_970_Logo.png){kind=logo} | |
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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | |
| Frequency | 970kHz |
| Branding | ESPN 970 WFUN |
| Programming | |
| Format | Sports |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | September 21, 1937; 88 years ago (1937-09-21) (as WICA) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | The fun spot on your dial |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 54565 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
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Transmitter coordinates | 41°48′52.19″N80°46′44.31″W / 41.8144972°N 80.7789750°W /41.8144972; -80.7789750 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
WFUN (970kHz) – branded asESPN 970 WFUN – is a commercialsportsAM radio station inAshtabula, Ohio. Owned by Media One Radio Group, it servesAshtabula County, Ohio and parts of theErie, Pennsylvania region. It is one of five stations in Media One Radio Group's Ashtabula cluster, the others beingWFXJ-FM,WQGR,WREO-FM,WYBL, andWZOO-FM.
The station signed on the air in 1937 as WICA (its call letters having stood for "Industry, Commerce, Agriculture"). WICA started an FMsister station, WICA-FM, on 103.7 MHz around 1950. WICA-FM's frequency soon thereafter moved to 97.1 MHz, duplicating the programming of theAM 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 andWREO-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 AMTop 40 station in Miami, Florida, while eventually adopting an oldies format. The WREO-FM call sign was retained by the sister FM station, which continues today with asoft adult contemporary format.
In May 2000 the Rowleys sold the stations andWZOO-FM toClear Channel Communications. WFUN's oldies format was dropped in February 2001 for a standardnews/talk format (Rush Limbaugh's show was the only one retained, as WFUN aired it since the early 1990s), addingDr. Laura,Jim Rome,Coast to Coast AM andFox Sports Radio. Morning drive on the station remained local throughout this time, evolving into basic a local news and political talk show hosted by Roger McCoy and later by John Broom.
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Clear Channel Communications sold their Ashtabula cluster, including WFUN, in September 2007 to Media One Radio Group (headed by Embrescia and dubbed "Sweet Home Ashtabula" as a placeholder). WFUN's programming changed on November 3, 2007, over to a sports/talk format affiliated withESPN Radio, dropping all political talk programming and electing to go for a smaller, male dominated, core audience.[2][3][4]
Since 2012 WFUN has served as the ESPN Radio affiliate forErie, Pennsylvania, due toWRIE taking theCBS Sports Radio affiliation. In August 2021 theErie Otters announced a radio broadcast partnership with WFUN beginning in the 2021-2022 OHL season.[5]
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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 nonetwork 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.