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WFUN (AM)

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Coordinates: 41°48′52.19″N 80°46′44.31″W / 41.8144972°N 80.7789750°W / 41.8144972; -80.7789750
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This article is about AM radio station WFUN in Ashtabula, Ohio. For the former WFUN in South Miami, Florida, see WAXY (AM).
WFUN
Broadcast area
Frequency970 kHz
BrandingESPN 970 WFUN
Programming
FormatSports
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
  • Media One Radio Group
  • (Media One Holdings, LLC)
WFXJ-FM, WQGR, WREO-FM, WYBL, WZOO-FM
History
First air date
September 21, 1937; 87 years ago (1937-09-21) (as WICA)
Former call signs
  • WICA (1937–1960)
  • WREO (1960–1978)
Call sign meaning
The fun spot on your dial
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID54565
ClassB
Power
  • 5,000 watts day
  • 1,000 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
41°48′52.19″N 80°46′44.31″W / 41.8144972°N 80.7789750°W / 41.8144972; -80.7789750
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.wfun970.com

WFUN (970 kHz) – branded as ESPN 970 WFUN – is a commercial sports AM radio station in Ashtabula, Ohio. Owned by Media One Radio Group, it serves Ashtabula County, Ohio and parts of the Erie, Pennsylvania region. It is one of five stations in Media One Radio Group's Ashtabula cluster, the others being WFXJ-FM, WQGR, WREO-FM, WYBL, and WZOO-FM.

History

[edit]
WFUN (AM) Logo Used During The 1990s

The station signed on the air in 1937 as WICA (its call letters having stood for "Industry, Commerce, Agriculture"). WICA started an FM sister station, WICA-FM, on 103.7 MHz around 1950. WICA-FM's frequency soon thereafter moved to 97.1 MHz, duplicating the programming of the AM station. Both AM and FM stations were owned by Richard D. and David C. Rowley since their inception.

WICA and WICA-FM later became WREO and WREO-FM, taking their calls from the company name Radio Enterprises of Ohio, Inc. (albeit being formally formed on October 7, 1986). WREO would change its call sign to WFUN on July 3, 1978, taking the call letters of a legendary AM Top 40 station in Miami, Florida, while eventually adopting an oldies format. The WREO-FM call sign was retained by the sister FM station, which continues today with a soft adult contemporary format.

In May 2000 the Rowleys sold the stations and WZOO-FM to Clear Channel Communications. WFUN's oldies format was dropped in February 2001 for a standard news/talk format (Rush Limbaugh's show was the only one retained, as WFUN aired it since the early 1990s), adding Dr. Laura, Jim Rome, Coast to Coast AM and Fox Sports Radio. Morning drive on the station remained local throughout this time, evolving into basic a local news and political talk show hosted by Roger McCoy and later by John Broom.

WFUN (AM) Logo From 2000 to 2007

Clear Channel Communications sold their Ashtabula cluster, including WFUN, in September 2007 to Media One Radio Group (headed by Embrescia and dubbed "Sweet Home Ashtabula" as a placeholder). WFUN's programming changed on November 3, 2007, over to a sports/talk format affiliated with ESPN Radio, dropping all political talk programming and electing to go for a smaller, male dominated, core audience.[2][3][4]

Since 2012 WFUN has served as the ESPN Radio affiliate for Erie, Pennsylvania, due to WRIE taking the CBS Sports Radio affiliation. In August 2021 the Erie Otters announced a radio broadcast partnership with WFUN beginning in the 2021-2022 OHL season.[5]

WICA-TV

[edit]
Main article: WICA-TV
WICA-AM-FM-TV Studios & Transmitter Site Circa 1953
Former WICA-TV Antenna Atop The WFUN (AM) North Tower

Richard D. and David C. Rowley, the founders of WICA-AM-FM, also started WICA-TV on channel 15 in the 1950s. Hampered both by broadcasting on the (then relatively unknown) UHF dial, and with no network affiliation of any sort, WICA-TV had limited broadcast hours, a sparse and often overused film library, and a heavy amount of local programming (usually filmed with only one camera). WICA-TV started broadcasting on September 19, 1953, but quietly signed off around June 21, 1956.

The Rowley family then reactivated WICA-TV on April 4, 1966, with an intent of donating it as a non-profit educational license. As was in its first incarnation, WICA-TV was again hampered with no network programming, an often overused and limited film library of mediocre and low rental fare. In addition, WICA-TV still broadcast only in black-and-white when most stations already converted to color (WQEX in Pittsburgh was the last licensed television station to convert in 1986.) and still filmed local programming with only one camera.

WICA-TV signed off for good on December 26, 1967, with its license returned to the FCC. The UHF antenna is the sole remaining element of WICA-TV's existence, still affixed to the north tower of the WFUN array.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WFUN". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "WFUN/Ashtabula To Flip To Sports". AllAccess.com.
  3. ^ "Making Moves: Morning Edition". Radio-Info.com. October 29, 2007. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
  4. ^ "WZOO goes oldies, WFUN to switch to all sports". starbeacon.com.
  5. ^ "Listen Live – Erie Otters".
[edit]
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