WPAY (AM)

WPAY
City of license Portsmouth, Ohio
Broadcast area Scioto County, Ohio
Frequency 1400 kHz
First air date April 15, 1935[1]
Format Defunct
Power 1,000 watts (day)
800 watts (night)
Facility ID 54835
Transmitter coordinates 38°44′06″N 82°59′33″W / 38.73500°N 82.99250°W
Owner Douglas L. Braden
(Radio Stations WPAY/WPFB, Inc.)
Sister stations WNKE

WPAY (1400 AM, "Talk 14") was an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Portsmouth, Ohio. The station was last owned by Douglas L. Braden and the final broadcast license was held by Radio Stations WPAY/WPFB, Inc. Established in 1935, the station fell silent in June 2011 and its license was revoked in June 2012.

After WPAY's owner sold its sister stations to WNKU licensee Northern Kentucky University in January 2011,[2] he was unable to find a buyer for the lone small-market AM station and the decision was made to take the station off the air for financial reasons while seeking a new buyer.[3] Before falling dark, WPAY broadcast a news/talk radio format branded as "Talk 14" to the Scioto County, Ohio, area.[4]

The station which began broadcasting on April 15, 1935, ended over 75 years of service on June 3, 2011.[5][6] Under the terms of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as a matter of law a radio station's broadcast license is subject to automatic forfeiture and cancellation if they fail to broadcast for one full year.[7]

The station was assigned the call sign "WPAY" by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). After the station's broadcast license was revoked, the WPAY call sign was deleted from the FCC database on June 8, 2012.[8]

Previous call letters

Prior to being known as WPAY, the station's call letters were WHBD. The change occurred in 1935.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Directory of AM and FM Radio Stations in the U.S.". 1964 Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1964. p. B-122.
  2. ↑ Lewis, Frank (January 20, 2011). "WPAY license, property sold". Portsmouth Daily Times. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  3. ↑ Taylor, Tom (June 6, 2011). "On the Ohio-West Virginia border, 80-year-old WPAY-AM signs off for possibly the last time". Radio Info. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  5. ↑ Ottney, Ryan Scott (June 1, 2011). "WPAY-AM to shut down broadcast Friday". Portsmouth Daily Times. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  6. ↑ "AM silent stations, silent over 2 months". Federal Communications Commission. May 21, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Silent AM and FM Broadcast Station Lists". The FCC Encyclopedia. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Call Sign History". CDBS Public Access Database. FCC Media Bureau. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  9. ↑ "(untitled brief)". Broadcasting. April 1, 1935. Retrieved 19 October 2014.

External links