WENY is a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 in the Elmira-Corning market of New York state. It broadcasts

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

 at 1000 watt

Watt

The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...

s day and night on 1230 kHz from studios in Corning, New York

Corning (city), New York

Corning is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States, on the Chemung River. The population was 10,842 at the 2000 census. It is named for Erastus Corning, an Albany financier and railroad executive who was an investor in the company that developed the community.- Overview :The city of...

. It is a talk radio

Talk radio

Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...

 station that airs local sports and a 3 hour morning local talk show with host Frank Acomb. It is currently simulcast with WENI-AM (formerly WCLI-AM 1450 AM).

It was the first station licensed in Chemung County

Chemung County, New York

Chemung County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the 'Elmira, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses all of Chemung County. As of the 2010 census, the population was 88,830. Its name is derived from the name of a Delaware Indian village . Its...

 and the first in the market.

The station signed on in 1932 as WESG, broadcasting on 1200 KHz from a studio on Market Street in Elmira

Elmira, New York

Elmira is a city in Chemung County, New York, USA. It is the principal city of the 'Elmira, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses Chemung County, New York. The population was 29,200 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Chemung County.The City of Elmira is located in...

, which remains its city of license

City of license

A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....

. Its call letters stood for "Elmira Star-Gazette," the local newspaper and one of its owners.

At some point after 1940, when WESG cut ties with Ithaca station WEAI

WHCU

WHCU is a radio station in Ithaca, New York that programs a news/talk format. The station has been owned by Saga Communications since 2005.-History:...

, the station changed its call letters to WENY, which stood for "Elmira, New York

Elmira, New York

Elmira is a city in Chemung County, New York, USA. It is the principal city of the 'Elmira, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses Chemung County, New York. The population was 29,200 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Chemung County.The City of Elmira is located in...

." It also changed frequencies to 1230 kHz, where it remains today.

Sister station WENY-FM

WENY-FM

WENY-FM signed on the air in the mid 1960s as a sister station to WENY.In the late 1970s, the station changed call letters to WLEZ, playing adult contemporary music...

 was launched in the 1960s.

In the 1970s, as a Top 40 music station, WENY adopted the slogan "We're the One," a play on the Orleans

Orleans (band)

Orleans is an American pop-rock band best known for its hits "Dance with Me" , "Still the One", from the album Waking and Dreaming and "Love Takes Time" . The group's name evolved from the music it was playing at the time of their formation, which was inspired by Louisiana artists such as Allen...

 song "Still The One

Still The One (song)

"Still the One" is a song written by Johanna Hall and John Hall, and recorded by the soft rock group Orleans on their album Waking and Dreaming, released in 1976, which made it to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100....

," which was popular at the time and was used in promotions for ABC television

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

, of which then-sister station WENY-TV 36

WENY-TV

WENY-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Central and Western Southern Tier of New York State and Northern Pennsylvania licensed to Elmira. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter on Higman Hill in Corning. The station can also be seen on...

 was an affiliate. The members of Orleans also were natives of the Elmira and Ithaca areas.

The station kept playing music until the early 1990s, when it switched to talk radio

Talk radio

Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...

. Ironically, that was when it dropped "Voice of the People," a long-running local talk show that ran weeknights at 6 p.m.

Longtime owner Howard Green sold the station to White Broadcasting in 2000, which switched it to an oldies

Oldies

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

 format. Under a limited marketing agreement, the station was managed by Eolin Broadcasting Inc., which also owned talk radio

Talk radio

Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...

 station WCLI, WCBA-FM

WENI-FM

WENI-FM is a radio station broadcasting a Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to Big Flats, New York, USA. The station is currently owned by Group a Licensee, LLC and features programing from ABC Radio and Premiere Radio Networks.-History:...

 (adult contemporary), WCBA

WCBA (AM)

WCBA is a radio station in the Elmira-Corning market of New York state. It broadcasts at 1000 watts day and night on 1350 kHz from studios in South Corning, NY. It is a sports talk station....

 (adult standards) and WGMM

WGMM

WGMM is a radio station licensed to serve Corning, New York, USA. The station is owned by WS Media and licensed to WS2K Radio LLC.It broadcasts a classic hits music format to the Elmira, New York, metropolitan area.-History:...

 (oldies

Oldies

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

). White sold the station to EBI in 2001, at which time the television station was separated from the radio stations.

EBI moved the station to its headquarters in South Corning

South Corning, New York

South Corning is a village in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 1,147 at the 2000 census.The Village of South Corning is in the Town of Corning.-Geography:South Corning is located at ....

 and switched WENY back to talk radio, simulcasting with WCLI.

In 2003, EBI sold all of the stations to Route 81 Radio, based in Hazleton, PA

Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census, an increase of 8.6% from the 2000 census count .-Greater Hazleton:...

.

Programming

WENY currently carries a mostly syndicated lineup. A local morning show hosted by Frank Acomb is followed by The Laura Ingraham Show

The Laura Ingraham Show

The Laura Ingraham Show is a three-hour American radio show hosted by conservative commentator Laura Ingraham on Talk Radio Network. , the show is broadcast live on Channel 2, from 9 a.m...

, Dennis Miller

Dennis Miller

Dennis Miller is an American stand-up comedian, political commentator, actor, sports commentator, and television and radio personality. He is known for his critical assessments laced with pop culture references...

, Laura Schlessinger

Laura Schlessinger

Laura Catherine Schlessinger is an American talk radio host, socially conservative commentator and author. Her radio program consists mainly of her responses to callers' requests for personal advice and has occasionally featured her short monologues on social and political topics...

, an audio simulcast of WENY-TV

WENY-TV

WENY-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Central and Western Southern Tier of New York State and Northern Pennsylvania licensed to Elmira. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter on Higman Hill in Corning. The station can also be seen on...

's 6:00 newscast, Michael Savage

Michael Savage (commentator)

Michael Savage is a conservative American radio host, author, and political commentator. He is the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk show that airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...

, Steve Malzberg

Steve Malzberg

Steve Malzberg is a radio personality. He most recently hosted The Steve Malzberg Show on the WOR Radio Network.A graduate of Brooklyn College, Malzberg worked at 77 WABC for over twenty-five years in several capacities, i.e., as an overnight political talk show host, a sports commentator, and...

, Joey Reynolds

Joey Reynolds

Joey Reynolds is the pseudonym of Joey Pinto, host of the U.S. radio program The Joey Reynolds Show via the WOR Radio Network. Reynolds' broadcasting career started on TV- in Buffalo at WGR TV 2...

 and Doug Stephan

Doug Stephan

Doug Stephan is an American radio talk show personality and hosts the nationally syndicated Doug Stephan's Good Day.-Radio Programs:Doug Stephan's Good Day is a "call-in" and interview show airing live Monday through Saturday featuring a fast paced format covering variety of topics...

. Weekend programming includes Cigar Dave

Cigar Dave

David Zeplowitz , is the creator and host of Smoke This!-- a nationally syndicated radio program devoted entirely to cigar smoking and its accompanying lifestyle.-Biography:...

, various old-time radio

Old-time radio

Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...

 programs, and assorted programming from WOR Radio Network

WOR Radio Network

The WOR Radio Network is a slate of nationally syndicated radio programming produced and distributed by flagship radio station WOR in New York City...

 and Talk Shows USA

Talk Shows USA

Talk Shows USA is a talk radio affiliate relations company owned by Skip Joeckel. The company deals with stations who want to add syndicated fare to their lineups. The company works with programs distributed by networks such as Radio America, Genesis Communications Network, and Business TalkRadio...

.

Sports programming heard on WENY includes local high school football and basketball and the Crystal City Dragons semi-pro football team.

WENY alumni

• John Kobylt
  John and Ken
  John Chester Kobylt and Kenneth Robertson Chiampou, known professionally as John and Ken are American talk radio hosts of a four-hour weekday radio show, The John and Ken Show, on KFI AM 640 in Southern California. The John and Ken Show airs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m....
  
  
• Jay Flannery
• Jack Shane / John Horn
• Paul Leigh / The Friendly Giant
• Ron Bisson
• Street Stryder
• Steve Rondonaro
• Ralph Todd
• Steve Christy
• Tony Infantino
• Dave Martin Taylor Smith
• Dick Irland
• Jim Infantine
• Ron Ferro
• Dan Cummings
• Kelly Watts
• Tom Seem