WFUN (AM)
Cleveland Cavaliers Radio Network Cleveland Guardians Radio Network Ohio State Sports Network Erie Otters | |
| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner |
|
| WFXJ-FM, WQGR, WREO-FM, WYBL, WZOO-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | September 21, 1937 (as WICA) |
Former call signs | WICA (1937–1960) WREO (1960–1978) |
Call sign meaning | The fun spot on your dial |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 54565 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts day 1,000 watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°48′52″N 80°46′45″W / 41.81444°N 80.77917°W |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wfun970.com |
WFUN (970
History
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 call letters WREO were retained by the sister FM station, which continues today with a Soft Adult Contemporary format.
In May 2000 the Rowleys sold the stations and
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Since 2012 WFUN has served as the ESPN Radio affiliate for
WICA-TV
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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
- ^ "WFUN/Ashtabula To Flip To Sports". AllAccess.com.
- ^ "Making Moves: Morning Edition". Radio-Info.com. October 29, 2007. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
- ^ "WZOO goes oldies, WFUN to switch to all sports". starbeacon.com.
- ^ "Listen Live – Erie Otters".
External links
- Official website
- WFUN in the FCC AM station database
- WFUN in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- WICA-TV at the UHF Morgue