| City of license | Worcester, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Central Massachusetts |
| Branding | True Talk 830 |
| Frequency | 830 kHz |
| First air date | 1994 |
| Format | News/talk |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 9201 |
| Callsign meaning | Carter Radio Network |
| Affiliations | CBS Radio Network Talk Radio Network |
| Owner | Carter Broadcasting |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wcrnradio.com |
WCRN is an AM radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts, owned by Carter Broadcasting.
The station broadcasts at 830 AM at a transmitter power output of 50,000 watts and can be heard from Maine to Providence, Rhode Island, and from Boston to Springfield, Massachusetts. The signal is pointed away from such other stations at 830 kHz as WCCO in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The station bills itself as "True Talk 830," with a talk radio format all day, except for financial shows from 9-11 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m. weekdays and infomercials at assorted times on Saturdays and Sundays.
The station is owned by the Carberry family, who also own WACE in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Kurt Carberry is the vice president and general manager; the program director is Hank Stolz.
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WCRN signed on in 1994[1], carrying religious programming from the Carter Radio Network, based out of then-sister station WROL in Boston.[2] In December 2000, this was abandoned in favor of a big band format, "Swing 830".[3][4] Around this time, the station upgraded its daytime power from 5,000 watts to the current 50,000 watts.[4][5] The format was changed to oldies, via ABC Radio's The True Oldies Channel, in August 2004[6], and then to the current talk format on May 8, 2006.[7]
Following the lead of the day signal, WCRN upgraded its night power from 5,000 watts to 50,000 watts on April 4, 2007, just in time for the first Boston Red Sox night game of the season.[8]
WCRN's programming features former U.S. Congressman Peter Blute in morning drive, Hank Stolz (previously at rival WTAG), Laura Ingraham, Jerry Doyle and Doug Stephan weekdays, and The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas, sports, and programming from Talk Radio Network and Radio America on weekends. Howie Carr was on WCRN from its debut as a talk station until September 17, 2007, when WCRN dropped his show over uncertainties over Carr's contract status at his Boston flagship station, WRKO, and his (at the time presumed) move to crosstown talk rival WTKK.[9] The move fell through after a contract dispute and Carr returned to WRKO, and WCRN is again broadcasting the show.
Currently, WCRN serves as the flagship for the Worcester Tornadoes minor-league baseball team. The station is also an affiliate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst network for football and men's basketball broadcasts.
From 2007 through 2009, WCRN shared the Worcester affiliation of the Boston Red Sox radio network with WEEI satellite station WVEI, an arrangement made in order to take advantage of WCRN's then-new 50,000 watt night signal to serve areas of MetroWest that had difficulty receiving either WVEI itself or the team's then-flagship, WRKO, particularly at night (when most Red Sox games are played), with WVEI selling local advertising on both stations.[10] The two stations replaced WTAG, which had carried Sox games for 40 years. WVEI became the sole Red Sox affiliate in Worcester in 2010; nonetheless, WEEI continues to list WCRN as an affiliate as well.
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