WUCS
WUCS is a commercial FM sports formatted radio station licensed to Windsor Locks, Connecticut. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and serves as the Hartford media market's ESPN Radio network affiliate. WUCS acts as the technical flagship station for the network because its signal covers Bristol, Connecticut, home of ESPN's headquarters. The station broadcasts from studios are located on Columbus Boulevard in Hartford with other radio stations.
The station first signed on in July 1990 as WPKX, a country music station licensed to Enfield, Connecticut and targeting Springfield, Massachusetts. It was owned by SFX Broadcasting in the late 1990s, then Capstar. AMFM owned it briefly before being acquired by Clear Channel Communications in 2000.
The station had an HD Radio HD-2 station broadcasting Americana music since early 2006.
In March 2010, Clear Channel Communications filed an application with the FCC to move the WPKX transmitter from Provin Mountain in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts to the top of City Place in Downtown Hartford, effectively moving the station from the Springfield Arbitron market to the larger and more lucrative Hartford Arbitron market. In January 2011, the move was refiled with a city of license change to Windsor Locks; this followed an agreement with WMAS-FM, which agreed to change its city of license from Springfield to Enfield as part of a deal involving a Clear Channel-owned generator in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The previous country format has moved to WRNX.
On January 27, 2012 at 6 a.m., the station switched to a simulcast of ESPN Radio affiliate WPOP. The call sign was changed to WUCS on February 7, 2012. WPOP switched to Fox Sports Radio in March 2012, with ESPN Radio remaining on WUCS.
As of the 2018–19 academic year, WUCS serves as the flagship station for Connecticut Huskies radio play-by-play, including the school's football, hockey, and men's and women's basketball programs. Coverage is produced for the school by IMG Media.
WPOP is currently simulcast on WUCS's HD-2 signal.
