WTNY

WTNY (790 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Watertown, New York. The station airs a talk radio format and is owned by the Stephens Media Group. The studios and offices are on Mullin Street.

WTNY
CityWatertown, New York
Frequency790 kHz
Branding790 WTNY The News and Weather Station
SloganNorthern New York's News Talk Connection
Programming
FormatTalk
AffiliationsPremiere Networks
Westwood One
Fox News Radio
Ownership
OwnerStephens Media Group
(Stephens Media Group Watertown, LLC)
WCIZ-FM, WFRY-FM, WNER
History
First air date
April 29, 1941
Call sign meaning
WaterTown, NY
Technical information
ClassB
Power1,000 watts
Translator(s)95.9 W240EA Watertown (temp. off the air)
Links
Websitewww.790WTNY.com

WTNY broadcasts at 1,000 watts. By day it uses a non-directional antenna. But at night, to protect other stations on AM 790 it uses a directional antenna with a three-tower array. The transmitter is on Ives Street Road.[1] WTNY had also been heard on FM translator W240EA at 95.9 MHz.[2] The translator is currently dark.

Programming

The station features a local weekday morning news and information show hosted by Bill Tinsley. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of mostly nationally syndicated conservative talk programs. They include The Glenn Beck Program, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Savage Nation with Michael Savage, The Dave Ramsey Show, The Alex Jones Show, The Jim Bohannon Show and Coast to Coast AM with George Noory.

Weekends feature repeats of weekday shows, as well as special interest programs on money and health. Sunday mornings feature a smooth jazz show, The Dave Koz Lounge. Most hours being with world and national news from Fox News Radio.

History

On April 29, 1941, the station signed on the air.[3] It was Watertown's second radio station, after 1240 WATN went on the air only three months earlier. The call sign was originally WWNY and it broadcast at 500 watts on 1300 kilocycles. It was owned by the Brockway Company which also owned the Watertown Daily Times newspaper. WWNY had its studios in the Hotel Woodruff at 49 Public Square.

WWNY got a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission to move to 790 kHz. That was coupled with a power increase to 1,000 watts, giving the station increased coverage. WWNY was a network affiliate of CBS Radio, carrying its dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio."

In 1947, an FM station was added, WWNY-FM at 100.3 MHz.[4] The FM station largely simulcast the programs on the AM station. Few people owned FM radios in the 1940s. Management saw little chance to make it profitable, so WWNY-FM was taken off the air in the 1950s and the license turned in to the FCC.

WWNY added a TV station in 1954, Channel 7 WCNY-TV.[5] Because the TV station is licensed to Carthage, New York, outside Watertown, the two stations did not have the same call sign. When the FCC relaxed the rules, the TV station switched to WWNY-TV. (The WCNY-TV call letters are now used on a PBS television station in Syracuse, New York.)

In 1981, the TV station was sold to United Communications. WWNY-TV got to keep its call letters, so AM 790 slightly changed its call sign to WTNY. Through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, WTNY had a middle of the road format of popular adult music, news, sports and talk. But in the 1990s, listeners switched from AM to FM for music. So WTNY added more talk shows and eventually went with an all-talk format. It remained a CBS Radio affiliate for world and national news coverage.

Alan Walts, the station's longtime morning host, retired in 2019. He was replaced by veteran Northern New York broadcaster Bill Tinsley.[6]

Translators
Call signFrequency
(MHz)		City of licenseERP
(W)		ClassFCC info
W240EA95.9Watertown, New York250DFCC


References
  1. Radio-Locator.com/WTNY
  2. https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=W240ea&nav=home Radio-Locator.com/W240EA]
  3. Information from the Broadcasting Yearbook 1942 page 160
  4. Broadcasting Yearbook 1950 page 222
  5. Broadcasting Yearbook 1955 page 222
  6. NNY360.com "New WTNY Moring Host"



This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.