WENI (AM)
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WENI (1450 AM) is a
radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
in the Elmira-Corning market of
New York state New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
. It
broadcasts Broadcasting is the distribution of audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with ...
with 1,000
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s day and night on 1450
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 ...
from studios in
South Corning, New York South Corning is a village in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 1,145 at the 2010 census. The village is in the town of the same name. Geography South Corning is located at (42.124442, -77.035463). According to the ...
. It airs a classic country format, branded as "Bigfoot Legends".


History

The station was founded as WCLI by the ''
Corning Leader ''The Leader'' is an American daily newspaper published in Corning, New York. It is owned by Gannett. The newspaper covers the city of Corning and surrounding villages such as Addison, Bath and Erwin, in Steuben County, and Horseheads, in C ...
'' newspaper in 1950 as the first AM station
licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
to Corning and the fourth station in the market. It joined FM station WKNP, which had signed on in 1947 and was Corning's first station. Both were owned by the ''Leader'' and broadcast from its building, then located at Erie Avenue (now Dennison Parkway) and Walnut Street in Corning. Long time radio engineer, Mark Saia, reports that his father, Frank Saia, and Bob Shaddock were the first two broadcasters hired. Both on the same day. The
Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...
mainline passed nearby and passing freight and passenger trains used to shake the building—and the recorded music on the turntables, according to Leader columnist Dick Peer.
Disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...
Bob Shaddock, who became one of the market's iconic radio personalities, developed the skill of picking up the needle from the
78 RPM A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...
records and making announcements while trains passed, according to Peer. The ''Leader'' sold the stations in 1953. Though the FM station changed call letters a few times (and frequency once), the stations remained linked until 1997, when owner Sabre Communications sold WCLI to Eolin Broadcasting Inc. While the FM station had a 50,000-watt signal that could be heard throughout the market, WCLI was a Class C local station broadcasting with 1,000 watts on a so-called graveyard frequency. In addition, the
ground conductivity Ground conductivity refers to the electrical conductivity of the subsurface of the earth. In the International System of Units (SI) it is measured in millisiemens per meter (mS/m). Radio propagation Ground conductivity is an extremely important ...
was poor at its Denmark Hill tower site, so the AM station could barely be heard at night outside Corning. In the 1980s, WCLI was a soft
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 ...
station. In 1990, it switched to
talk radio 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, Interview (jo ...
, anchored by ''
The Rush Limbaugh Show ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' was an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' became the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States. At i ...
''. WCLI was among the first stations to sign on as an affiliate of the show. WCLI remained a talk station after the sale to Eolin. However, the terms of the sale called for the rights to broadcast Limbaugh and other popular shows to remain with Sabre. WCLI programming then included Dr. Joy Browne and Bob Grant, along with other shows on the
WOR Radio Network The WOR Radio Network was a slate of nationally syndicated radio programming produced and distributed by flagship radio station WOR in New York City. The programming was primarily general interest commercial talk; only one non-talk program ha ...
. After Eolin assumed management of WENY in Elmira through a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
with White Broadcasting, WCLI programming was
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
on WENY. The latter station, like WCLI, is a class C station. Together, the two stations effectively cover the market. In 2003, Eolin Broadcasting sold all of the stations to Route 81 Radio, based in
Hazleton, Pennsylvania Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second-most populous city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on ...
. Route 81 switched WCLI's call letters to WENI in 2004 to make the call letters of its simulcasting stations similar. WENI eventually ended up in the hands of Sound Communications, which by 2018 was an affiliated company with Waypoint Media. In late 2019, Sound and Waypoint struck an agreement to be acquired by
Standard Media Standard Media Group is an American broadcast and digital media company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Standard Media was founded in 2018 by Deborah A. McDermott, who serves as the company's CEO. Previously, McDermott was the chief operating offi ...
Group, a sale that was never consummated; Seven Mountains Media then purchased the stations in 2021. On January 20, 2022, WENI changed its format to classic country branded as "Bigfoot Legends", as a cross-branding operation with its mainstream country sister stations, "Bigfoot Country".


Alumni

* Bill Diehl *
Vinnie Ferrari Kevin Olmstead is an independent professional wrestling referee and former manager/wrestler known as Vinnie Ferrari. He also was a candidate for president of the United States. A former radio personality in the Elmira-Corning, New York, market, ...


References


External links

*
Denis Sweeney's WENY sports pageFrankly Speaking with Frank Acomb
* * * * {{coord, 42, 6, 59.27, N, 77, 2, 22.88, W, type:landmark_region:US-NY_source:FCC, display=title
ENI Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...
Classic country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1950 1950 establishments in New York (state) Seven Mountains Media