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WBNS (1460
The station was first authorized, as WCAH, on May 13, 1922, and was originally owned by the Entrekin Electric Company of Columbus. The Wolfe family, owners of ''
In 2011, the simulcast ended. The AM station began offering additional ESPN network programming and announced plans to create original local content such as an MMA show called "Ground & Pound", as well as a coach's show for the local MLS team, the "TEGNA Completes Acquisition of Dispatch Broadcast Group's Leading, Top Ranked Stations in Indianapolis, IN and Columbus, OH"
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...
) — branded ''1460 ESPN Columbus'' — is a commercial AM radio
AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...
radio station in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
. The station broadcasts a sports talk format and carries ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...
programming. It is owned by Tegna Inc.
Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...
, along with WBNS-FM
WBNS-FM (97.1 MHz) – branded ''97.1 The Fan'' – is a commercial sports radio station in Columbus, Ohio. It and WBNS (1460 AM) are the only two radio stations currently owned by television company Tegna, Inc. The studios are co-located wi ...
(97.1 MHz.) and WBNS-TV
WBNS-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside the company's sole radio properties, WBNS (1460 AM) and WBNS-FM (97.1). The stations share studios on Twin ...
(channel 10). The three stations' studios and offices are located on Twin Rivers Drive, near Downtown Columbus; WBNS (AM)'s transmitter tower is located in East Columbus.
History
The station was first authorized, as WCAH, on May 13, 1922, and was originally owned by the Entrekin Electric Company of Columbus. The Wolfe family, owners of ''The Columbus Dispatch
''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in ...
,'' bought the station in 1929 and in January 1934 changed the calls to the present WBNS– the call letters stand for "Wolfe Bank, Newspaper and Shoes"—the businesses controlled by the Wolfe family. (The WBNS stations maintained common ownership with the ''Dispatch'' until 2015, when the Wolfes sold the newspaper and related assets to New Media Investment Group
Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation.
It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...
.) WBNS was the longtime Columbus affiliate of the CBS Radio Network
CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...
, and in the present-day serves as the AM flagship of the Ohio State Sports Network
The Ohio State Sports Network from Learfield is an American radio network consisting of 62 radio stations which carry coverage of Ohio State Buckeyes football and men's basketball. Co-owned WBNS () and WBNS-FM (), both licensed to Columbus, O ...
.
After various formats over the decades, including full service Full service or Full Service may refer to:
Entertainment Books
* ''Full Service'' (book), a 2012 memoir by Scotty Bowers
* '' Full Service No Waiting'', a 1998 album by Peter Case
Music
* "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block fr ...
, Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
, and MOR, in 2009 WBNS began simulcasting with WBNS-FM, which had previously aired an adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
format. This was intended to improve the nighttime coverage for the station's longtime sports talk format, as well as Buckeyes football and basketball. The AM station must reduce its power to 1,000 watts at night, resulting in reduced coverage outside of Columbus itself. However, the FM station was branded as the main station, under the moniker "97.1 The Fan."
In 2011, the simulcast ended. The AM station began offering additional ESPN network programming and announced plans to create original local content such as an MMA show called "Ground & Pound", as well as a coach's show for the local MLS team, the Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...
. On January 5, 2012, it was announced that the station would carry Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...
broadcasts in Columbus for the 2012 season, marking the return of the Indians after their absence from the Columbus market for the 2011 season.
WBNS is one of a few stations remaining in the U.S. to broadcast using a Blaw-Knox tower
The Blaw-Knox company was an American manufacturer of steel structures and construction equipment based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company is today best known for its radio towers, most of which were constructed during the 1930s in the Un ...
that employed a distinctive diamond-shaped cantilever design.
On June 11, 2019, Dispatch announced it was selling its broadcasting assets, including the WBNS stations, to Tegna Inc.
Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...
for $535 million in cash. The sale was completed on August 8.Tegna Inc.
Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...
, August 8, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
See also
*List of initial AM-band station grants in the United States
List of initial AM-band station grants in the United States reviews the first standard radio broadcasting stations that were authorized in the United States.
This review begins with the introduction of the broadcasting service in the United S ...
References
External links
* * ( Guide to reading History Cards) {{Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball navbox 1922 establishments in Ohio ESPN Radio stations Radio stations established in 1922 BNS Tegna Inc.