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WUTI

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Coordinates:43°10′31″N75°21′3″W/ 43.17528°N 75.35083°W/43.17528; -75.35083
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WUTI
Broadcast areaUtica, New York
Frequency1150kHz
Programming
FormatDefunct
Ownership
OwnerLeatherstocking Media Group
History
First air date
April 24,1948
Last air date
May 23,2013
Former call signs
WRUN (1948–2009)
Call signmeaning
UTIca
Technical information
Facility ID73969
ClassB
Power5,000wattsday
1,000 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
43°10′31″N75°21′3″W/ 43.17528°N 75.35083°W/43.17528; -75.35083

WUTI(1150AM) was aradio stationbroadcasting atalkformat.[1]Licensed toUtica, New York,United States, the station, established in 1948 as WRUN, was last owned by Leatherstocking Media Group, Inc.,[2]and simulcast withWFBLinSyracuseuntil going off the air in 2013.

History

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WUTI signed on April 24, 1948[3]asWRUN,under the ownership of theRomeSentinel.[4]TheSentinelwas concerned that the Utica-Rome area was not being served adequately byWIBX,which, at the time the paper applied for theconstruction permitin 1946, had a 250-wattsignal incapable of reaching Rome at night; in contrast, WRUN, with its 5,000-watt signal, would have more of a regional reach.[5](WIBX, in turn, upgraded to 5,000 watts soon afterward.[4][6])

One of its announcers during WRUN's early days, in his first job as broadcaster, was a young radio announcer namedDick Clark,whose father was the manager of WRUN AM and FM (the FM half nowWFRG-FM). He was known on-air as "Dick Clay", to avoid confusion with his father, who had the same name. The young Dick Clark would move to television, as anchor of the evening news program onWKTV,in 1951.[7]

TheSentinelsold WRUN to Woods Communication Corporation in 1970; by then, it had amiddle-of-the-roadformat,[8]which evolved to a contemporary format by 1974.[9]However, WRUN returned to MOR programming the following year.[10]WRUN again changed its format in 1977, this time totop 40.[11]The station was sold to WRUN, Inc. in 1978[12]and to Oneida Communications in 1985.[13]

Forever Broadcasting bought the station in 1996.[14]In the fall of 1997, the station began to relay sistercountry musicstationWFRG-FM;[15]WRUN itself had applied for, but never used, the WFRG callsign in 1993.[16]Forever sold its stations in the market toRegent Communicationsin 1999,[17]and the following year, after a brief period simulcasting erstwhile competitor WIBX, WRUN began anadult standardsformat.[18]

The format continued until 2005; that year, the station was sold toWAMC,who switched it to a relay of itspublic radionetwork.[19]However, WAMC had been trying since 1998 to launch anFMrelay of the network on 90.3 in nearbyRemsen.[20]When WRUN-FM finally signed on in December 2008,[21]it determined that the AM station was no longer necessary, and sold it to Digital Radio Broadcasting in exchange for atranslatorinCooperstownthe following year.[22]Upon assuming control that December, the new owners changed the call letters to WUTI, broadcasting avariety hitsformat with minimal interruption;[23][24]by May 2010, the station began branding itself as "Ed 1150", including several thinly-veiled references to Ed Levine, the owner ofGalaxy Communications.[25]That September, Leatherstocking Media Group began programming the station and implemented a simulcast of its Syracuse talk radio station WFBL, once again making WUTI a direct competitor to WIBX.[26]Leatherstocking bought WUTI outright shortly afterward.[27]

WUTI wentoff the airon May 23, 2013 after vandals stole the station's transmission line; at that time, the station was operating at reduced power, and had also been experiencing briefer interruptions due to unrelated technical problems with equipment used to receive programming from WFBL.[28]Though the station initially planned to resume broadcasting within weeks, by that December WUTI remained silent, with plans to return to the air in the first quarter of 2014.[29]The station ultimately did not sign back on within a year of going silent, and as a result its license was canceled by theFederal Communications Commissionon August 11, 2014.[30]Its studio inWhitestown,stillzonedas a media studio, went into tax foreclosure and was auctioned off in September 2023 to a local car dealership in nearbyOriskany.[31][32]

References

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  1. ^"Station Information Profile".Arbitron.Winter 2010.RetrievedMarch 3,2010.
  2. ^"WUTI Facility Record".United StatesFederal Communications Commission,audio division.RetrievedMarch 3,2010.
  3. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1981(PDF).1981. p. C-164. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 8, 2010.RetrievedFebruary 28,2010.
  4. ^abBroadcasting Yearbook 1949(PDF).1949. p. 188.RetrievedFebruary 28,2010.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^"Sentinel Company Files Applications For 2 Radio Stations"(PDF).Rome Sentinel.April 25, 1946.RetrievedFebruary 28,2010.
  6. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1948(PDF).1948. p. 178.RetrievedFebruary 28,2010.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^"Rock, Roll and Remember", by Dick Clark and Richard Robinson (New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1976)
  8. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1971(PDF).1971. p. B-145. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 8, 2010.RetrievedFebruary 28,2010.
  9. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1975(PDF).1975. p. C-133. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 8, 2010.RetrievedFebruary 28,2010.
  10. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1976(PDF).1976. p. C-139. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 8, 2010.RetrievedFebruary 28,2010.
  11. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1978(PDF).1978. p. C-153. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on March 9, 2012.RetrievedMarch 7,2010.
  12. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1979(PDF).1979. p. C-155. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on April 9, 2011.RetrievedMarch 7,2010.
  13. ^"Application Search Details (1)".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedMarch 7,2010.
  14. ^"Application Search Details (2)".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedMarch 7,2010.
  15. ^Fybush, Scott (March 19, 1998)."More Layoffs in N.H."North East RadioWatch.RetrievedMarch 7,2010.
  16. ^"Call Sign History".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedMarch 7,2010.
  17. ^Fybush, Scott (August 6, 1999)."Sales Galore!".North East RadioWatch.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  18. ^Fybush, Scott (December 25, 2000)."WMEX Goes Business".North East RadioWatch.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  19. ^Fybush, Scott (January 3, 2005)."Bangor Flips to Classic Hits".NorthEast Radio Watch.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  20. ^Fybush, Scott (October 10, 2005)."A Salute to Armstrong at AES".NorthEast Radio Watch.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  21. ^Fybush, Scott (December 22, 2008)."MPBN Threatens Service Cuts".NorthEast Radio Watch.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  22. ^Fybush, Scott (July 13, 2009)."A Month On, DTV Transition Still Tangled".NorthEast Radio Watch.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  23. ^Fybush, Scott (December 7, 2009)."NBC/Comcast Moves Forward".North East RadioWatch.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  24. ^Fybush, Scott (December 21, 2009)."KDKA's Fred Honsberger Dies".NorthEast Radio Watch.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  25. ^WUTI's new branding: Ed 1150.CNYRadio.com. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  26. ^"Leatherstocking Overtakes WUTI 1150, Flips to Talk".CNYRadio.com.September 19, 2010.RetrievedSeptember 20,2010.
  27. ^"WUTI Sale Price Revealed".CNYRadio.com.October 19, 2010.RetrievedFebruary 26,2011.
  28. ^"WUTI to be silent for weeks after vandals hit tower site".CNYRadio.com.May 30, 2013.RetrievedAugust 14,2014.
  29. ^"GM aiming for first quarter return of WUTI 1150".CNYRadio.com.December 4, 2013.RetrievedAugust 14,2014.
  30. ^Doyle, Peter H. (August 11, 2014)."In re: WUTI(AM), Utica, NY"(PDF).CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedAugust 14,2014.
  31. ^"Former WRUN Transmitter Site On Auction Block • CNYRadio.com / CNYTVNews.com".cnyradio.com.September 12, 2023.RetrievedSeptember 12,2023.
  32. ^"Update: Old WRUN Building Sells for $30k • CNYRadio.com / CNYTVNews.com".cnyradio.com.September 17, 2023.RetrievedSeptember 17,2023.
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