WCRN

WCRN

City of license	Worcester, Massachusetts
Broadcast area	Central Massachusetts
Branding	True Talk 830
Frequency	830 kHz
First air date	December 5, 1994[1]
Format	News/talk
Power	50,000 watts
Class	B
Facility ID	9201
Transmitter coordinates	42°14′50.00″N 71°55′52.00″W / 42.2472222°N 71.9311111°W / 42.2472222; -71.9311111
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 (during the day). The signal is directional, pointed away from such other stations at 830 kHz as WCCO in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After sunset, WCRN's signal is made further directional towards the east; as a result, it is not clearly audible in Western Massachusetts after sunset in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

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.

On February 4, 2013 it was announced former WTKK talk host Michael Graham will do noon to 3pm weekdays, also broadcast on WESO Southbridge, WPLM Plymouth, and WBNW Concord, effective on February 11, 2013.

History

WCRN signed on December 5, 1994,^[1][2] carrying religious programming from the Carter Radio Network, based out of then-sister station WROL in Boston.^[3] In December 2000, this was abandoned in favor of a big band format, "Swing 830".^[4][5] Around this time, the station upgraded its daytime power from 5,000 watts to the current 50,000 watts.^[5][6] The format was changed to oldies, via ABC Radio's The True Oldies Channel, in August 2004,^[7] and then to the current talk format on May 8, 2006.^[8]

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.^[9]

Programming

WCRN's programming features in morning drive Sherman Whitman and Hank Stolz (the latter was previously at rival WTAG), Laura Ingraham, Jerry Doyle and Doug Stephan weekdays, and The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas, Howie Carr, progressive talk from Jeff Santos, sports, and programming from Talk Radio Network and Radio America on weekends.

WCRN served as the flagship for the Worcester Tornadoes minor-league baseball team during the 2005 and 2010 seasons. The station is also an affiliate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst network for football and men's basketball broadcasts.

From 2007 through 2009, and since 2011, WCRN has 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, the station returned to the Red Sox network in 2011.

References

External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WCRN
• Radio-Locator Information on WCRN
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WCRN