Wikipedia

WYBY

WYBY (920 kHz AM) was a radio station in Cortland, New York, United States, which broadcast from 1947 to 2024. The station signed on in 1947 as WKRT, which were its call letters for 60 years. The station had several formats, including adult standards and news/talk. In 2007, owner Citadel Broadcasting sold its Ithaca cluster to Saga Communications. Saga retained WIII, WKRT's sister FM station, but due to ownership limits, it spun off WKRT to the Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN), which changed the call sign to WYBY and began rebroadcasting its Christian talk and teaching programming. BBN took the station silent for technical reasons on August 2, 2024, and surrendered its broadcast license a month later.

WYBY
Frequency920 kHz
Programming
FormatDefunct (was Christian talk and teaching)
NetworkBible Broadcasting Network
Ownership
OwnerBible Broadcasting Network
History
First air date
November 15, 1947 (1947-11-15)
Last air date
August 2, 2024 (2024-08-02)
Former call signs
WKRT (1947–2007)
Technical information
Facility ID9428
ClassB
Power
Links
Websitebbnradio.org

History

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On May 15, 1947, the Cortland Broadcasting Company applied to start a new, 1,000-watt daytime-only radio station to serve Cortland. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the application on July 17, 1947,[1] and WKRT began broadcasting on 920 AM as well as WKRT-FM 99.9 on November 15, 1947.[2] The AM station remained daytime-only until June 26, 1949, when the station began full-time operation;[3] it had requested this before even going on the air.[4]

In 1950, Radio Cortland, Inc., acquired WKRT from the Cortland Broadcasting Company. The company's officers included Robert Hope, a former general manager of an Alabama station, and Leighton A. Hope.[5] Hope, who went on to become a state senator and deputy commissioner in the New York State Conservation Department, [6] sold the WKRT stations to Crown Broadcasting of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, effective February 2, 1978.[7] For most of the 1980s, WKRT aired Music of Your Life, a syndicated adult standards format.[8][9]

Crown Broadcasting sold the Cortland stations to Sun Radio Corporation in 1986 for $3.1 million.[10] Under Sun, WKRT became a 24-hour operation.[11] It switched to an oldies format of 1950s through 1970s music plus information programming by 1988.[12] During the 1990s, WKRT and its sister FM went through various owners, but WKRT kept its format. In 1991, Northstar Broadcasting Corporation acquired the pair for $1.1 million.[13] Pilot Communications bought the stations in 1998[14][15] then was purchased by Citadel Broadcasting in 1999. At the time of the Citadel acquisition, WKRT ranked 8th out of 15 radio stations serving Tompkins County.[16]

Citadel flipped WKRT to talk in 2002, with syndicated programs including The Radio Factor, The Sean Hannity Show, and Jim Bohannon.[17] In 2006, Citadel agreed to sell its two Ithaca stations to Saga Communications. To comply with ownership limits in the Ithaca market, Saga immediately decided to keep WIII (the former WKRT-FM) and earmarked WKRT for divestiture to the Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN).[18] BBN continued to operate the station under the call sign WYBY until August 2, 2024, when it was taken silent for technical reasons.[19] BBN had previously applied for special temporary authority because of problems with the directional array used to broadcast the signal at night.[20] The broadcast license was submitted for cancellation on September 5, 2024.[21]

The Federal Communications Commission cancelled the station’s license on September 12, 2024.[22]

References

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  1. ^ "History Cards for WYBY". Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Cortland WKRT Goes on Air". Syracuse Herald-Journal. Syracuse, New York. November 15, 1947. p. 3. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "WKRT to Fulltime". Broadcasting. July 11, 1949. p. 70. ProQuest 1040354925.
  4. ^ "Radio Station Asks For Unlimited Time". Syracuse Herald-Journal. Syracuse, New York. October 4, 1947. p. 3. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Cortland, N.Y., Indie Is Sold for $100,000". Variety. June 7, 1950. p. 32. ProQuest 1286076134.
  6. ^ "Cortland Man Fills Position". The Post-Standard. Syracuse, New York. February 11, 1974. p. 6(S-3). Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "New firm on airwaves". Syracuse Herald-Journal. Syracuse, New York. February 3, 1978. p. 30. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Radio Highlights". The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York. October 8, 1982. p. Leisure 22. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "OK100 and WKRT radio stations have..." The Ithaca Journal (Advertisement). Ithaca, New York. January 12, 1987. p. 5A. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Mundell, Helen; Dougherty, Timothy (November 7, 1986). "OK 100 sold for $3.1 million; no format changes planned". The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York. pp. 1A, 2A. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "WKRT to go 24-hours". The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York. January 17, 1987. p. 3A. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Mundell, Helen (June 23, 1988). "Local radio stations play ratings game". The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York. pp. 9A, 12A. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Changing Hands". Broadcasting. November 18, 1991. p. 73. ProQuest 1014739464.
  14. ^ "Pilot wings to six radio buys". The Hollywood Reporter. January 12, 1998. p. 16. ProQuest 2469294889.
  15. ^ Zito, Kelly A. (January 9, 1998). "Investment firm to buy WIII-FM and WKRT-AM". The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York. p. 6A. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Aaron, Kenneth (October 30, 1999). "2 Ithaca radio stations sold to Vegas group". The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York. p. 6A. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "The new WKRT is all talk. And proud of it". The Ithaca Journal (Advertisement). Ithaca, New York. October 8, 2002. p. 3B. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Daley, Jennie (November 8, 2006). "Saga to buy 2 more local radio stations". The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York. pp. 1B, 2B. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Request for Suspension of Operations of an AM Station Application #250064". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. August 2, 2024. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  20. ^ "AM Engineering STA Application #247195". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. June 27, 2024. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  21. ^ "Cancellation Application #252733". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. September 5, 2024.
  22. ^ "License Cancelled". Federal Communications Commission Licensing and Management System. September 12, 2024. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
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42°33′22″N 76°09′17″W / 42.55611°N 76.15472°W / 42.55611; -76.15472

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