WTVN originally started as WBAV, operating as a daytime station at 640 kHz on April 29, 1922. The call sign was later changed to WAIU, which stood for the station's parent company, American Insurance Union. WAIU was a charter member of the CBS Radio Network, being one of the 16 stations that aired the first CBS network program on September 18, 1927. The call letters were again changed in the late 1930s, this time to WHKC. In the middle-1940s, WHKC obtained the frequency of WCLE, 610 kHz in Cleveland, which operated daytime only, forming 610 WHKC. A directional antenna system was installed near Columbus. This allowed WHKC to go to a full-time operation which occurred in February 1945 with an effective radiated power of 1,000 watts. The station's power later was upgraded to 5,000 watts day and night in 1949. The 640 frequency was then assigned to new arrival WHKK in Akron. Operation on 640 kHz was limited to Los Angeles sunset because of the superior propagation at low AM frequencies, and the presence of clear-channelKFI in Los Angeles. The station adopted its current WTVN call letters in 1954 when it was acquired by Radio Cincinnati Inc., a firm that would later become Taft Broadcasting. The sale to the Taft family made 610 AM a sister station to WTVN-TV ; in 1960 Taft launched an FM station in Columbus, WTVN-FM. In 1987 Taft was reorganized as Great American Broadcasting after financier Carl Lindner, Jr. succeeded in a hostile takeover of the company. Great American retained WTVN and WLVQ but not WTVN-TV, which was sold to former Taft shareholder Robert Bass and his new company, Anchor Media. Great American Broadcasting was renamed Citicasters in 1993. Jacor Communications purchased Citicasters in 1996. WLVQ was split from WTVN when the FM station was acquired by CBS Radio in 1998, and a year later Jacor was absorbed into Clear Channel Communications.
Building
American Insurance Union owned the AIU Building in Columbus, which at the time was the tallest building in the city. Various radio facilities were located at the top of the skyscraper, including the transmitting antennae for WLWC-TV, Channel 4 and WTVN-TV, Channel 6. American Insurance Union later became part of Nationwide Insurance, owner of Nationwide Communications - former parent company of WNCI, which is a current sister station to WTVN.
Personnel
The station replaced Pat Pagano and the meteorologists at Metro Weather Service with weather talent from WBNS, which was itself replaced by weather services from WSYX television., Metro Weather, based out of Valley Stream, New York, provided weather reports 24 hours, including Pagano during Bob Conners' morning show.
Coverage area
Although WTVN only uses 5,000 watts of power during the day, the station can be heard as far away as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Detroit, and Cleveland. At night, the signal uses a directional antenna to protect stations operating on the same frequency, such as in KCSP in Kansas City; WTEL in Philadelphia; and WIOD in Miami. The extra power is radiated over central Columbus. However, outlying suburbs in the direction of the nulls will experience a degraded signal. There were plans to improve WTVN's signal by adding a new antenna array and increasing power to 50,000 watts, but these plans fell through when zoning problems at the antenna site could not be resolved. Ultimately, WTVN tried to claim the right to build new towers as a "public utility" but lost in court on May 12, 2002. At one time, when WTVN still aired music programming, the station broadcast using C-QUAMAM Stereo. The stereo equipment was installed in 1988 but it was not until 1992 that the station operated in full stereo. Analog stereo transmissions ended several years later, though the internet feed remains stereophonic. WTVN also broadcast using iBiquity's HD Radio format in the late 2000s, though it was difficult to maintain a lock on the carrier and digital transmissions have since ceased.
Programming
WTVN's programming is largely made up of co-owned Premiere Networks' syndicated talk shows, including The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Glenn Beck Program and Coast to Coast AM live and The Sean Hannity Show on tape delay. WTVN utilizes two local talk radio hosts. Joel Riley hosts during morning drive time, while afternoon drive was hosted by John Corby until his death on January 20, 2018. The format of the local shows usually consists of simple day-to-day "topics" in which listeners are encouraged to call to discuss their viewpoints or experiences. Weekends feature: The Mark Levin Show, The Kim Komando Show, In the Garden with Ron Wilson, Joe Pags and Ric Edelman. World and national news is supplied by ABC News Radio.
