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| Broadcast area | Cincinnati metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 550kHz |
| Branding | 55KRC |
| Programming | |
| Format | Talk radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WCKY,WEBN,WKFS,WLW,WSAI | |
| History | |
First air date | May 22, 1924; 101 years ago (1924-05-22) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | Kodel Radio Company (former owner) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 29737 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
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Transmitter coordinates | 39°00′29.22″N84°26′38.79″W / 39.0081167°N 84.4441083°W /39.0081167; -84.4441083 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | 55krc |
WKRC (550kHz) is acommercialAM radio stationlicensed toCincinnati, Ohio. The station airs atalkradio format, under the branding "55KRC". The station's offices and studios are on Montgomery Road offInterstate 71 in Cincinnati.
WKRC is powered at 5,000 watts by day and 1,000 watts at night, using adirectional antenna with a four-tower array. Itstransmitter site is off Murnan Road near theAA Highway (Kentucky Route 9) inCold Spring, Kentucky.[2]
Despite the similarities in theircall sign, WKRC was not the inspiration behind the television showWKRP in Cincinnati. The show's creator,Hugh Wilson, wrote the premise based on personal experiences atWQXI inAtlanta.[3][4][5]
WKRC is co-owned with another Cincinnati iHeartMedia talk station, 700WLW. While WLW airs mostly local talk and sports programming, WKRC largely carriesnationally syndicated talk shows.
WKRC has one locally-based program in morningdrive time hosted by Brian Thomas. Syndicated weekday shows includeThe Glenn Beck Radio Program,The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,The Sean Hannity Show,Coast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory,The Ramsey Show withDave Ramsey andThe Mark Levin Show.
Weekend programming includes specialty shows on money, health, retirement, technology, gardening and home repair, some of which are paidbrokered programming. WKRC is the originating station for two weeklyPremiere Networks shows:At Home with Gary Sullivan andIn the Garden with Ron Wilson. It also carriesThe Kim Komando Show on Sunday evenings and repeats of some weekday shows.
WKRC is one of the oldest radio stations in Ohio. It was first licensed, as WFBW, on May 22, 1924. The owner was the Ainsworth-Gates Radio Company of Cincinnati. The originalcall letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs.[6] The call letters changed to WMH on June 14, 1924.[7] (An earlierWMH, which was Cincinnati's first broadcasting station, had been operated by the Precision Equipment Company until January 1923.)
In 1925, the station was purchased by the Kodel Radio Corporation.[8] That firm changed the call letters to WKRC to match its initials.[9]
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WKRC was acharter member of theCBS Radio Network. It was one of the 16 stations that aired the first CBS network program on September 18, 1927.CBS purchased WKRC in November 1931, turning it into anowned and operated station.
CBS sold WKRC toThe Cincinnati Times-Star in September 1939. TheTimes-Star was owned by theTaft family. This purchase was the genesis ofTaft Broadcasting, with WKRC as itsflagship station.[11][12]
In 1947, Taftsigned on an FM station at 101.9 MHz.[13] The FM station used its own call sign at first, WCTS, which stood forCincinnati Times-Star. It later switched to WKRC-FM and today isWKRQ. In 1949, Taft Broadcasting added Cincinnati's second television station, Channel 11WKRC-TV (now on Channel 12).[14]
As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WKRC switched to afull servicemiddle of the road (MOR) music format and was an affiliate of theABC Entertainment Radio Network.[15] In the 1980s, the music moved from MOR toadult contemporary.
On November 29, 1992, afterJacor acquired the station via alocal marketing agreement (LMA), WKRC beganstunting with a computerized countdown.[16] A week later, WKRC debuted a newtalk radio format with the call letters WLWA, as a complementary service toWLW.[17]
In 1994, the call letters were changed from WLWA to WCKY. The station inherited the call sign and some programming used onWCKY 1530 AM, which was renamed WSAI (now on 1360 AM).
In 1997, the long-time call letters WKRC returned to 550 AM. The station began offering a schedule of local and national talk programs, some of them fromWestwood One. In 1999,Clear Channel Communications, the forerunner of current owner iHeartMedia, acquired Jacor Broadcasting, including WKRC.[18]
WKRC is the formersister station to WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, both having been owned by Taft Broadcasting, Jacor Communications, and Clear Channel Communications. In 2008, Clear Channel sold WKRC-TV and its other television stations toNewport Television, LLC. In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia, Inc.
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