WSAI (1360
AM) is a
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
commercial radio station. Owned and operated by
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
, its studios, as well as those of iHeartMedia's other Cincinnati stations, are in the Towers of Kenwood building next to
I-71
Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64 in Kentucky, I-64 and ...
in the
Kenwood section of
Sycamore Township, and its transmitter site is in
Mount Healthy.
Programming
WSAI is known as "Fox Sports 1360", and airs the entire Fox schedule, including ''
The Dan Patrick Show
''The Dan Patrick Show'' is a syndicated radio and television sports talk show, hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by Patrick and is syndicated to radio stations by Premiere Radio Networks, within and indepe ...
'',
Rich Eisen
Richard Eisen (; born June 24, 1969) is an American television sportscaster and radio host. Since 2003, he has worked for NFL Network as a host of various pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. He also hosts a daily sports radio show, ''The Ric ...
, and
Colin Cowherd
Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ...
. It is the Cincinnati affiliate for
University of Louisville Cardinals
The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Con ...
football and basketball (if Kentucky is on ESPN 1530),
NFL on Westwood One
''The NFL on Westwood One Sports'' is the branding for Cumulus Broadcasting subsidiary Westwood One's radio coverage of the National Football League. These games are distributed throughout the United States and Canada (the latter through TSN Radio ...
,
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
on
Westwood One
Westwood One is an American radio network
There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...
,
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
on
Westwood One
Westwood One is an American radio network
There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...
, and
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...
hockey.
History
WSAI was first authorized, by telegram, on March 19, 1923, and was initially operated by the
United States Playing Card Company
The United States Playing Card Company (USPC, though also commonly known as USPCC) is a large American producer and distributor of playing cards. It was established in 1867 as Russell, Morgan & Co. and founded in its current incarnation in 1885. ...
.
["New stations"]
''Radio Service Bulletin'', April 2, 1923, page 3. The station originally broadcast from company facilities on Beech Street in
Norwood, Ohio
Norwood is the third most populous city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and an enclave of the larger city of Cincinnati. The population was 19,207 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Originally settled as an early suburb of ...
. The WSAI call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs.
Its first authorization was for operation on the shared "entertainment" wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz).
[ The single entertainment wavelength meant that stations within a given region had to make timesharing agreements to assign operating timeslots. In May 1923 the Department of Commerce set aside a band of "Class B" frequencies reserved for stations that had quality equipment and programming, and the Cincinnati region was assigned exclusive use of 970 kHz. WSAI began operating on this new frequency, sharing time with another Cincinnati station, ]WLW
WLW (700 AM) 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.
WLW operates with around the clock. Its daytime signal provides ...
. In May 1924 a third Class B station was established in Cincinnati, WFBW (now WKRC), which the next month became WMH. WLW was unhappy with having to split time with two other stations, so in June 1924 government regulators moved WLW to 710 kHz, sharing time with WBAV (now WTVN
WTVN (610 AM) – branded as "News Radio 610 WTVN" – is a commercial talk radio station licensed to Columbus, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station serves the Columbus metro area. The WTVN studios area located in Downtown Columbus, and it ...
) in Columbus.
At the Third National Radio Conference, held in October 1924, the Radio Corporation of America
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
's (RCA) vice president and general manager, David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was an American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career, he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly afte ...
, announced that his company planned to embark on the construction of a 50,000 watt station for New York City. At this time 1,000 watts was the maximum permitted, so this brought up fears by smaller stations that a group of powerful stations would monopolize the airwaves. In late 1924 Western Electric began selling radio transmitters capable of operating at 5,000 watts, but the Commerce Department, wary of the high-powered sets overwhelming local receivers, did not immediately allow stations to use the full power. Instead stations could start operating with up to 1,500 watts, then, only if approved by the region's Radio Supervisor, increase powers in successive 500 watt steps, while ensuring that it was not causing excessive interference.
In early 1925, WSAI and WMH moved to 920 kHz. The Commerce Department's cautious approach toward power increases was based on the assumption that station transmitters were located in heavily populated areas. However, in May 1925 it recognized that WSAI's Mason, Ohio and WLW's Harrison transmitter sites were both far enough from population centers that they could immediately begin operating as the first two stations in the nation transmitting with the full 5,000 watts. A ''Cincinnati Post'' writer investigated the effect of WSAI and WLW's May 11 introduction of the use of 5,000 watts, and found that despite claims that their "superpower broadcasting" would eliminate static within 500 miles, it was only "a start in the right direction". Listeners reported that the stations now sounded about twice as strong, and also noted that KDKA in Pittsburgh's 10,000 watts was even better.
In mid-1927, WSAI was assigned to 830 kHz. In May 1928 the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation
The Crosley Broadcasting Corporation was a radio and television broadcaster founded by radio manufacturing pioneer Powel Crosley, Jr. It had a major influence in the early years of radio and television broadcasting, and helped the Voice of Amer ...
began leasing WSAI, and also began to consolidate WSAI's operations with WLW. This included WLW moving its transmitter site from Harrison to sharing WSAI's facility at Mason. Crosley moved the WSAI transmitter to a hilltop site overlooking downtown Cincinnati on Chickasaw Street, which later became the transmitter site of WLWT
WLWT (channel 5) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Young Street, and its transmitter is located on Chickasaw Street, both in the ...
television.
On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by t ...
's General Order 40
The Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40, dated August 30, 1928, described the standards for a sweeping reorganization of radio broadcasting in the United States. This order grouped the AM radio band transmitting frequencies into thre ...
, WSAI was assigned to 800 kHz. However, now classified as a "limited time" station, WSAI could only operate until sunset at the location of the frequency's primary stations, most notably WBAP in Fort Worth, Texas. In order to gain fulltime operation, in early 1929 WSAI moved to 1330 kHz, with a power reduction from 5,000 to 500 watts. WSAI was run as a locally oriented station, while the higher powered sister station WLW — with programs from NBC Radio
The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...
and the Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
— aimed for the whole region.
On March 29, 1941, with the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, stations on 1330 kHz, including WSAI, were moved to 1360 kHz. The August 1941 adoption of the Federal Communications Commission's "duopoly" rule restricted licensees from operating more than one radio station in a given market. At this time the Crosley Corporation owned both WLW and WSAI, so to conform with the new regulation in 1944 WSAI was sold to Marshall Field.
Like many AM stations of their era, WSAI began playing popular music, which segued into a Top 40 format. The transmitter was moved to the Daly Road site in Mount Healthy, where it is currently located. The studio was moved to 8th and Matson with a commanding view of downtown Cincinnati from the Price Hill Overlook.
WSAI featured Cincinnati's largest radio news staff headed by National Broadcasters Hall Of Fame inductee Rod Williams, who won numerous awards including a commendation from the Ohio General Assembly for combat reporting in Vietnam.
1960s and 1970s
WSAI became Cincinnati's AM Top 40 powerhouse during the 1960s and 1970s, headed by personalities like Larry Gordon (America's Youngest Disk Jockey), Jim Scott, Robin Mitchell, Bob Goode, Buddy Baron, Roy Cooper, Ted McAllister, Jack Stahl, Dusty Rhodes, Casey Piotrowski, Larry Clark, Gary Allyn, Steve Kirk (later of WING
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...
, Dayton), Bob Harper, Mark Edwards, Dick Wagner, Bob Wayne, Steve Young, Bob White, Paul Purtan, Ron "King B" Britain (later of WCFL Chicago), and the station's youngest DJ, Michael Owens.
In 1978 WSAI switched to country music, which was replaced by a simulcast of soft rock
Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...
FM station WWNK (formerly WSAI-FM) on August 26, 1985, that included a call letter change by the AM station to WWNK. (The WSAI call sign was transferred to 100.9 FM in October 1985, but was dropped after one year for WIZF
WIZF (101.1 FM) 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 l ...
.)
1980s and 1990s
On March 23, 1987, WWNK dropped the simulcast of WWNK-FM and became oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
as "K-Rock". In 1988, AM 1360 returned to WSAI, which enhanced the oldies format. In 1992 WSAI became the first station in the market to have a sports talk format, but this did not last long.
Charles Reynolds became the new owner of WSAI, but the station was leased out to Jacor Communications
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.
Jacor Communicat ...
and the format was changed to adult standards. Jacor Communications then acquired the intellectual property of WCKY 1530 AM, and merged it with WLWA 550 AM (the former — and current — WKRC). On April 14, 1994, the WCKY calls were moved to 550 AM, the WSAI call letters and standards format moved to 1530 AM, and the former WSAI at AM 1360 became WAOZ, with a children's music
Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...
format.
On August 30, 1996, WAOZ changed its call letters to WAZU, with a news/talk format. That format, in turn, changed back to sports talk as "1360 Homer" on December 12, 1997. The WAZU call letters were changed to WCKY, following the merger of Jacor
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.
Jacor Communica ...
with iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
(then known as Clear Channel Communications) that allowed WKRC to be restored on 550 AM.
"Homer" was initially seen by many as an also-ran in the market when compared to Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
flagship WLW, and against crosstown sports talk rival — and Bengals flagship — WBOB. However, WBOB — which simulcast the games with sister WUBE-FM
WUBE-FM (105.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music radio format. Licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio, it is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.
WUBE-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 14,500 watts. It broadcasts using HD Radio t ...
— did not renew the Bengals' rights after the 1999 season, as its parent company AMFM merged with Clear Channel and both stations were split up.
WCKY slowly gained respect by gaining the radio rights to the Cincinnati Bengals via a three-way arrangement with WLW and WOFX. "1360 Homer" served as the AM flagship when the Bengals and the Cincinnati Reds baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
team share the season schedule. After the Reds' season ends, the games moved to WLW.
For several years the station operated as Original Hits 1530, WSAI and featured a nostalgia format featuring former TV personalities Bob Braun, Nick Clooney
Nicholas Joseph Clooney (born January 13, 1934) is an American journalist, anchorman, and television host. He is the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney and the father of actor George Clooney.
Early life
Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky, t ...
and Wirt Cain.
Later years
In January 2003, WSAI's Top 40 roots were revived on a sister station as "Real Oldies 1530 WSAI", which featured some of the original WSAI "good guys" from that era such as Dusty Rhodes, Jack Stahl, Ted McAllister and Casey Piotrowski as well as longtime Cincinnati Oldies personalities "Dangerous" Dan Allen, Marty (with the party) Thompson and Tom "Cat" Michaels. Some of the original 1960s jingles from the station's Top 40 days were used in addition to a sampling of some Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* ...
-styled production values and the voice of CKLW
CKLW (800 AM) is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, serving Southwestern Ontario and Metro Detroit. CKLW has a news/talk format. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon drive times, with syndicated Canadian hosts in midd ...
veteran announcer Charlie Van Dyke
Charlie Van Dyke (born Charles Leo Steinle; July 26, 1947) is a former radio disc jockey who is best known for his voice work on radio and television stations. He is recognized by his deep, booming voice.
Originally from Dallas, Van Dyke was wor ...
voicing station IDs and promotional "liners" in-between songs.
On January 17, 2005, WCKY and WSAI swapped their call letters back to the original dial positions, with AM 1360 returning to WSAI, and AM 1530 returning to WCKY, although WSAI retained its sports format (albeit with the call letters only mentioned at the top of the hour), while AM 1530 as WCKY switched formats from oldies to liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
as radio stations were pressured to include left-leaning stations to balance the right leaning stations they also programmed.
On July 7, 2006, WCKY and WSAI switched formats, with the "Homer" sports/talk format moving to WCKY at 1530 AM, while WSAI picked up the liberal/ progressive talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
as "1360 WSAI: The Revolution of Talk Radio". This did not last long, as the ratings for liberal radio in Cincinnati were far below the previous music formats. Jerry Springer
Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show ''Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...
's show came to an end on December 11, 2006, and so did WSAI's progressive talk format. WSAI relaunched that day as "1360thesource.com", still carrying a talk format but heavily programmed with advice and consumer awareness-driven shows such as Clark Howard
Clark Brian Howard (born June 20, 1955) is a popular consumer expert and podcast host of ''The Clark Howard Show''.
Life and career
Howard grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents, Bernard and Joy Garson Howard, were prominent members of Atl ...
and Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
The new format lasted just six months, and WSAI went back to a sports on July 2, 2007 as "Cincinnati's ESPN 1360". As an all-network companion to sister station WCKY, which airs local talk during the day and carries various play-by-play, WSAI aired the entire ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
programming lineup. WSAI and WCKY stations swapped network affiliations on February 15, 2010, with WCKY affiliating with ESPN Radio as "ESPN 1530", while WSAI became "Fox Sports 1360", carrying the entire Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio is an American sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports division and iHeartMedia, parent company ...
lineup on a 24/7 basis.
References
External links
*
* (covering 1923-1980)
{{IHeartMedia
Sports radio stations in the United States
SAI
Radio stations established in 1923
1923 establishments in Ohio
IHeartMedia radio stations
Fox Sports Radio stations