WCKY (AM)
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WCKY (1530 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, and serving the Cincinnati metro with a
sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...
format known as "ESPN 1530". Owned by
iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
, its studios are located in the Kenwood section of Sycamore Township, while its transmitter site is in suburban
Villa Hills, Kentucky Villa Hills is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky along the Ohio River. The population was 7,310 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and ...
. In addition to a standard
analog transmission Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an an ...
, WCKY is available online via
iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...
. WCKY is a class A clear channel station, sharing the frequency with co-owned station KFBK in
Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
. WCKY's daytime coverage is not nearly as large as that of other 50,000-watt stations, in part because of the reduced groundwave characteristic of its fairly high transmitting frequency. Its daytime city-grade signal only covers the Tri-State Area and the outer suburbs of
Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
. By comparison, WLW, aided by the superior groundwave of its much lower frequency of 700 kHz, can be heard at city-grade strength in large portions of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. However, WCKY's daytime signal provides at least secondary coverage to most of southwestern Ohio (including Dayton), central Kentucky (including Lexington and the outer suburbs of
Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
) and eastern Indiana (as far as the outer suburbs of
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
). WCKY has a long history of a powerful night-time signal, and its country music programming of the 1950s and 1960s brought listener responses from many points even outside the United States. It can still be heard in much of eastern and central North America with a good radio; it can be picked up as far as Chicago, Detroit, Wichita, and Miami. Nighttime power is fed to all four of its towers in a directional pattern, concentrating the signal in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas, while the Indiana side of the market only gets a grade B signal at night. WCKY and KFBK mutually limit interference with each other; however, as Class A stations, both receive more protection than other stations on this frequency. For this reason, WCKY does not have to change to its directional signal until three hours past local sunset. The only station it is required to protect is KFBK, and Sacramento is on
Pacific Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00). ...
, making sunset there three hours later than in Cincinnati, so WCKY's signal will not travel toward KFBK until after dark."Notes on WSAI operations"
by J. T. Anderton (entry included in "Jim Hawkins' WSAI-AM 1530 Transmitter Tour")


History

WCKY received its initial authorization on February 14, 1929, for 5,000 watts on 1480 kHz, licensed to
Covington, Kentucky Covington is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers, across from Cincinnati to the north ...
–across the
Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
from Cincinnati. The original owner was L. B. Wilson, a prominent local banker and theater owner. WCKY was added as a fourth station operating on a timesharing basis with three existing Chicago-area stations: WJAZ, WSOA and
WORD A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...
. Moreover, the
Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by ...
(FRC) grant specified that WCKY would be assigned 4/7ths of the available broadcasting hours, and "was to have first choice of the broadcasting time". After a series of successful test transmissions, WCKY made its debut broadcast on the evening of September 16, 1929. Under the timesharing agreement, the station's regular schedule was from 8 to 10 am, 2 to 4 pm, and 7:45 to 11:15 pm daily. In early 1930, WCKY and its timesharing partners were reassigned from 1480 kHz to 1490 kHz. WSOA later changed its call letters to WCHI, and was subsequently deleted on October 31, 1930, after which its former timeshare partner, WORD, changed its own call sign to WCHI. Unsatisfied with its somewhat limited schedule, WCKY petitioned the FRC to delete the two remaining Chicago-area stations, and give it unlimited use of its frequency. An FRC examiner recommended that this request be denied, however a review by the full commission ruled on October 30, 1931 in favor of WCKY, and ordered both WJAZ and WCHI deleted. WJAZ was deleted on November 23, 1931,"Broadcast Section"
''Sixth Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission'' (Fiscal Year 1932), page 8.
however WCHI appealed the ruling, arguing that not only should it be allowed to remain on the air, but it, rather than WCKY, should have been assigned the hours previously used by WJAZ. The appeal was unsuccessful, and WCHI was formally deleted on May 7, 1932. Although WCKY was licensed to Covington, for all intents and purposes it has always been a Cincinnati station. The fact it was licensed in Kentucky helped with its 1935
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) request, granted two years later, to increase power from the original 5,000 watts to 10,000 watts, which was followed in 1938 by permission to operate with a full 50,000 watts. This was done even though Cincinnati already had a 50,000 watt station,
WLW WLW (700 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial news/talk radio station city of license, licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as "The Big One". Its studios ...
, of its own. WCKY gradually moved its studios to Cincinnati, though it nominally remained licensed to Covington until 1939. On March 29, 1941, under the provisions of the
North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, ; ) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreements also addressed how frequency assignments were d ...
, WCKY moved to 1530 kHz, which has remained the station's assignment ever since. Perhaps one of the best-remembered programs in the station's history was the night-time "WCKY Jamboree" that ran from the 1940s until early 1964. It featured recorded country music with disc jockeys such as Wayne Rainey, Nelson King, Marty Roberts and Jimmy Logsdon. During the program, mail order merchandise was offered over the air. This program was widely popular due to WCKY's powerful signal especially to the south. During the
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...
in 1962, the station was used to broadcast news and information to the area, due to its southerly directional signal pattern. During the mid-1960s, it was the flagship station for the
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
, identifying itself as "your 50,000 watt Big League Baseball Station". In 1964, in connection with WCKY obtaining 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. Wilson's family owned WCKY until the 1970s when it sold the station to
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
, who in turn sold it off to
Mishawaka, Indiana Mishawaka () is a city on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Misha ...
-based Federated Media. WCKY switched to
news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...
and became the first radio station with this format in Cincinnati. The line-up included local host Mike McMurray and for a short time now national host
Doug Stephan Doug Stephan is an American radio talk show personality who independently syndicates and hosts several nationally syndicated radio shows for Talk Media Network. Radio Programs Doug Stephan's "Good Day" is a morning talk radio program airing l ...
. Syndicated personalities included Bruce Williams and
Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...
. WCKY was the local home for
Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...
when he debuted. In the late 1970s, the station's nighttime directional array was changed from three- to four-towers. The original configuration favored skywave coverage of the South. The new pattern reduced the distant southern coverage, while strengthening the northern signal for local listeners around Cincinnati and Dayton. Sold to
Jacor Communications Jacor Communications was a media corporation, existing between 1987 and 1999, which owned many radio stations in the United States. In 1998, Jacor was purchased by Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia, for $2.8 billion. Jacor Communicat ...
in 1994, 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 1970s and 1980s, to a news/talk format in the 1980s and early 1990s. Jacor was purchased by Clear Channel Communications (now known as iHeartMedia) in 1999. This made WCKY a sister station to Cincinnati's other 50,000-watt "flamethrower", WLW.


WSAI

On June 1, 1994, a call letter swap by Jacor Communications resulted in
WSAI WSAI (1360 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned and operated by iHeartMedia, its studios, as well as those of iHeartMedia's other Cincinnati stations, are in the Towers of Kenwood building next to I-71 in the Kenwo ...
moving to 1530 AM, while the WCKY talk format and call sign were merged with WLWA 550 AM. The "new" WSAI featured a
standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...
format, and the station began broadcasting in
C-QUAM C-QUAM (Compatible QUadrature Amplitude Modulation) is the method of AM stereo broadcasting used in Canada, the United States and most other countries. It was invented in 1977 by Norman Parker, Francis Hilbert, and Yoshio Sakaie, and published in ...
AM stereo AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers. There are two main classes of systems: independent sideban ...
.
Nick Clooney Nicholas Joseph Clooney (born January 13, 1934) is an American journalist, anchorman, and television host. He is the brother of singers Rosemary Clooney and Betty Clooney and the father of actor George Clooney. Early life Clooney was born in ...
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.Toby Eddings, "Clooney, Kinard and Pensacola, too," ''The Sun News'', January 23, 2000. WSAI eventually switched to an
oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
format in early 2003. "Real Oldies 1530 WSAI" played the Top 40 hits of the 1950s and 1960s, recreating the WSAI station from the sixties, including several former WSAI disc jockeys.


Return to WCKY

On January 17, 2005, the traditional WCKY call letters returned, as a company initiative to add liberal programming as a counter to Clear Channel's conservative juggernauts, Rush Limbaugh and
Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...
, resulted in a format change to a progressive talk format. 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 David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In the 1990s and 2000s, Maron was a frequent guest on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' and appeared more than forty times ...
and Mike Malloy. The station served as the flagship station for Jerry Springer's liberal show as well. As such it attained a small but loyal following outside of Cincinnati but ratings in the conservative Cincinnati market were about half of the former oldies format. The WSAI call sign quietly returned to its previous frequency on the AM dial as
sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...
"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 airing 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 a 24-hour
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 ...
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".


Programming

WCKY is the Cincinnati affiliate for
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 ...
; the
flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...
for
FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...
; a co-flagship station for the
Cincinnati Bengals Radio Network The Cincinnati Bengals Radio Network is an American radio network consisting of 37 radio stations which carry coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals, a professional American football, football team in the NFL. Three Cincinnati radio stations—WCKY ...
; and the Cincinnati
affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...
for both the
UK Sports Network The UK Sports Network, historically known as the Big Blue Sports Network (BBSN) and also formerly known as the UK IMG Sports Network, is the radio and television network of the University of Kentucky Wildcats men's and women's sports teams. It ...
and the
U of L Sports Network The U of L Sports Network is the radio network of the University of Louisville Cardinals. It consists of fifteen (15) radio stations in primarily located in Kentucky, but the network serves much of Kentucky and southern Indiana. On-air persona ...
.


References


External links

*
FCC History Cards for WCKY
(covering 1929-1981)


"Site of the Week 6/1/2012: Cincinnati from the Archives, November 2005"
by Scott Fybush (under the WSAI heading) {{Cincinnati Bengals Sports radio stations in the United States CKY Radio stations established in 1929 1929 establishments in Ohio IHeartMedia radio stations Clear-channel radio stations ESPN Radio stations