WOSU (AM)
WOSU (820 AM) was a National Public Radio news and talk radio station located in Columbus, Ohio serving the Columbus metro area. WOSU was licensed by the Federal Communications Commission as a daytime and nighttime radio station, operating with a non-directional power of 5 kW during the day, and dropping to 790 watts at night, to protect clear channel WBAP in Fort Worth, Texas. The license holder was The Ohio State University until the license changed hands over to St. Gabriel Radio Inc. It is now WVSG.
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| Broadcast area | Columbus, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 820 kHz |
| Branding | 89.7fm NPR News |
| Slogan | Making the World relevant...To You |
| Programming | |
| Format | Defunct (was NPR Talk radio Sports) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | The Ohio State University |
| Sister stations | WOSU-TV/WPBO, WOSU-FM, WOSA |
| History | |
| First air date | April 20, 1920 (experimental license) June 3, 1922 (broadcast license issued) |
| Last air date | December 2011 |
| Former call signs | 1922-1933: WEAO 1920-1922: 8XL (experimental) |
| Call sign meaning | "W-Ohio-State-University" |
| Technical information | |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts (day) 790 watts (night) |
| Repeater(s) | WOSU-FM 89.7 Columbus W208AT 89.5 Coshocton |
| Links | |
| Website | www.wosu.org |
History
WOSU was the oldest radio station in Columbus. WOSU's origins trace back to 1920 when Ohio State University was granted an experimental license on April 20, 1920. On June 3, 1922, the station received the call letters WEAO (Willing Energetic Athletic Ohio). In 1933, the call letters were changed to WOSU.
For much of the 1960s and '70s, WOSU's programming was mostly locally originating featuring diverse music programs from classical and jazz...and later to the seasonal Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts on Saturday afternoons moderated by its long-time announcer Milton Cross and later by Peter Allen after Cross' passing leading to the gradual evolution of National Public Radio and its WOSU affiliation. WOSU also broadcast live remotes from the Ohio State Fair.
By the turn of the millennium, WOSU primarily aired NPR news and talk programming, supplemented by programs from American Public Media and Public Radio International. It was also home to the Ohio State ice hockey and women's basketball broadcasts. On weekend evenings the station featured 12 hours of bluegrass music on a program called The Bluegrass Ramble hosted by a group of three rotating announcers.
In addition to its sports and news coverage, the station also produced an award-winning talk show, Open Line with host Fred Andrle who retired in May 2009 after 25 years in radio. In September 2009 Andrle's program was replaced by "All Sides With Ann Fisher," hosted by former Columbus Dispatch reporter and columnist Ann Fisher who came to WOSU with 20 years of journalism experience.
The station broadcast from a single tower during the day, offering secondary coverage to almost half of Ohio–as far west as Dayton and the outer suburbs of Cincinnati and as far north as the outer suburbs of Toledo. At night, six towers were used in a directional pattern to protect WBAP AM, the clear air station, concentrating the signal around the Columbus area.
2010 FM format change
On July 1, 2010, Ohio State announced it was buying commercial station WWCD and moving WOSU-FM's longtime non-commercial classical music format from 89.7 FM to WWCD's frequency of 101.1 FM. As part of the transition, WOSU-FM dropped the remaining classical music from its schedule and began simulcasting its AM sister's NPR news/talk format. However, the FM station was now branded as the main station, under the moniker "89.7 FM NPR News." WWCD's existing format moved to 102.5 FM, and WOSU converted its four FM repeaters into repeaters of the new classical outlet to serve areas outside of Columbus not well served by the new 101.1 frequency, which took the call letters WOSA.
WOSU sold to St. Gabriel Radio
According to its website, WOSU was purchased by St. Gabriel Radio Inc on September 21, 2011. Since 2007, St. Gabriel Radio has been airing Catholic programming on WVKO (1580 AM) via a lease agreement with owner Bernard, Ohio L.L.C. The transfer of the license and sale of the current WOSU to St. Gabriel Radio Inc. was approved by the FCC on November 7, 2011.
WOSU's final broadcast day was on Friday December 9, 2011. At 5pm local time, NPR and local news broadcasts ended on WOSU, after which a continuous loop of announcements by WOSU and NPR staffers were aired asking listeners to switch over to WOSU-FM where its news and talk format would continue. The announcement loop continued to air until Wednesday December 14, 2011. At 9:00 am local time the last voice heard on WOSU was that of Mandie Trimble's repeated announcement asking listeners to switch to WOSU-FM. The beginning of the announcement "I'm Mandie Trimble W..." which at that point the carrier was shut down while she was repeating the WOSU callsign one last time. No formal announcement of farewell nor final goodbye to listeners was made prior to the final shutdown on WOSU.
AM 820 was returned to the air on December 17, 2011 by its new owner, St. Gabriel Radio, Inc. 820 AM then changed its call letters to WVSG,[1] which made its official debut on Tuesday, December 20 at 6pm. At that time, St. Gabriel ceased its broadcasts on WVKO.
References
- "Media Bureau Call Sign Actions" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. September 30, 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
2. Announcement by WOSU General Manager Tom Rieland of demise of WOSU.
External links
- WVSG in the FCC's AM station database
- WVSG on Radio-Locator
- WVSG in Nielsen Audio's AM station database