WCKY-FM
Encyclopedia
- For the CincinnatiCincinnati, OhioCincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
AMAmplitude modulationAmplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...
radio station with the same call signCall signIn broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
, see WCKY (AM)WCKY (AM)WCKY is an AM radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, broadcasting at 1530 kHz with 50,000 watts, and its transmitter is located in nearby Villa Hills, Kentucky. It is a class A clear channel station, sharing the frequency with KFBK in Sacramento, and can be heard, particularly at night, over most...
WCKY-FM (103.7 FM, "103-7 CKY") is a radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Pemberville, Ohio
Pemberville, Ohio
Pemberville is a village located on the banks of the Portage River in Wood County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,365 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Pemberville is located at ....
, serving the Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
market. It operates a country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
format. From its inception until 2008, the station was licensed to (and originally broadcast from) Tiffin, Ohio
Tiffin, Ohio
Tiffin is a city in and the county seat of Seneca County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,135 at the 2000 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Tiffin as a Tree City USA....
. Originally it simulcast and was a sister station to WTTF
WTTF
WTTF — branded AM 1600 and Cool FM 93.3 WTTF — is a commercial radio station licensed to Tiffin, Ohio broadcasting a full service oldies format, along with an emphasis on local news, talk and high school sports. The station serves Tiffin and much of surrounding Seneca County...
, now an AM station at 1600 kHz.
Beginnings: as WTTF-FM
WCKY first signed on the air as WTTF-FM in 1963, four years after the premiere of its AM sister. The station was founded by Robert G. Wright and Milton Maltz, who formed Malrite Communications, based in Cleveland, Ohio. The station first broadcast from its AMWTTF
WTTF — branded AM 1600 and Cool FM 93.3 WTTF — is a commercial radio station licensed to Tiffin, Ohio broadcasting a full service oldies format, along with an emphasis on local news, talk and high school sports. The station serves Tiffin and much of surrounding Seneca County...
transmitter site at an effective radiated power of 3,000 watts at the time of its inception.
In the mid-80's, WTTF-FM was granted a construction permit to operate at an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts. WTTF, Inc. built a new tower on County Road 48 to accommodate the larger antenna needed for the upgrade, on the property of its then vice president, Richard J. Wright. After the upgrade, there were few changes in the station's program offerings.
As one of the few high-powered FM radio stations in rural northwest Ohio, the station offered a full-service format of both oldies and adult contemporary music, with high school sports and college sports from Heidelberg College and Tiffin University.
Break from Malrite
In the late 1970s, Wright sold his interest in Malrite to his partner. The transaction resulted in the split of WTTF-AM/FM from Malrite and operated as a separate entity under Wright's management. Wright died of lung cancer in the early 1980s.His younger son Richard, who served as the station's engineer, ascended to the position of General Manager. Wright's other son Robert (who answered to his middle name Ed until his father's death, then took the nickname "Bob") E. Wright, continued in his capacity as Program Director.
WTTF in its heyday
WTTF prided itself on community service and had a full contingency of live on-air personnel at a time when most stations were automating. Music was delivered almost exclusively on records and the station had an extensive record library encompassing adult contemporary, country and some rock and roll. There was a special Saturday oldies programming, on vinyl records supplied by the station and by the disc jockeys.Prior to the FCC Telecommunications Act of 1996, which made the EAS (Emergency Alert) system the law of the land, radio stations broadcast emergency information through EBS (Emergency Broadcast System). Rather than pay full price for an expensive unit to receive EBS messages, Richard Wright built his own receiver, called the DW-76 (meaning Dick Wright and the year it was manufactured). The unit field-tested successfully, and received FCC Type Acceptance for legal use, but only for WTTF-AM/FM.
Bob Wright handled morning DJ duties with two others handling the midday and evening on-air DJ shifts, as well as a news staff of two. Bob also did a daily talk and opinion show called "Sound Off" from 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Under the Wright ownership, the station only broadcast about 16 hours a day.
The station had a community service and adult contemporary music format during the day. Around 6 p.m., the station played country music on a program called the "Double T Roundup." The AM station (1600) signed off at local sundown. The FM station (103.7) broadcast until 10 p.m. During the day, the two stations simulcast.
Among the many announcers that had peopled WTTF over the years were Jack Kagy (who served as news director for 19 years), Rick (Cochran) West (nearly eight years in the mid-day slot), Kevin Craig, Randy Dean, Ken Hawk, Andree Sterling, and Frank Barber. Many of these announcers and many others went on to larger markets for many years as WTTF provided a fertile training ground.
Tragedy Strikes: Bob Wright dies
The Wright family's ownership came to an abrupt and tragic end in the winter of 1996 when Bob Wright was killed in a head-on collision during a snowstorm north of Tiffin on Ohio Route 53, when his Jeep Wrangler went left of center and struck an oncoming pickup truck. The 65-year-old woman driving the pickup also died in the crash.Wright, who never married nor sired offspring, was 56. Surviving co-owners Richard Wright, along with his mother, Florence, agreed to sell WTTF to Jacor Communications later that year. Jacor eventually was absorbed into Clear Channel Communications, which continued to operate both stations separately as WTTF-AM and WCKY-FM.
Today as WCKY-FM
After the sale of the station, former co-owner Dick Wright remained as an assistant engineer on a contract basis, up until his passing on January 1, 2008 http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/NEWS13/801040395.Clear Channel initially was selling their Findlay
Findlay, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 38,967 people, 15,905 households, and 10,004 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,266.3 people per square mile . There were 17,152 housing units at an average density of 997.6 per square mile...
cluster, along with other small market clusters, over to Florida based GoodRadio.TV LLC
GoodRadio.TV LLC
Good Radio Networks LLC is a West Palm Beach, Florida based radio ownership group headed by former Pax president Dean Goodman. Partners in this venture include former NAB Chairman Eddie Fritz, and former founder of NextMedia, Carl Hirsch.GoodRadio was established in late 2006 with the purchase of...
in May 2007, but the deal soon collapsed prior to FCC approval. Clear Channel ended up spinning off WTTF, along with the Sandusky cluster and WPFX over to Fremont-based BAS Broadcasting on January 15, 2008. BAS took over WTTF on February 1, and as WCKY-FM is not included in the deal, this ended 45 years of common ownership between the two stations.
As of December 2007, the station has dropped the "Buckeye Country" identifier and is identifying simply as "103-7 CKY." under former Toledo radio personality Johny D (formerly with WVKS
WVKS
WVKS is a Clear Channel-owned station serving Toledo, Ohio with a Top 40 format; it is the most popular Toledo station in this format.WVKS' studios and offices are located at Superior and Lafayette in downtown Toledo...
and WKRK and WTWR-FM). The station has also changed its city of license to Pemberville in the hopes of better targeting the Toledo market, where it currently has a minimal ratings presence, and competing with market leader WKKO
WKKO
WKKO is a commercial FM radio station in Toledo, Ohio broadcasting on 99.9 MHz with a country music format.-History:The 99.9 MHz spot on the FM dial in Toledo, Ohio was originally populated by WTRT, known as one of the nation's first FM-band Top-40 format radio stations. In the late 1960's...
.