WCKY-FM

WCKY-FM

Pemberville, Ohio
Broadcast area	Toledo, Ohio
Frequency	103.7MHz
Branding	Buckeye Country 103.7'CKY
Programming
Format	Classic country
Affiliations	Premiere Networks
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia, Inc. (iHM Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations	WCWA,WIOT,WRVF,WSPD,WVKS
History
First air date	1963(as WTTF-FM)
Former call signs	WTTF-FM (1963–1999)
Call signmeaning	"Buckeye Country"
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	70526
Class	B
ERP	50,000watts
HAAT	131 meters (430 ft)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	buckeyecountry1037.iheart.com

WCKY-FM(103.7MHz,"Buckeye Country 103.7" ) is aradio stationlicensed toPemberville, Ohio.Owned byiHeartMedia,the station - branded asBuckeye Country 103.7 CKY- features aclassic countryformat, and is the Toledo affiliate forThe Bobby Bones Show.

From its inception until 2008, the station was licensed to (and originally broadcast from)Tiffin, Ohiowhere thetransmitteris located. Originally it simulcast and was asister stationtoWTTF,now an AM station at 1600kHz.WCKY-FM's studios and offices are located at Superior and Lafayette in downtown Toledo.

History

Beginnings: as WTTF-FM

WCKY-FM first signed on the air as WTTF-FM in 1963, four years after the premiere of its AM sister. The station was founded by Robert G. Wright and Milton Maltz, who formed Malrite Communications, based in Cleveland, Ohio. The station first broadcast from itsAMtransmitter site at an effective radiated power of 3,000wattsat the time of its inception.

In the mid-1980s, WTTF-FM was granted a construction permit to operate at aneffective radiated powerof 50,000 watts making 103.7's signal listenable over much ofNorthwest Ohio.WTTF, Inc. built a new tower on County Road 48 to accommodate the larger antenna needed for the upgrade, on the property of its then vice president, Richard J. Wright. After the upgrade, there were few changes in the station's program offerings.

As one of the few high-poweredFMradio stations in rural Northwest Ohio, the station offered a full-service format of botholdiesandadult contemporary music,with high school and college sports fromHeidelberg CollegeandTiffin University.

Break from Malrite

In the late 1970s, Wright sold his interest in Malrite to his partner. The transaction resulted in the split of WTTF-AM-FM from Malrite and operated as a separate entity under Wright's management. Wright died oflung cancerin the early 1980s.

His younger son Richard, who served as the station'sengineer,ascended to the position of General Manager. Wright's other son, Robert "Bob" E. Wright, continued in his capacity as Program Director.

WTTF in its heyday

WTTF prided itself on community service and had a full contingency of live on-air personnel at a time when most stations were automating. Music was delivered almost exclusively on records and the station had an extensive record library encompassingadult contemporary,countryand somerock and roll.There was a Saturdayoldiesprogramming on vinyl records supplied by the station anddisc jockeys.

Prior to theFCCTelecommunications Act of 1996, which made the EAS (Emergency Alert System) the law of the land, radio stations broadcast emergency information through EBS (Emergency Broadcast System). Rather than pay full price for an expensive unit to receive EBS messages, Richard Wright built his own receiver, called the DW-76 (meaning Dick Wright and the year it was manufactured). The unit field-tested successfully, and received FCC Type Acceptance for legal use, but only for WTTF-AM-FM.

Former WTTF-AM-FM afternoon announcer Ken Hawk in 1994, taken in the main on-air studio at former 185 South Washington Street studio location. The DW-76 is seen just below microphone boom (gray panel with two switches).

Bob Wright handled morning DJ duties with two others handling the midday and evening on-air DJ shifts, as well as anewsstaff of two. Bob also did a daily talk and opinion show called "Sound Off" from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Under the Wright ownership, the station only broadcast about 16 hours a day.

The station had a community service andadult contemporary musicformat during the day. During the evenings after 6pm, the station playedcountry musicon a program called the "Double T Roundup," which lasted until the early 1980s. TheAMstation (1600) signed off at local sundown until 1990, after receiving nighttime broadcasting rights. TheFMstation (103.7) broadcast until 10 p.m. During the day, the two stations simulcast.

Among the many announcers that had peopled WTTF over the years were Jack Kagy (who served as news director for 19 years), Rick (Cochran) West (nearly eight years in the mid-day slot), Kevin Craig, Randy Dean, Ken Hawk, Andree Sterling, and Frank Barber. Many of these announcers and many others went on to larger markets for many years as WTTF provided a fertile training ground.

Sale, present day

In 1996, at the age of 56, Bob Wright was killed by a head-on collision with a pickup truck during a snowstorm. As a result, the station was sold toJacor Communications,which was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications (nowiHeartMedia) in 1999. After the sale of the station, former co-owner Dick Wright remained as an assistant engineer on a contract basis, up until his death January 1, 2008[1].

Clear Channel initially was selling theirFindlaycluster, along with other small market clusters, over toFlorida-based GoodRadio.TV LLC in May 2007, but the deal soon collapsed prior to FCC approval. Clear Channel ended up spinning off WTTF, along with the Sandusky cluster andWPFXover to Fremont-based BAS Broadcasting on January 15, 2008. BAS took over WTTF on February 1, and as WCKY-FM was not included in the deal, this ended 45 years of common ownership between the two stations.

In December 2007, theBuckeye Countrymoniker was dropped in favor of branding with its call letters. Its city of license was also shifted toPemberville, Ohio,to closer targetToledo.

On July 2, 2019, WCKY shifted to a traditionalcountryformat focused primarily on country hits from the 1980s and 1990s, and revived the previousBuckeye Countrybranding.

External links

• Official website
• WCKYin theFCCFM station database
• WCKYinNielsen Audio's FM station database