| |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Cincinnati metro area |
Frequency | 1050 kHz |
Branding | Inspiration 1050 |
Programming | |
Format | Urban gospel |
Ownership | |
Owner | Christian Broadcasting System, Ltd. |
WCVX | |
History | |
First air date | October 5, 1947 |
Former call signs |
|
Technical information [1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 25525 |
Class | B |
Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 39°04′50″N84°31′18″W / 39.08056°N 84.52167°W |
Translator(s) | 103.1 W276DD (Cincinnati) |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | www |
WGRI (1050 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting an urban gospel radio format. It is licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and is owned by the Christian Broadcasting System, Ltd. (not related to the Christian Broadcasting Network). [2] The studios and offices are on West 7th Street in Cincinnati. [3]
By day, WGRI transmits 1,000 watts non-directional. Because 1050 AM is a Mexican clear channel frequency, WGRI must reduce power at night to 279 watts to avoid causing interference. [4] The transmitter is near Interstate 71 in Covington, Kentucky, where the station was originally established and broadcast until 1960. Programming is also heard on 75-watt FM translator W276DD at 103.1 MHz.
Northern Kentucky Airwaves Corporation filed on February 4, 1946, for a new radio station on 1050 kilocycles to be operated at Covington, Kentucky. It was granted a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission on May 29, 1947. [5] In being granted the application, Northern Kentucky Airwaves, headed by Arthur Eilerman, prevailed over Northern Kentucky Radio, led by Arthur's brother, B.J. Eilerman. One witness at the hearing said the services proposed by both were "as like as peas in a pod". [6] Taking the call sign WZIP, the station proceeded with construction. Before signing on, however, it lost its planned general manager. Charles H. Topmiller had been the chief engineer of WCKY and planned to resign from that station to head up the new WZIP, but he was instead offered the post of manager at WCKY. [7]
WZIP began broadcasting October 5, 1947 . It was a 250-watt daytimer, required to go off the air at sunset. [8] WZIP was the first radio station to operate from northern Kentucky since WCKY had moved across the Ohio River to Cincinnati in 1939. WZIP operated from studios on the fourth floor of the former Peoples Savings Bank Building in downtown Covington, where WCKY's first broadcasts had been made in 1929. [9] The full-service station was the first in the Cincinnati market to employ a Black disc jockey, Ernie Waites. [10]
At the end of 1957, WZIP, Incorporated, successor to Northern Kentucky Airwaves, filed to sell the station to a corporation controlled by Len Goorian, a longtime television personality in the area, and attorney Alfred B. Katz for $150,000. [11] WZIP, by this point airing a "good music" format, scored a coup when it became the Mutual Broadcasting System network affiliate for the Cincinnati area on July 21, 1958, replacing longtime Mutual outlet and network founder WLW. [12]
Goorian and Katz filed to increase the station's power to 1,000 watts. [5] It relocated the executive offices to the Hotel Vernon Manor, across the river in Cincinnati. [13]
At the end of 1958, Goorian and Katz sold WZIP to a new corporation headed by Ed Skotch, Dan Balsamo, and Monte Fassnacht. [14] The company was known as Greater Cincinnati Radio. [5] Major changes followed the approval of the purchase in early 1959.
The station was approved to increase power to 1,000 watts, a filing made by the previous ownership. [5] Following the example of the executive offices, Greater Cincinnati Radio filed to move WZIP's city of license and studios from Covington to Cincinnati, citing a desire to increase its identification with the large Ohio city. [15] The FCC approved the change on April 13, 1960. [16]
Just two months after the FCC approved the station's relocation to Cincinnati, Greater Cincinnati Radio was sold to the Lindner brothers—-Carl, Robert and Richard-—for $500,000. The Lindner brothers also owned the United Dairy Farmers convenience store chain and Thriftway Super Markets in the Cincinnati area. [17] The Lindners received a construction permit to build a new FM radio station, WZIP-FM at 92.5 MHz. [18] The FM station would not sign on the air under their ownership, as WZIP-AM-FM was purchased by the Waukegan News-Sun newspaper in Illinois for $450,000 in 1961. [19] That same year, Mutual affiliation moved from WZIP to WCKY. [20]
The News-Sun built WZIP-FM, which began broadcasting on August 17, 1964, and simulcast WZIP's programming during daylight hours. [21] The next year, WZIP was sold to another out-of-town publishing interest: the Zanesville Publishing Company, publisher of the Zanesville Times-Recorder and owner of radio and television properties in Ohio and West Virginia, for $367,500. [22] Unlike the last several sales of WZIP, this one brought a format change. At the start of 1966, WZIP flipped to country, becoming the Cincinnati area's third station in the format. [23]
WZIP changed hands yet again in 1970, when Margareta Sudbrink purchased the stations for $750,000. [24] In February 1971, WZIP-FM became easy listening WWEZ. The FM station moved to separate studios in Highland Towers, leaving WZIP in Vernon Manor. The country format on AM lasted until October 1, 1971, when the station flipped to urban gospel. It was the only religious station on the AM band in the area, propelling the station to higher revenue than it had achieved in any prior point in history. [25]
Sudbrink sold off WZIP and identically formatted WTOW in Towson, Maryland, to its executive vice president, Hal Gore, at the end of 1974. WZIP cost $375,000. [26] The purchase kickstarted a chain of gospel radio stations that had grown to six outlets by 1978. [27] That year, Gore moved WZIP out of the Vernon Manor after a 20-year stay and into new quarters in a former post office building. [27]
In 1980, Hal Gore sold three of his stations—WZIP, WTOW and Toledo's WGOR—to Jaco Broadcasting, a company majority-owned by Jacor, Inc., for $1.5 million. [28] The principal of Jacor, making its first station purchases, was Terry S. Jacobs, senior vice president of Great American Insurance Company. The call sign changed to WTSJ on April 8, 1981. [5] Four years after the purchase, and after the company had begun to buy stations in major markets, Jacor sold WTSJ and WTOW to American Sunrise Communications, a private company specializing in the operation of religious radio stations, for more than $2.4 million. [29] As early as 1986, WTSJ was recognized as having been "the beginning of a major broadcast entity". [30]
American Sunrise sold five of its stations to Guardian Communications, which was owned by two employees of sister station KTSJ in Pomona, California, for $5.6 million in 1990. [31] Guardian was one of the largest contributors to a successful 1993 voter-approved amendment to Cincinnati's city charter that removed discrimination protections for gays and lesbians. [32]
Guardian, with its nine stations in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pueblo, Colorado, was put up for auction in 1996 in an event precipitated by one of the 1050 frequency's former owners. Carl Lindner, through Great American Insurance, owned 50 percent of the company at that time. After cashing out its stake in Citicasters, it opted to sell its stake in Guardian, prompting co-owners Mark McNeil and Richard David to follow suit. [33] Salem Communications filed to purchase the Baltimore, Cleveland and Cincinnati stations for $3 million. [34] Salem changed the format to Christian talk and teaching.
Salem held onto WTSJ until 2005, when it traded it and WBOB (1160 AM) to the Christian Broadcasting System in exchange for WLQV in Detroit. [35] Christian Broadcasting System retained the Christian talk format on 1050 but assigned new WCVX call letters. [36]
The WCVX call letters and Christian radio format moved to the stronger 1160 AM signal on February 1, 2013. At that time, 1050 AM flipped to its present urban gospel format and changed call letters to WGRI. [37]
WLW is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as “The Big One”. Its studios are located in Sycamore Township.
WCKY – branded Cincinnati's ESPN 1530 – is a commercial sports AM radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio, serving the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Owned by iHeartMedia, its studios are located in the Kenwood section of Sycamore Township, while its transmitter site is a four-tower facility in suburban Villa Hills, Kentucky. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WCKY is available online via iHeartRadio.
WCVX is a radio station licensed to Florence, Kentucky in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. WCVX is owned by the Christian Broadcasting System and it carries a Christian radio format. Its studios and offices are on West Seventh Street in Cincinnati and its transmitter is off Fowler Creek Road in Florence. WCVX broadcasts with a directional antenna with 5,000 watts in the daytime but at night it reduces power to 990 watts to protect KSL in Salt Lake City, the Class A Clear-channel station on 1160 kHz. WYLL in Chicago, Illinois is the only other full-time 50,000-watt station on 1160 AM, although it is a Class B station.
WCKY-FM is a radio station licensed to Pemberville, Ohio, serving the Toledo market. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station - branded as Buckeye Country 103.7 CKY - features a classic country format.
The Taft Broadcasting Company was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
WKRC is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. The station airs a talk radio format, under the branding of "55KRC". Studios are on Montgomery Road in Cincinnati. WKRC operates at 5,000 watts by day and 1,000 watts at night, from a transmitter site in Cold Spring, Kentucky.
Jacor Communications was a media corporation, existing between 1987 and 1999, which owned many radio stations in the United States. In 1998, Jacor was purchased by Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia, for $2.8 billion.
WPYK is a radio station licensed to Portsmouth, Ohio. The station became notable when it stayed on air during the floods in Portsmouth in 1937, giving up-to-the-minute news and announcements to those separated and weary from the floods. In the 1960s, the then-WPAY-FM started to play country music on its FM while its AM sister station was reassigned to have a news-talk format. The AM signed off the air on June 3, 2011, after 80 years. WPYK is currently a K-Love affiliate station broadcasting a Contemporary Christian format and is owned by Educational Media Foundation.
WSAI is a Cincinnati, Ohio commercial radio station. Owned and operated by iHeartMedia, its studios, as well as those of iHeartMedia's other Cincinnati stations, are in the Towers of Kenwood building next to I-71 in the Kenwood section of Sycamore Township, and its transmitter site is in Mount Healthy.
WIZF is an urban contemporary radio station licensed to Erlanger, Kentucky, serving the Cincinnati area. The station is owned and operated by Urban One. It broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 2,500 watts. Its studios are located at Centennial Plaza in downtown Cincinnati, and the transmitter site is west of the downtown area.
WJDM is a radio station licensed to Mineola, New York, broadcasting a Spanish language Christian radio format. The station is owned by Cantico Nuevo Ministry, Inc.
The Cincinnati metropolitan area is a large, three-state media market centered on Cincinnati, Ohio, slightly overlapping the Dayton media market to the north. The Cincinnati market is served by one daily newspaper, The Cincinnati Enquirer, and a variety of weekly and monthly print publications. The area is home to 12 television stations and numerous radio stations. The E. W. Scripps Company was founded in Cincinnati as a newspaper chain and remains there as a national television and radio broadcaster. The term "soap opera" originally referred to Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, which created some of the first programs in this genre.
WOFX-FM is a commercial radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. It broadcasts a classic rock radio format and is owned by Cumulus Media. It is the Cincinnati affiliate for the Bob and Tom morning radio show. The studios are on Montgomery Road in Norwood, Ohio, using a Cincinnati address.
WKFS is a radio station in the Cincinnati, Ohio, market, licensed to nearby Milford. It broadcasts a 2000s gold-based hot adult contemporary format and is owned by iHeartMedia. The WKFS studios are located in Kenwood Towne Centre, and the station transmitter is located in Mount Auburn, a neighborhood northeast of downtown Cincinnati.
WBUL-FM is one of four country music radio stations serving the Lexington, Kentucky radio market. The station broadcasts with an ERP of 100,000 watts, with a nearly 100-mile broadcasting radius. The station is heard as far south as London, as far east as Grayson, as far north as Cincinnati and as far west as Louisville. iHeartMedia, Inc. currently owns the station. WBUL-FM was the third station to begin broadcasting HD Radio in Lexington after WUKY and WKQQ.
WCKG is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Elmhurst, Illinois, and serving the Chicago metropolitan area. It broadcasts a sports radio format and is owned by DuPage Radio, LLC. WCKG is a Fox Sports Radio Network affiliate. It also carries the nationally syndicated Ramsey Show with Dave Ramsey and some brokered programming.
WGST is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Hogansville, Georgia, and serving West Central Georgia, including LaGrange and Newnan. It airs a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. Most programming on WGST is syndicated. It carries Premiere Networks shows from Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and "Clay Travis & Buck Sexton." From the Salem Radio Network it carries Hugh Hewitt and Larry Elder. On weekends, sports programming from the Fox Sports Radio Network is heard. On weekdays, most hours begin with Fox News Radio.
WTTI and 93.3 FM is a radio station broadcasting a Contemporary Christian music format. WTTI operates with a power of 10,000 watts, and uses a two-tower directional antenna system. Licensed to Dalton, Georgia, United States, the station is currently owned by Deborah and James Boyd, through licensee Hope Broadcasting, Inc.
WWTF is a commercial radio station broadcasting an active rock and alternative rock radio format. Licensed to Georgetown, Kentucky, United States, WWTF serves the Lexington Metro Area. The station is currently owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. WWTF programming is simulcast on FM translator W249DJ at 97.7 MHz. Since most listening to rock music is on FM, the station uses its FM dial position to identify itself, as "97.7 Lexington's Rock Alternative."
The Cincinnati Bengals Radio Network is an American radio network consisting of 37 radio stations which carry coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals, a professional football team in the NFL. Three Cincinnati radio stations—WCKY (1530 AM), WEBN (102.7 FM), and WLW (700 AM)—serve as the network's flagship stations; WLW also simulcasts over a low-power FM translator. The network also includes 39 affiliates in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia: 27 AM stations, 18 of which extend their signals with one or more low-power FM translators; and 12 full-power FM stations. Dan Hoard is the current play-by-play announcer, while Dave Lapham serves as color commentator. In addition to traditional over-the-air AM and FM broadcasts, the Bengals are available on SiriusXM satellite radio, and online with NFL Audio Pass.
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help)