WFNN (1330 AM) is 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 ...

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 ...

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

, 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 ...

. It is an

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 ...

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

. Its current name is Fox Sports 1330 AM Erie. WFNN's studios are located in the Boston Store building in downtown Erie while its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is located near U.S. Route 19 and Sharp Rd south of Erie.

History

The call letters WFNN were originally licensed to a station in

Escanaba, Michigan Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city and the county seat of Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,450 at the 2020 census, making it the ...

, which first began broadcasting in 1977 under the WFNN call sign. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, WFNN was "''Fun 104''," an automated

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 ...

station. Most programming was separate from its

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

, WDBC, with a few exceptions including simulcasts of

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio presenter who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40'', as well as the weekly syndicated televi ...

's ''

American Top 40 ''American Top 40'' (abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally radio syndication, syndicated, independent song countdown radio programming, radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs (broadcaster), Ron Jaco ...

''. In 1982, that station switched to its current calls, WYKX. WMYJ-AM was sister to WMYJ-FM which was started by Bulmer Communications, who also owned radio stations in

Ashtabula, Ohio Ashtabula ( ) is the most populous city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It lies at the mouth of the Ashtabula River, on Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland. At the 2020 census, the city had 17,975 people. Like many other cities in the ...

Dunkirk, New York Dunkirk is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It was settled around 1805 and incorporated in 1880. The population was 12,743 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Dunkirk ...

Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in Allen County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,579. It is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75, appr ...

Ottawa, Ohio Ottawa is a village (United States)#Ohio, village and the county seat of Putnam County, Ohio, United States. It is located about southwest of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo. The population is 4,456 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Hist ...

and

Logansport, Indiana Logansport is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Indiana, United States. The population was 18,366 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Logansport is located in northern Indiana at the junction of the Wabash River, Wabash an ...

. John Bulmer was forced to sell the Erie radio stations due to overlap in signals (during the time one could only own one AM and one FM in the same market). In 1985 he sold both stations to Erie Communications, who also owned radio stations in

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in Erie County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( west) and Cleveland ( east). At the 2020 United Stat ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

and

Johnstown, New York Johnstown is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County in the U.S. state of New York. The city was named after its colonial founder, Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Britain in the Province of New York and a major ...

. After being sold to Erie Communications who also owned radio stations in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is the largest city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, it is the principal city of the Metropolitan statistical area ...

, Sandusky, Ohio and Cleveland, they changed to WFNN and began as a sports-talk channel known as "''Sports Radio 1330, The Fan''" and part of the

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 ...

network. WFNN became an oldies station playing syndicated music on January 8, 2007, upon losing oldies radio station, Froggy 94.7. The WFGO call letters of Froggy 94.7, formerly an oldies station, were originally moved over to 1330 when 94.7 became Bob-FM. WFGO was, at the time, the only station in the country to use the Froggy name and ''not'' be a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

station. Later losing rights to use the Froggy moniker, the call letters were reverted to WFNN and it uses the branding "''True Oldies 1330''". On September 10, 2007, the station returned to an all- sports format as "''Fox Sports Radio 1330 The Fan''". This station is part of the

Erie SeaWolves The Erie SeaWolves are an American professional baseball team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They compete in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) as a member of the Eastern League's Southwest Division, serving as the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Ti ...

and the

Erie Otters The Erie Otters are a major junior ice hockey team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Midwest division of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of only three American teams in the league. The team's name refers to the North Am ...

radio broadcasting network. On March 27, 2019,

Connoisseur Media Connoisseur Media LLC is an American media company. It is based in Westport, Connecticut and led by Jeff Warshaw. As of May 2024, Connoisseur operates 13 radio stations and digital assets in four U.S. markets: Frederick, MD, Nassau-Suffolk, NY, Ne ...

announced that it would transfer WFNN along with its sister stations to iHeartMedia in exchange for WFRE and WFMD in the

Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in, and the county seat of, Frederick County, Maryland, United States. Frederick's population was 78,171 people as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Maryland, second-largest ...

market from the

Aloha Station Trust Aloha Station Trust, LLC was a privately owned trust company that owned radio and television stations previously owned by Clear Channel Communications, forerunner of the modern iHeartMedia. After Clear Channel was acquired by private equity intere ...

. The sale closed on May 20, 2019. On January 10, 2022, WEBG dropped its ''iHeartPodcast'' format and flipped to sports radio format of its sister station as a

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) ...

of WFNN on

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Some ...

95.9 FM.

References

External links

WFNN website
{{coord, 41, 59, 32, N, 80, 01, 44, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title FNN Sports radio stations in the United States Fox Sports Radio stations IHeartMedia radio stations