WREC 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...

  broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, USA, the station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

. The station is also broadcast on HD radio

HD Radio

HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...

.

In the fall of 2006, WREC assumed the broadcast rights for the football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 and basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 teams of the University of Memphis

University of Memphis

The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system....

. Before carrying the University of Memphis, the station had carried the University of Tennessee longer than any other station in the state of Tennessee.

History

The station signed on for the first time on September 22, 1922 as KFNG, owned by electrical engineer and radio dealer Hoyt Wooten. The station operated from a 10-watt transmitter in his father's home in Coldwater, Mississippi

Coldwater, Mississippi

Coldwater is a small town in Tate County, Mississippi, United States. It is in the Memphis Metropolitan Area or Mid-South. The population was 1,674 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Coldwater is located at...

. In 1925, it moved to Whitehaven, Tennessee (now a part of Memphis) and adopted its current calls. It originally shared the 600 AM frequency with WOAN in Lawrenceburg

Lawrenceburg, Tennessee

Lawrenceburg is a city in Lawrence County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,796 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lawrence County...

, Tennessee's first commercial radio station. The two stations merged in 1929, and WREC moved to studios in the basement of the Peabody Hotel

Peabody Hotel

The Peabody Hotel is a luxury hotel in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The hotel is well known for the famous "Peabody Ducks" that live on the hotel rooftop, but which make daily treks to the hotel's lobby in a daily "March of Ducks" celebration.- History :...

 in downtown Memphis, where it would remain for over 40 years.

Eventually, the station spawned an FM station (now WEGR

WEGR

WEGR is a classic rock formatted radio station in Memphis, Tennessee. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications and broadcasts at 102.7 FM.-History:...

) and Memphis' CBS television affiliate (now WREG-TV

WREG-TV

WREG-TV is Memphis, Tennessee's CBS television affiliate, operating on digital channel 28, and uses PSIP 3 as its virtual channel. The station is owned by Local TV, which took over all of the television stations formerly owned by The New York Times Company on May 7, 2007. Its transmitter is...

). Wooten sold his stations to Cowles Communications in 1963, earning a handsome return on his original investment of 40 years earlier.

Programming

WREC includes a conservative show line up with programs hosted by Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck

Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...

, Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

, Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...

, 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...

 and Andrew Clarksenior. Nationally syndicated shows round out the program schedule such as The Mutual Fund Show with Adam Bold

Adam Bold

Adam Bold is an American author and businessman. He is the founder and minority shareholder of The Mutual Fund Store, and host of The Mutual Fund Show, a national weekly talk radio show focused on actively managed mutual fund investments...

, Handel on the Law, Coast to Coast

Coast to Coast AM

Coast to Coast AM is a North American late-night syndicated radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was created by Art Bell and is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. The program currently...

, Bob Costas

Bob Costas

Robert Quinlan "Bob" Costas is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s.-Early life:...

 on the Radio and Kim Komando

Kim Komando

Kim Komando is the host of an American talk radio program based on the popularity of personal computers, the use of the Internet, and the complexities of consumer electronics. The Kim Komando Show is broadcast and syndicated on over 450 radio stations in the U.S. and two stations in Ontario, Canada...

.