WRRN

WRRN
City of license Warren, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area Jamestown NY area
Branding 92 Gold
Frequency 92.3 MHz
First air date March 1948
Format Oldies
ERP 50,000 watts
HAAT 125 meters
Class B
Facility ID 34927
Transmitter coordinates 41°48′50.00″N 79°10′4.00″W / 41.8138889°N 79.1677778°W
Callsign meaning WaRReN, Pennsylvania (city of license)
Affiliations AP Radio
Owner Radio Partners, LLC
Website kibcoradio.com

WRRN (92.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an oldies format. Licensed to Warren, Pennsylvania, USA, the station serves the Jamestown NY area. The station is currently owned by Radio Partners, LLC and features programing from AP Radio and Jones Radio Networks's "Good Time Oldies" format.[1]

History

WRRN signed on the air in March 1948 as the sister station of WNAE, an AM station that had signed on after World War II had ended and the FCC began to issue licenses to radio stations. The licensing process had been halted once the U.S. had entered the war. Northern Allegheny Broadcasting, under the ownership of president and general manager David Potter, was the original licensee of both stations. W. LeRoy Schneck was program director and would one day assume control of both.

WRRN first signed on the air with an effective radiated power of 3,000 watts. By the 70s, the station would increase its power to 26,000 watts and then to 50,000 by the 80s. The station would periodically simulcast with WNAE at varying times, as WNAE was a daytime-only station until the late 1980s.

In 1974, WNAE and WRRN were sold by Northern Allegheny Broadcasting to Kinzua Broadcasting Company, a company formed by longtime program director W. LeRoy Schneck, who now served as company president and station General Manager. Dave Whipple assumed Schneck's programming duties.

For many years, WRRN was a heritage beautiful music radio station as "Easy 92.3". Like many other such formatted radio stations, WRRN played 10-inch reel-to-reel music tapes from a dedicated automation playback system, with the occasional news brief from AP Network News and local news from WNAE's newsroom.

While operating as an easy listening station, WRRN simulcast WNAE's morning show from 6 to 9am Monday through Friday. Though music formats at times varied for WNAE over the years, music played during the simulcast was more soft rock oriented to better buffer the easy listening format once the simulcast had ended for the day. Towards the end of the 20th Century, the simulcast dropped most of its music and concentrated on being a more news and information oriented morning show. Also during this time, WRRN added more expansive newscasts into its separate programming as traditional beautiful music formatted radio stations were fading into obscurity.

Prior to 2000, the company name had changed from Kinzua Broadcasting to Kibco Radio, though the licensee and ownership remained the same.

In 2000, WRRN changed its format from beautiful music to adult contemporary. Two years later, the station changed its format to oldies, which continues today.

WRRN Today

On September 19, 2006, Kibco Radio sold WRRN and its two sister stations to Radio Partners, LLC, which owned WBVP and WMBA in Beaver Falls and Ambridge, Pennsylvania, respectively. Radio Partners LLC President Frank Iorio retained W. LeRoy Schneck as general manager for a period to assist with the transfer of ownership.

References

  1. ↑ "WRRN Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.

External links