| Simulcast ofWILK-FM,Avoca | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Broadcast area | Scranton/Wilkes-Barre |
| Frequency | 910kHz |
| Branding | WILK Newsradio |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | News/talk |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | 1925; 100 years ago (1925) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "parked" call sign; seeWKVB |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 36200 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 900 watts day 440 watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°24′34″N75°40′01″W / 41.409514°N 75.666854°W /41.409514; -75.666854 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
| Website | www |
WAAF (910kHz) is acommercialAMradio station licensed toScranton, Pennsylvania. Owned byAudacy, Inc., WAAF airs anews/talkformat. It is powered at 900watts by day and 440 watts at night, using anon-directional antenna at all times. Thetransmitter is at the corner of Penn Avenue and Spruce Street, on theScranton Times Building.[2] In addition to a standardanalog transmission, WAAF's programming is available online viaAudacy.
WAAF is one of threesimulcast radio stations inNortheastern Pennsylvania that call themselvesWILK Newsradio, along with 103.1WILK-FM inAvoca and 980WILK inWilkes-Barre.Studios and offices are on Route 315 inPittston.
"WILK Newsradio" has a weekday schedule with mostly local hosts. At night, the stations airnationally syndicated shows includingDave Ramsey,Coast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory andAmerica in The Morning. Weekends feature shows on money, health, technology and science. Weekend syndicated hosts includeKim Komando,Clark Howard, Dr.Michio Kaku andArt Bell Somewhere in Time. Some hours on weekends are paidbrokered programming. Most hours begin with world and national news fromABC News Radio.
The stations also carries play-by-play sports includingPenn State Nittany Lions football andbasketball, as well asWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguinsminor league hockey.
The station signed on the frequency of 1250kHz in 1925, as WGBI. It was owned by Frank S. Megargee. In 1927, the station moved to 1300 kHz,[3] which it time shared with Scranton's other radio station, WQAN (nowWEJL). The two stations, which were time sharing a single frequency, moved to 880 kHz in 1931,[4] and then again to 910 kHz by 1941[5] (the later move, forced by a nationwide frequency reassignment, took place in 1941). WGBI remained at 910 kHz when WQAN moved on to its own broadcast tower and new frequency of 630 kHz in 1948. This meant that WGBI had full-time use of the 910 kHz frequency, where it remains to this day. WGBI was aCBS radionetwork affiliate by the 1940s.[6]
The Megargee family's company, Scranton Broadcasters, put an FM station on the air (nowWGGY) and Northeastern Pennsylvania's second television station (nowWYOU). The Megargees held on to the radio stations well into the 1990s. By the turn of the century, WGBI had been sold to Entercom (now Audacy) and become a repeater ofWILK, existing mainly to improve its signal in Scranton. While WILK's daytime signal easily covers most of Scranton, the northern portion of the city only gets a grade B signal. At night, WILK must power down to 1,000 watts, leaving most of Scranton with only a grade B signal.
In 2005, Entercom flippeda station in theMadison, Wisconsin, area toadult hits; the WBZU call letters wereparked in Scranton, ending 80 years as WGBI.[7]
In 2007, the station moved its transmitter to the tower location atop the Times Building at 149 Penn Avenue in downtownScranton[8] also being used by WEJL's transmitter. The full-time switch over to the new transmitter facility and tower location happened on August 2, 2007.[8] This tower sharing arrangement repeats an arrangement the stations shared over 60 years ago in their early history. The efficiency of the new transmitter tower location also caused WBZU to slightly reduce its power to keep withinFederal Communications Commission rules on signal strength and coverage.
On February 26, 2020, the WAAF call letters were transferred to WBZU from107.3 FM inBoston, which had held the call sign since 1968. When Entercom announced they would sell WAAF to theEducational Media Foundation, the call letters were "parked" in Scranton, preventing a rival Boston station from using the call sign and trading on its 52-year legacy in Boston (including 50 years as a rock station).