WPAY (Portsmouth, Ohio)

WPAY (1400 AM) was an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Portsmouth, Ohio. The station was last owned by Douglas L. Braden and the final broadcast license was held by Radio Stations WPAY/WPFB, Inc. Established in 1925 in the village of Bellefontaine, Ohio, the station ultimately moved to Portsmouth in 1935. WPAY fell silent in June 2011 following the divestiture of sister station WPAY-FM and its license was revoked in June 2012.

For the Rossford, Ohio radio station that currently holds the call sign WPAY at 1520 AM, see WPAY (AM). For the New Boston, Ohio radio station that formerly held the call sign WPAY-FM at 104.1 FM, see WPYK. For the Garrison, Kentucky radio station that currently holds the call sign WPAY-FM at 89.3, see WPAY-FM.
DWPAY
CityPortsmouth, Ohio
Broadcast areaScioto County, Ohio
Frequency1400 kHz
Programming
FormatDefunct
Ownership
OwnerDouglas L. Braden
(Radio Stations WPAY/WPFB, Inc.)
Sister stationsWPAY-FM
History
First air dateFebruary 13, 1925 (1925-02-13)
Last air dateJune 3, 2011 (2011-06-03)
Former call signsWHBD (1925–35)
Former frequencies1350 kHz (1927–29)
1370 kHz (1929–40)
Call sign meaning"Pay Any Yodler"
Technical information
Facility ID54835
ClassC
Power800 watts (unlimited)
Transmitter coordinates38°44′06″N 82°59′33″W

History

Prior to being known as WPAY, the station's call letters were WHBD, and was previously licensed to Bellefontaine, later moving to Mt. Orab, and ultimately to Portsmouth.[1] The change to WPAY occurred in April 1935.[2]

After WPAY's owner sold its sister stations to WNKU licensee Northern Kentucky University in January 2011,[3] owner Douglas L. Braden was unable to find a buyer for the lone small-market AM station and the decision was made to take the station off the air for financial reasons while seeking a new buyer.[4] Before falling dark, WPAY broadcast a news/talk radio format branded as "Talk 14" to the Scioto County, Ohio, area.[5]

The station which began broadcasting in Portsmouth on April 15, 1935, ended over 75 years of service in the city, and 85 years overall, on June 3, 2011.[6][7] Under the terms of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as a matter of law a radio station's broadcast license is subject to automatic forfeiture and cancellation if they fail to broadcast for one full year.[8]

The station was assigned the call sign "WPAY" by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). After the station's broadcast license was revoked, the WPAY call sign was deleted from the FCC database on June 8, 2012.[9]

References
  1. "History Card for WPAY (AM)". CDBS Public Access Database. U.S. Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  2. "Broadcasting" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 1, 1935. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  3. Lewis, Frank (January 20, 2011). "WPAY license, property sold". Portsmouth Daily Times. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  4. Taylor, Tom (June 6, 2011). "On the Ohio-West Virginia border, 80-year-old WPAY-AM signs off for possibly the last time". Radio Info. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  5. "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  6. Ottney, Ryan Scott (June 1, 2011). "WPAY-AM to shut down broadcast Friday". Portsmouth Daily Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  7. "AM silent stations, silent over 2 months". Federal Communications Commission. May 21, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  8. "Silent AM and FM Broadcast Station Lists". The FCC Encyclopedia. Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on January 8, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  9. "Call Sign History". CDBS Public Access Database. U.S. Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
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