WFMB (1450 kHz) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

broadcasting a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. Licensed to

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

, the station is owned by Neuhoff Corp., through licensee Neuhoff Media Springfield, LLC. WFMB features local hosts in morning and afternoon

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cla ...

, plus agricultural reports weekdays at 5:30 a.m. and noon. The rest of the schedule comes from

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded 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 original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN" ...

. WFMB is powered at 1,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of 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 quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s non-directional. In addition, programming is also heard on

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...

W222CG at 92.3 MHz.

History

WCBS

The station was first licensed, with the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assig ...

WCBS, on .History Cards for WFMB
fcc.gov. Retrieved April 26, 2019. The call letters were unrelated to what would later become 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. ...

or WCBS in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. WCBS started as a portable broadcasting station assigned to Harold L. Dewing and Charles H. Messter of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. Portable stations could be transported from place-to-place on movable platforms such as trucks. They were commonly hired out for a few weeks at a time to theaters located in small towns that didn't have their own radio stations, to be used for special programs broadcast to the local community. (Regulating "moving targets" proved difficult, so in May 1928 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 t ...

announced it was ending the licensing of portable facilities.) This was the second portable station licensed to Messter, joining WCBR, first licensed in 1924. WCBS time as a portable station was brief. After finding limited prospects in New England, Harold Dewing set out for the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...

. He moved the station to Springfield in late 1926, where it gave a debut broadcast from the Lyric Theater on December 10, and Springfield became the station's permanent home. In 1927, WCBS's frequency was changed from 1230 kHz to 1430 kHz, and in 1927 its frequency was changed to 1210 kHz. It ran 100 watts, and shared time on the frequency with WTAX. The station's frequency was changed to 1420 kHz in 1935. Its daytime power was increased to 250 watts in 1937 and its nighttime power was increased to 250 watts in 1939. Its frequency was changed to 1450 kHz in March 1941, as a result of the

North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, es, Convenio Regional Norteamericano de Radiodifusión) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band ( mediumwave) radio stations. These agre ...

WCVS

On September 8, 1946, the station call sign was changed to WCVS so that the CBS Radio

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 loyalt ...

in New York City could become WCBS. In 1958, WCVS was sold to Jerome William O'Connor's WPFA Radio Inc. for $285,000. Its daytime power was increased to 1,000 watts in 1962. In 1966, the station was sold to Eastern Broadcasting Corporation for $700,000.Changing Hands
, ''

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

''. March 14, 1966. p. 71. Retrieved April 26, 2019. WCVS aired a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 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. "Top 40" or "conte ...

format in the 1960s and 1970s.
1973 Broadcasting Yearbook
',

, 1973. p. B-65. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1979
',

, 1979. p. C-70. Retrieved April 25, 2019. In the mid 1980s, as contemporary hit music was moving the FM band, the station switched a

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: * Full-service radio, a wide range of programming * Full Service Network, a communications company Entertainment * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block'' * Fu ...

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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

format.
Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1988
', Broadcasting/Cablecasting, 1988. p. B-92. Retrieved April 26, 2019. In 1989, the station was sold to Neuhoff Broadcasting, along with 104.5 WFMB, for $4,250,000. By 1989, the station had adopted an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as wel ...

format.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1989
',

Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadca ...

, 1989. p. B-97. Retrieved April 26, 2019.Format Changes
, ''The M Street Journal''. Vol. 9, No. 39. October 1, 1992. p. 1. Retrieved April 26, 2019.

WFMB

On October 1, 1992, the station's call sign was changed to WFMB, and it adopted a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

format, with programming from the Real Country network.Call Sign History
fcc.gov. Retrieved April 26, 2019. In 1994, the station adopted a sports talk format. In 1996, the station was sold to Patterson Broadcasting, which, after a series of acquisitions, would become part of

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly 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 fou ...

.Rhodes, Dusty.
Radio daze: Mid-West switches formats, personalities; former owner reclaims Clear Channel stations
, ''

Illinois Times ''Illinois Times'' is a weekly free newspaper (distributed every Thursday) based in Springfield, Illinois. Founded in 1975, the newspaper was acquired in 1977 by Fletcher Farrar Sr., a Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and ...

''. May 2, 2007. Retrieved April 26, 2019. In 2007, as Clear Channel was selling most of its stations in smaller markets, Neuhoff bought back the Springfield stations they had sold, including WFMB-FM. The station still operates from an historic radio tower in suburban Springfield, IL ( Southern View), which was constructed in the late 1940s, and was the original transmitter location for

WICS WICS (channel 20) is a television station licensed to Springfield, Illinois, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and maintains studios on East Cook Street in Springfield's Eastside; its t ...

TV 20.Fybush, Scott.
Site of the Week 5/9/2014: An Hour in Springfield, IL
, Fybush.com. May 9, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2019.

Translator

WFMB is also heard on 92.3 MHz, through a translator in Springfield, Illinois. The translator formerly broadcast at 107.1, with a strongly directional signal to the northeast, from about 2014 until February 2019. On February 22, 2019, the translator moved to a non-directional signal at 92.3.

References

External links

WFMB's website

FCC History Cards for WFMB
(covering WCBS / WCVS for 1927-1981) * * {{coord, 39, 45, 36, N, 89, 39, 05, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title FMB Sports radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1926