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WREC

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Coordinates:35°11′41″N90°0′36″W/ 35.19472°N 90.01000°W/35.19472; -90.01000
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WREC
Broadcast areaMemphis metropolitan area
Frequency600kHz
BrandingNewstalk 92.1 FM and 600 AM
Programming
FormatNews/talk
NetworkFox News Radio
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KJMS,KWNW,WDIA,WEGR,WHAL-FM,WHRK
History
First air date
1922(1922)
Former call signs
  • WOAN (1922–1930)
  • KFNG (1924–1925)
  • WREC (1925–1930)
  • WREC-WOAN (1930–1933)
Call signmeaning
"Wooten Radio and Electric Company"[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID58396
ClassB
Power5,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
35°11′41″N90°0′36″W/ 35.19472°N 90.01000°W/35.19472; -90.01000
Translator(s)92.1W221CR (Memphis)
Repeater(s)102.7WEGR-HD2(Arlington)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live(viaiHeartRadio)
Website600wrec.iheart

WREC(600kHz) is acommercialAMradio station inMemphis, Tennessee.It broadcasts anews/talkformatand is owned byiHeartMedia, Inc.The studios and offices are on Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Memphis. WREC is West Tennessee's primary entry point station for theEmergency Alert System.

WREC is powered at 5,000 watts.[3][4]It uses adirectional antennawith a two-tower array.Thetransmitteris on North Watkins Street, nearInterstate 40in Memphis.[5]Programming issimulcaston 250-wattFM translatorW221CRat 92.1MHz.The station is also heard on anHD radiodigital subchannelof co-owned 102.7WEGR.[6]

Programming

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Talk shows

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WREC airs mostly nationallysyndicatedshows fromPremiere Networks,a subsidiary of parent company iHeartMedia. Weekdays start withThis Morning, America's First News with Gordon Dealfollowed by two hours ofThe Ben Ferguson Show.Ferguson is also heard for an hour in the afternoon. Also on the schedule areThe Sean Hannity Show,The Glenn Beck Program,The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,The Mark Levin Show,The Jesse Kelly Show,Ground Zero with Clyde LewisandCoast to Coast AMwithGeorge Noory.

Weekends feature shows on money, real estate, gardening and home improvement, with religious programs heard on Sunday mornings. Nationally syndicated shows fromKim KomandoandBill Cunninghamround out the weekend schedule. Most hours begin with an update from theFox News RadioNetwork.

Sports

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In the fall of 2006, WREC assumed the broadcast rights for theMemphis Tigers footballand basketball teams of theUniversity of Memphis.Before carrying the Tigers, the station had long been the Memphis affiliate forTennessee Volunteersfootball and basketball.

History

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WOAN

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According toFederal Communications Commission(FCC) records, WREC's origin dates to station WOAN,[7]which consolidated with WREC in 1930, making WREC the oldest radio station in Memphis, going on the air a year beforeWMC.

WOAN was first licensed on November 21, 1922, to "Vaughn Conservatory of Music (James D. Vaughn)" inLawrenceburg, Tennessee,operating on the "entertainment" wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz).[8]Its call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of availablecall signs.

WREC

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WREC was first licensed on January 17, 1924, as KFNG, owned by electrical engineer and radio dealer Hoyt Wooten.[9]The original call letters were also randomly assigned, from an Alpha betical roster of available call signs starting with "K", which were normally only issued to stations located west of the Mississippi River. KFNG operated from a 10-watt transmitter in Wooten's father's home inColdwater, Mississippi.(Some station histories report a start of broadcasting activities by Hoyt Wooten in September 1922.) In 1925, the station adopted its current WREC call letters, and later moved toWhitehaven, Tennessee,[10]now a part of Memphis.

Consolidation of WREC and WOAN

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WREC began sharing the 600 AM frequency with WOAN. In 1929 the two stations began joint operations, with WREC moving to studios in the basement of thePeabody Hotelin downtown Memphis, where it would remain for over 40 years. In 1930, the two stations were formally consolidated with the joint call sign of WREC-WOAN.[11]On May 15, 1933, after theFederal Radio Commissionrequested that stations using only one of their assigned call letters drop those that were no longer in regular use,[12]WOAN was eliminated and the station reverted to just WREC.[13]

WREC was anaffiliateof theCBS RadioNetwork.[14]It carried CBS dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows andbig bandbroadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio."

In 1956 WREC added a TV station,CBSaffiliate WREC-TV 3 (nowWREG-TV), and in 1967, it put an FM station on the air at 102.7, WREC-FM (nowWEGR).[15]Wooten sold his stations to Cowles Communications in 1963, earning a handsome return on his original investment. As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1960s, WREC switched to afull service,middle of the roadformat of popular adult music, news and sports. In the 1980s, it began reducing music shows and replacing them with talk shows, until the transition to full time talk was complete in the 1990s.

In 1996,Clear Channel Communicationsacquired WREC and WEGR.[16]Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia in 2014.

References

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  1. ^"Call Letter Origins".Radio History on the Web.
  2. ^"Facility Technical Data for WREC".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^"WREC Facility Record".United StatesFederal Communications Commission,audio division.
  4. ^"WREC Station Information Profile".Arbitron.
  5. ^Raido-Locator /WREC
  6. ^"HD Radio Station Guide for Memphis".HD Radio.iBiquity.
  7. ^AM Query Results: WREC(Facility ID: 58396), "WREC's first license was granted 11-21-1922", FCC.gov
  8. ^"New stations",Radio Service Bulletin,December 1, 1922, page 3.
  9. ^"New Stations",Radio Service Bulletin,February 1, 1924, page 3.
  10. ^"Alterations and corrections",Radio Service Bulletin,January 31, 1927, page 8.
  11. ^"Alterations and corrections",Radio Service Bulletin,June 30, 1930, page 15.
  12. ^"Double Call Letters Are Being Eliminated",Washington (D.C.) Evening Star,June 25, 1933, Part 4, page 6.
  13. ^"Additions to Lists",Radio Service Bulletin,May 15, 1933, page 2.
  14. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1939page 152,Broadcasting & Cable
  15. ^Broadcasting Yearbook1977 page C-197]
  16. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 2005 page D-481
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