WPTW

WPTW "The Voice of the Upper Miami Valley, Ohio" (for Piqua, Troy and West Milton) is a commercial AM radio stations in Piqua, Ohio, U.S.A. on 1570 kHz with a power output of 250 watts. It is owned by Muzzy Broadcasting Group. ABC Radio Network news and local news. Its music format is a mix of 1960s', 1970s', and 1980s' classic hits as an affiliate of The True Oldies Channel. Local high school sports coverage remains a tradition at the station in addition to Ohio State Buckeyes football.

Early history

WPTW began operation as a daytime-only AM station with a middle of the road format on December 7, 1947 and was founded by the Miami Valley Broadcasting Company. It operated with extended hours during the November 1950 blizzard.

Auxiliary studios in the 1950s

For much of its early years WPTW held the distinction as the only commercial radio station in the Upper Miami Valley between Dayton and Lima...as such,the station opened up several locally originating studios in its service area including the Hotel Lollis in Troy,the Ohio Building in Sidney plus a studio on South Broadway in Greenville. That distinction was held until the late 1950s and early 1960s with the founding of stations in Bellefontaine, Sidney, Greenville, Urbana and Wapakoneta.

1960s and 1970s

As the newer stations emerged, the Troy,Sidney and Greenville studios were eventually closed by the mid-1960s,however its legal ID remained until 1974 as the ever formal: "This is WPTW...FM Stereo...(brief silence on AM frequency to allow for FM ID)...transmitting from Piqua, Ohio."

The Piqua/Troy ID emerged afterwards in 1975.

Separate business ventures

WPTW also founded and grandfathered WCSM and WCSM-FM in Celina in 1964 (currently owned by Hayco Broadcasting Inc). By this time WPTW was locally owned and operated by Richard Hunt and C. Oscar Baker (dba: WPTW Radio Inc.) Hunt also owned WSOO and WSUE in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan and Valley Antenna Systems (aka: Piqua CATV) as separate entities in addition to becoming the sole owner of WPTW following Baker's passing in 1974. Hunt sold WPTW to Frontier Broadcasting and WCLR-FM to Cox Radio (dba: Xenia Broadcasting) in 1997 several years before his passing in 2002. Steve Baker, who is the northern bureau chief for WHIO-TV's News Center 7, had his start at WPTW's news department in the early 1970s.

WPTW was previously a CBS Radio Network affiliate since the time it was dropped by WHIO in favor of affiliating with Fox News Radio. Beforehand, WPTW's network affiliations included Metromedia Radio in the 1960s, UPI Audio Network in the 1970s and 1980s, Unistar Radio in the 1990s and currently with ABC Radio Network. WPTW was an affiliate of the Agri Broadcast Network and now with its successor, Ohio Ag-Net.

WPTW-FM

WPTW-FM at 95.7 began operation in 1960 with a beautiful music format and began operating in stereo later in that decade in addition to airing Muzak-styled "elevator music" on its sub-channel. Its operating power was 35,000 watts upgraded to 50,000 watts in 1976. That station later became soft adult contemporary WCLR,"Clear 95" in 1989 switching to 1950s/1960s oldies in 1993 as "Kool 95"(with WZLR in Xenia as a repeater.) It was later sold to Cox as the branding "Oldies 95" in 1998. Another format switch to late 1970s and 1980s classic hits in 2000 as WDPT "95.7 The Point" and currently as WHIO-FM simulcasting news/talk WHIO in Dayton since November 2006.

WPTW today

In 1986, WPTW began operating 24 hours a day with full power following a decision by the FCC to allow local stations operating on Mexican clear channel frequencies to continue operation during nighttime hours with its normal licensed power. It is currently an affiliate of The True Oldies Channel featuring hits from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s but for most of its years,it maintained a traditional middle of the road format until the 1980s when it slowly began moving towards adult contemporary occasionally switching to adult standards in the 1990s,then back to its previous format mixed with 1950s/60s oldies (a satellite-delivered format from ABC Radio called "Unforgettable Favorites," which has since been discontinued). 1570 WPTW for several years broadcast in C-QUAM AM Stereo in the 1990s which was later abandoned by 2000.

Its previous owner Miami Valley Radio L.L.C.(headed by Mark Hiner) purchased WPTW from Frontier Broadcasting which was headed by Bart Johnson,the son of the late farm broadcaster and ABN founder Ed Johnson who also owned WUCO in Marysville. After the younger Johnson sold WPTW to Miami Valley Radio LLC in 2007 and WUCO to Saint Gabriel Radio that same year he co-founded Ohio Ag-Net with former ABN farm director Dale Minyo in 2008.

1570 WPTW continues to serve Piqua, Troy, Sidney and the Upper Miami Valley with local news plus local and area high school sports coverage. Tom Michaels and Ryan Brandt and others anchor the local live sporting events for the station. The station is now an affiliate for the Ohio State Buckeyes airing all Football games.

Muzzy Broadcasting purchases WPTW

According to a Piqua Daily Call story dated July 8, 2011,the station's previous owner Miami Valley Radio LLC announced that it may leave the air and shut down permanently unless a buyer is found. The story was also posted on its website several weeks after rumours abounded of the station making several on-air announcements in June 2011 that it may go silent. Since that time, Muzzy Broadcasting has purchased the station in December 2011 and FCC approval was granted on April 20 of 2012. Rick Muzzy was a familiar name and voice on WPTW in the 1970s.

WPTW is the last locally originating commercial radio station still serving Miami County as the former WPTW-FM is now WHIO-FM and the former short-lived competitor WTRJ-FM (later WRNB) in nearby Troy which is now WYDA, a repeater of K-LOVE.

Muzzy Broadcasting purchased 98.1 FM in Sidney from EMF Broadcasting in September 2012. The FM returned to the air on March 22, 2013 rebroadcasting WPTW.

See also

• WHIO-FM (originally WPTW-FM,later WCLR and WDPT respectively)
• WUCO (now WQTT) Marysville, WLOH Lancaster and WDLR Delaware (formerly owned by Frontier Broadcasting)
• Scott Shannon
• List of radio stations in Ohio
• WSPT-FM, WKQH-FM, WPCN-AM/FM(also owned by Muzzy Broadcasting)

References

• Book: "Miami County History 1807-1953" by the Miami County Sesquicentennial Historical Committee.
• Book: "An Encyclopedia of Piqua,Ohio" by James Oda published by M.T. Publishing.
• Greater Cincinnati Radio Guide
• Piqua Daily Call story of WPTW adding 98.1

External links

• Official WPTW site (with streaming audio)
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WPTW
• Radio-Locator Information on WPTW
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WPTW
• Query the FCC's FM station database for W251BC
• Radio-Locator information on W251BC

Coordinates: 40°08′25″N 84°16′07″W / 40.14028°N 84.26861°W / 40.14028; -84.26861