 watts non-directional, but still retained its daytime-only status.
Second and third sales
One of this station's owners was legendary Pittsburgh radio and television newscaster Hank Baughman, anchor at
WPXI
WPXI (channel 11) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill (Pittsburgh), Summer Hill ...
in Pittsburgh, who bought the station in April 1985.
Baughman stepped down from the station two months later.
Doing business as Baughman Media, Inc., the station was airing mostly MOR music from 10-inch tape reels from Drake-Chenault's music library. Not long after his arrival, Baughman changed the call letters to WBEM and affiliated the station with the
ABC Talkradio network, airing a mixture of both local and national talk.
Finding that building an audience would take too long and after an unsuccessful attempt to acquire an FM station, Baughman sold WBEM to Greater Johnstown Radio, Inc. in August 1986. Greater Johnstown Radio, Inc. was headed by David Rod Wolf, who owned Altoona-based
WRTA.
Because Johnstown and Altoona were separate radio markets despite both cities being in a combined television market, the transaction still met FCC ownership limits.
Final sale and demise
WBEM was unable to prosper, and on April 1, 1989, the station was sold again, this time to JOTOCOM Communications. JOTOCOM was owned by John Thomas Conners, the former general manager of Altoona television station
WTAJ-TV
WTAJ-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Altoona, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Johnstown–Altoona– State College market as an affiliate of CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on 6th ...
;
Conners had previously attempted to use the company to buy
WWPC (channel 23) in Altoona. WBEM had fallen on hard times over the years, largely due to the collapse of Johnstown's lucrative local coal and steel-based economy, which had a domino effect on retail business in the area. Because the landscape was already dominated with high and medium-powered FM stations now too in a period of hardship, WBEM found itself in a weak position to compete as a strict daytime-only station.
WBEM was silent by 1991.
round the time its license was set to expire, which was August 1. Its studio building was then cleared out of all of its equipment, with all traces of a radio station's existence removed, including its broadcast tower. The station did not formally forfeit its license, and it was ultimately cancelled under terms outlined in the
Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of ...
.
Aftermath
In January 2004, the FCC received an application for a new station to broadcast on 1350 kHz from Southwest Pennsylvania Community Radio, LLC; owned by Michael Horvath, of
North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Horvath had owned two previous radio stations in the
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
radio market, known then as WXVX (now
WPGR) Monroeville and WPLW (later
WZUM) Carnegie, which he had acquired in the mid-1990s before selling both in the early years of the 21st century. Prior to selling both, Horvath had invested substantially in new directional antenna arrays, making them more palatable to prospective buyers.
Unlike its predecessor, the succeeding station would have been licensed to
Geistown, Pennsylvania
Geistown is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,467 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Geistown is located in southwestern Cambria C ...
, located just east of the
Johnstown city limits. Another application was received in July 2007 to modify the application, which also included antenna diagrams for building the new six-tower directional antenna system and its proposed operational pattern
On September 2, 2010, the construction permit to build the new station on this frequency was formally cancelled.
References
External links
Query FCC database for New AM Geistown
Query FCC database for WBEM Windber
{{Johnstown Radio
Radio stations in Pennsylvania, BEM
Defunct radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1964
1964 establishments in Pennsylvania
Radio stations disestablished in 1991
1991 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
BEM
BEM