WTRN

WTRN is an American commercial AM radio station, licensed to the borough of Tyrone, Pennsylvania. The station operates at the federally assigned frequency of 1340 kHz with a full-time power output of 1,000 watts. WTRN was the flagship station for the former Allegheny Mountain Network (AMN).

History

WTRN's beginnings were part of a boom in local radio station construction in the northern and central part of Pennsylvania that began in 1950. In 1947, Allegheny Mountain Network founder Cary H. Simpson helped build WHUN, where he also would serve as program director, in his hometown of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania; approximately 20 miles southeast of Tyrone in Huntingdon County. Inspired by the station's success, Simpson built the first station in his group, WKBI (AM) in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. As this was the very first station in his group, WKBI served as the flagship station for the other stations that Simpson would build and put on the air over the next four decades.

Desiring to put a station on the air in his newly adopted hometown of Tyrone, Simpson petitioned the FCC for an AM license to be assigned to Tyrone. A construction permit was granted, and Simpson signed WTRN on the air on January 12, 1955. Simpson also successfully applied for an FM license to also be assigned to Tyrone. That station, WGMR (which was sold to Forever Broadcasting in Altoona in 2008), was granted license to operate at 101.1 mHz and signed on August 15, 1961.

As WTRN was close to his home, Simpson moved AMN's corporate operations to this station. Many of AMN's properties were in communities that were large enough to make the radio business profitable, but perhaps not quite large enough to support a typical radio station's staff at the time. Thus, many duties were centralized (traffic, billing, upper management) in the Tyrone office, requiring only airstaff and sales consultants at the individual stations. This business model would start to become the accepted standard following the first round of FCC ownership limit changes that began in 1992.

WTRN, like its affiliate stations, continues to be community-focused, despite a trend of many rural radio stations with larger market penetration to serve larger markets. News Director Jean Dixon, who has been with the station since its sign-on, continues to air an hour-long local news block at 10am weekday mornings, which also includes interviews with local townspeople. Another longtime AMN staffer, Peg Baney, does sales for WTRN.

Cary Simpson, in addition to his duties as AMN President, managed WTRN and did occasional on-air work such as parade broadcasts and interviews. He continued with these duties until his death December 27, 2016 at the age of 89, following a brief illness.

Sale of WTRN

After Simpson's death, WTRN's license and assets were placed in the hands of Thomas Hoyne, Simpson's attorney and executor, while Simpson's estate is being settled. Hoyne agreed to sell WTRN to Lightner Communications, a subsidiary of Claysburg-based Lightner Electronics, headed by broadcast engineer Matt Lightner, who was also the contract engineer for WTRN. The sale is currently awaiting FCC approval.

FM signal

In the early summer of 2009, WTRN began broadcasting in Tyrone on W264BZ.^[1]

W264BZ is an FM translator, which retransmits the WTRN 1340 AM signal on the FM band at 100.7 MHz. The FM coverage is equal or better to the AM coverage area, especially at night.

References

External links

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

Coordinates: 40°39′37″N 78°15′21″W / 40.66028°N 78.25583°W / 40.66028; -78.25583