WTON (AM)

Last updated
WTON
Broadcast area Staunton, Virginia
Augusta County, Virginia
Frequency 1240 kHz
BrandingWTON
Programming
Format Talk radio
Ownership
Owner
  • Joe and Elaine Thomas
  • (Thomas Media, LLC)
History
First air date
March 9, 1946 (at 1400) [1]
Former call signs
WSTN (1944–1945) [2]
Former frequencies
1400 kHz (1944–1956) [2]
Call sign meaning
Staunton
Technical information [3]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 50077
Class C
Power 1,000 watts unlimited
Transmitter coordinates
 38°8′30.0″N79°2′33.0″W / 38.141667°N 79.042500°W / 38.141667; -79.042500
Repeater(s) 98.9 W255DS (Harrisonburg)
101.1 W266BQ (Crozet)
Links
Public license information
Website https://www.wtonradio.com/

WTON (1240 kHz) is a talk radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Staunton, Virginia, United States, serving Staunton and Augusta County, Virginia. WTON is owned and operated by Thomas Media, LLC. [4]

Contents

History

WTON had previously carried ESPN Radio and local and regional sports starting in 2000. Stu-Comm, Inc. purchased WTON and co-owned WTON-FM (94.3 FM) in 2023, intending to use WTON-FM as a full-powered relay of its WNRN-FM for the lower Shenandoah Valley.

In March 2024, Stu-Comm sold WTON and their now-redundant FM translators covering Staunton–Waynesboro and Harrisonburg to Joe Thomas, morning host and program director of WCHV in Charlottesville. WCHV owner Monticello Media fired Thomas when the sale was reported publicly, stating that the purchase of another station within its coverage area was an unacceptable conflict of interest. [5] [6] Thomas then told the Staunton News Leader that he planned to return WTON to a competing format of local news, talk and sports programming. [7] The sale closed on May 24, with Thomas' programming launching the following day. [8] [9] Monticello Media subsequently sued Thomas for violating a noncompete clause, due to the stations' overlapping signals, and a court prohibited Thomas from hosting his morning show over-the-air through January 19, 2025. [10]

Programming

Thomas's morning show moved from WCHV, with satellite-delivered conservative talk shows (Chris Plante, Dan Bongino, Dana Loesch, Lars Larson, Joe Pags, Lee Habeeb, John B. Wells, and Brandon Tatum) filling the rest of the station's schedule. [11] With Thomas temporarily barred from hosting a morning show, it is recorded in the morning and airs in the evening. Thomas also pledged to bring back live broadcasts of local high school football games that had previously aired on the station before its purchase by Stu-Comm. [7]

WTON is the Charlottesville–Staunton–Waynesboro affiliate for Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball and football coverage beginning with the 2024–25 academic year, taking over after WCHV dropped them. [12]

Translators

W255DS's coverage area is Harrisonburg proper. W266BQ, located on Bear Den Mountain on the Blue Ridge, covers Staunton, Waynesboro, Charlottesville, and most of Albemarle and Nelson counties.

Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) Class FCC info
W255DS98.9 FM Harrisonburg, Virginia 14135680D LMS
W266BQ101.1 FM Crozet, Virginia 91283195D LMS

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References

  1. ↑ "Stations in the U.S." (PDF). Retrieved 2023-09-13.
  2. 1 2 FCC History Cards for WTON
  3. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WTON". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  4. ↑ "WTON Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  5. ↑ Venta, Lance (2 April 2024). "Joe Thomas Let Go From WCHV Following WTON Purchase". RadioInsight.
  6. ↑ "[To our listeners and the Central Virginia community,]". WCHV Radio [Facebook]. 2 April 2024.
  7. 1 2 Hite, Patrick (12 April 2024). "WTON sold: New owner plans to return local programming to Staunton radio station". Staunton News Leader.
  8. ↑ Hite, Patrick (17 May 2024). "Staunton's WTON set to debut new lineup under new ownership at the end of May". The News Leader.
  9. ↑ Venta, Lance (17 May 2024). "WTON To Launch Talk Format On May 25". RadioInsight.
  10. ↑ Spencer, Hawes (1 August 2024). "Judge pushes conservative radio personality Joe Thomas off morning airwaves". The Daily Progress.
  11. ↑ "WTON's Lineup (for now)". WTONradio.
  12. ↑ "Virginia Tech Sports Network".


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