WTTF
Encyclopedia
WTTF — branded AM 1600 and Cool FM 93.3 WTTF — is a commercial radio station
licensed to Tiffin, Ohio
broadcasting a full service
oldies
format, along with an emphasis on local news, talk and high school sports. The station serves Tiffin and much of surrounding Seneca County
. WTTF is owned by Tiffin Broadcasting, LLC (headed by station alumnus Doug Stephan
) and managed by preceding owner BAS Broadcasting under a reverse LMA
.
WTTF is simulcast full-time on FM translator
W227BJ (93.3 FM
), also licensed to Tiffin.
area, including WTTF-AM/FM. By the 1970s, WTTF and its FM sister station, WTTF-FM (known today as WCKY-FM
), had split from Malrite into its own entity, completely independent of Malrite, and taking the corporate name WTTF, Inc.
For much of its existence, WTTF-AM/FM was a 100 percent simulcast operation under the ownership of WTTF, Inc. This was highly unusual for a 50,000 watt FM station, with a signal that reached two other states (Michigan
and Indiana
), and a full-service news and talk-intensive format, even after WTTF-AM had received nighttime power in the late 1980s. It became a family-owned business in every sense of the word. Robert G. Wright served as the station's general manager until the mid 1970s, when he retired and his younger son Richard J. "Dick" Wright, who also served as the station's chief engineer, assumed those duties. Wright's elder son, Robert E. "Bob" (but answered to his middle name Ed in order to avoid confusion with his father) Wright, served as station program director and promotions manager.
Not much of the WTTF operation had changed over the course of Wright ownership. For years, even after the advent of magnetic tape and then compact disc, WTTF didn't fully make the conversion for its music. However, Dick Wright built a live-assist automation system in the mid-1980s consisting of four reel-to-reel tape players controlled by the operator in the studio. This would supply the regular weekday music programming up until the station's sale in 1997. Records were still played from the longtime turntables in the studio for its Saturday music programming called "Saturday at the Oldies". Another program, "Sunday Gold" featured music from a different reel-to-reel tape library.
The station also aired "Tradio
", a buy-sell-trade program three times a day. The program had started originally as a longform one, but was shortened to about five minutes each broadcast, to avoid possible listener tuneout. The incredibly popular program jammed the phone lines each day with listeners offering items for sale, or wanting to buy.
monitoring by all licensed radio stations, requiring the purchase of special reception equipment, Dick Wright built WTTF's EBS receiver himself. The unit, called the DW-76 (meaning Dick Wright and its 1976 manufacture date), was field tested and granted FCC type approval for legal use only at WTTF.
Robert E. Wright died in a car accident in his Jeep Wrangler while traveling northbound on Ohio Route 53 during a heavy snowstorm. His vehicle went left of center and struck an oncoming pickup driven by a 65-year-old woman, who also perished in the crash. Wright was 56.
Dick Wright and his mother, as the two surviving owners, decided to sell the station the following year to Jacor Communications, which would also gradually be absorbed into the Clear Channel Communications corporate structure. Following the takeover by Clear Channel, WTTF-FM was rechristened WCKY-FM, with separate programming from the AM station and taking a country format under the "Buckeye Country" banner. Florence Wright died at age 84 on May 11, 2000.
After the sale, Dick Wright was retained with the title of Assistant Engineer, largely due to the close proximity of the transmitter facilities to his home, thus making him able to quickly fix any transmitter problems . Wright continued in this capacity until his death on January 1, 2008 at the age of 66 .
Previously, WTTF (under its previous ownership by Clear Channel Communications
) aired the programming of Fox Sports Radio
with a mix of adult contemporary and oldies
as indicated by its tagline "Music and More." Fox News Radio
was aired at the top of the hour in addition to local news and sports coverage. It remains a locally originating full service station serving Tiffin and Seneca County in addition to the Findlay, Carey, Fostoria, Fremont, Bucyrus, Norwalk, Bowling Green and Sandusky areas within its west to northeast direction pattern.
Clear Channel initially was selling their Findlay
cluster, along with other small market clusters, over to Florida based GoodRadio.TV LLC
in May 2007, but the deal soon collapsed prior to FCC approval. Clear Channel ended up spinning off WTTF, along with the Sandusky cluster and WPFX over to Fremont-based BAS Broadcasting on January 15, 2008. BAS took over WTTF on February 1, and as WCKY-FM is not included in the deal, this ended 45 years of common ownership between the two stations. WTTF switched to an oldies format took place in the latter part of August 2008, before settling on ABC/Citadel's "Timeless
" channel (which sister stations WLEC and WMVO also carried). With the demise of "Timeless" in February 2010, WTTF moved to Waitt Radio Networks
' The Lounge
programming service. The station now airs Citadel Media's True Oldies Channel, hosted by Scott Shannon
, for much of its programming day. ABC News Radio
airs at the top of the hour. WTTF's high school sports coverage is now networked with sister stations WFRO, WLEC
and WMJK
as the BAS Sports Network.
WTTF was recently spun off by BAS Broadcasting to radio talk show host (and Heidelberg College
graduate) Doug Stephan
's company Tiffin Broadcasting LLC. BAS will continue to operate WTTF via an LMA(local marketing agreement
) until late 2009 . Naturally, Stephan's syndicated weekday talk show Doug Stephan's Good Day is now carried on WTTF.
According to the October 25th issue of the Advertiser-Tribune, WTTF will soon be donated to Heidelberg College as a gift by Stephan . Though Stephan still owns the station, WTTF's studios moved from Washington Town Square into Heidelberg's new Adams Hall School of Business (the former Laird Hall of Science) in December of 2010, teaming it with Heidelberg's existing campus station WHEI
, while still operating as a commercial entity . Heidelberg's plans for programming WTTF have continued to emphasize local programming.
On February 26, 2011, WTTF once again resumed an FM simulcast, this time using FM translator
W227BJ at 93.3 MHz (but otherwise branded as "AM 1600 and Cool FM 93.3 WTTF").
Account executive Conrad (C.C.) Hufford is also a longtime fixture of WTTF, having first joined the station in the late 1960s. Also, John Buccigross
, of ESPN, and well known standup comic Brian Regan
each worked one season with Kagy as color announcers for WTTF's coverage of Heidelberg college football while they were students at Heidelberg.
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...
licensed to Tiffin, Ohio
Tiffin, Ohio
Tiffin is a city in and the county seat of Seneca County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,135 at the 2000 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Tiffin as a Tree City USA....
broadcasting a full service
Full service
Full service is a term that has many different uses. In general the term implies that the customer will receive as much service as is reasonably possible.-Gas station:...
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, along with an emphasis on local news, talk and high school sports. The station serves Tiffin and much of surrounding Seneca County
Seneca County, Ohio
Seneca County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 56,745. Its county seat is Tiffin and it is named for the Seneca Indians.The Tiffin Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Seneca County....
. WTTF is owned by Tiffin Broadcasting, LLC (headed by station alumnus 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...
) and managed by preceding owner BAS Broadcasting under a reverse LMA
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
.
WTTF is simulcast full-time on FM translator
Broadcast relay station
A broadcast relay station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator , rebroadcaster , or repeater is a broadcast transmitter which relays, repeats, or reflects the signal of another radio station or television station, usually to an area not covered by the signal of the originating station...
W227BJ (93.3 FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
), also licensed to Tiffin.
History
WTTF was founded by Robert G. Wright and Milton Maltz, who joined forces to form Malrite Communications (the name "Malrite" being a combination of the two surnames), ultimately owning a chain of radio station in the Great LakesGreat Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
area, including WTTF-AM/FM. By the 1970s, WTTF and its FM sister station, WTTF-FM (known today as WCKY-FM
WCKY-FM
WCKY-FM is a radio station licensed to Pemberville, Ohio, serving the Toledo market. It operates a country music format. From its inception until 2008, the station was licensed to Tiffin, Ohio...
), had split from Malrite into its own entity, completely independent of Malrite, and taking the corporate name WTTF, Inc.
For much of its existence, WTTF-AM/FM was a 100 percent simulcast operation under the ownership of WTTF, Inc. This was highly unusual for a 50,000 watt FM station, with a signal that reached two other states (Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
), and a full-service news and talk-intensive format, even after WTTF-AM had received nighttime power in the late 1980s. It became a family-owned business in every sense of the word. Robert G. Wright served as the station's general manager until the mid 1970s, when he retired and his younger son Richard J. "Dick" Wright, who also served as the station's chief engineer, assumed those duties. Wright's elder son, Robert E. "Bob" (but answered to his middle name Ed in order to avoid confusion with his father) Wright, served as station program director and promotions manager.
Not much of the WTTF operation had changed over the course of Wright ownership. For years, even after the advent of magnetic tape and then compact disc, WTTF didn't fully make the conversion for its music. However, Dick Wright built a live-assist automation system in the mid-1980s consisting of four reel-to-reel tape players controlled by the operator in the studio. This would supply the regular weekday music programming up until the station's sale in 1997. Records were still played from the longtime turntables in the studio for its Saturday music programming called "Saturday at the Oldies". Another program, "Sunday Gold" featured music from a different reel-to-reel tape library.
The station also aired "Tradio
Tradio
Tradio is the name given to a type of talk radio show format where listeners call in to buy or sell items. The concept of is analogous to classified ads in local newspapers....
", a buy-sell-trade program three times a day. The program had started originally as a longform one, but was shortened to about five minutes each broadcast, to avoid possible listener tuneout. The incredibly popular program jammed the phone lines each day with listeners offering items for sale, or wanting to buy.
The DW-76
WTTF, known for its thriftiness over the years, also became recognized for its engineering ingenuity. When the FCC mandated EBSEBS
-Education:* Educational Broadcasting System is a Korea educational broadcasting-company* Edinburgh Business School, is the Graduate School of Business of Heriot-Watt University...
monitoring by all licensed radio stations, requiring the purchase of special reception equipment, Dick Wright built WTTF's EBS receiver himself. The unit, called the DW-76 (meaning Dick Wright and its 1976 manufacture date), was field tested and granted FCC type approval for legal use only at WTTF.
Wrights Die: Stations Sold
Robert G. Wright died of lung cancer at the age of 67 in July 1983. Ownership of the station was passed on to his sons and his wife Florence. This ownership arrangement continued for many years until February 1996, when tragedy struck the Wright family.Robert E. Wright died in a car accident in his Jeep Wrangler while traveling northbound on Ohio Route 53 during a heavy snowstorm. His vehicle went left of center and struck an oncoming pickup driven by a 65-year-old woman, who also perished in the crash. Wright was 56.
After the sale, Dick Wright was retained with the title of Assistant Engineer, largely due to the close proximity of the transmitter facilities to his home, thus making him able to quickly fix any transmitter problems . Wright continued in this capacity until his death on January 1, 2008 at the age of 66 .
Facilities and Programming
1600 WTTF operates with a daytime power of 500 watts and a nighttime power of 19 watts audible within Seneca County. Its transmitter is located adjacent to the CSX tracks off of Center Rd, known also as County Road 26. In 2003, Clear Channel moved both stations from its longtime location at 185 South Washington Street into a new location further down the street at Washington Town Square, where it remained until December of 2010.Previously, WTTF (under its previous ownership 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...
) aired the programming of Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio, abbreviated FSR, is an international radio network consisting of sports talk programming. The network is a service of Premiere Networks...
with a mix of adult contemporary and 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....
as indicated by its tagline "Music and More." Fox News Radio
Fox News Radio
Fox News Radio is an American radio network programmed by Fox News Channel.- History :In 2003, Fox News began syndicating one minute radio updates to radio stations via syndication service Westwood One. On June 1, 2005, Fox News Radio employed 60 people and provided five minute newscasts at the top...
was aired at the top of the hour in addition to local news and sports coverage. It remains a locally originating full service station serving Tiffin and Seneca County in addition to the Findlay, Carey, Fostoria, Fremont, Bucyrus, Norwalk, Bowling Green and Sandusky areas within its west to northeast direction pattern.
Findlay, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 38,967 people, 15,905 households, and 10,004 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,266.3 people per square mile . There were 17,152 housing units at an average density of 997.6 per square mile...
cluster, along with other small market clusters, over to Florida based GoodRadio.TV LLC
GoodRadio.TV LLC
Good Radio Networks LLC is a West Palm Beach, Florida based radio ownership group headed by former Pax president Dean Goodman. Partners in this venture include former NAB Chairman Eddie Fritz, and former founder of NextMedia, Carl Hirsch.GoodRadio was established in late 2006 with the purchase of...
in May 2007, but the deal soon collapsed prior to FCC approval. Clear Channel ended up spinning off WTTF, along with the Sandusky cluster and WPFX over to Fremont-based BAS Broadcasting on January 15, 2008. BAS took over WTTF on February 1, and as WCKY-FM is not included in the deal, this ended 45 years of common ownership between the two stations. WTTF switched to an oldies format took place in the latter part of August 2008, before settling on ABC/Citadel's "Timeless
Timeless (radio network)
Timeless was a 24-hour satellite music service of Citadel Media . It has distributed a mix of soft oldies and adult standards to radio stations around the USA...
" channel (which sister stations WLEC and WMVO also carried). With the demise of "Timeless" in February 2010, WTTF moved to Waitt Radio Networks
Waitt Radio Networks
Dial Global Local is a national radio network based in Omaha, Nebraska, formerly owned by NRG Media and purchased in April 2008 by Triton Radio Networks...
' The Lounge
The Lounge (radio network)
The Lounge is a 24-hour music network produced by Dial Global and distributed under their Dial Global Local brand . The network's tag line is Great Songs and Stars...
programming service. The station now airs Citadel Media's True Oldies Channel, hosted by Scott Shannon
Scott Shannon
Michael Scott Shannon is a radio disc jockey, current co-host of the "Scott and Todd in the Morning" show on WPLJ, host of The True Oldies Channel, and the official voice of The Sean Hannity Show.-Early Radio Career:...
, for much of its programming day. ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio is the radio service of ABC News, a division of the ABC Television Network. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Cumulus Media Networks, newscasts on the hour to its more than 2,000 affiliates...
airs at the top of the hour. WTTF's high school sports coverage is now networked with sister stations WFRO, WLEC
WLEC
WLEC is an AM radio station in Sandusky, Ohio, USA broadcasting at 1450 kHz. It is owned by BAS Broadcasting. WLEC carries an Adult Contemporary/Adult Standards format, using Dial Global Local's satellite-delivered format known as The Lounge...
and WMJK
WMJK
WMJK is a commercial FM radio station, licensed to Clyde, Ohio, serving the Sandusky, Port Clinton, and Lake Erie Islands areas. The station broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 3,000 watts at 100.9 FM and is licensed to Clyde, Ohio; about 15 miles west-southwest of Sandusky. The...
as the BAS Sports Network.
WTTF was recently spun off by BAS Broadcasting to radio talk show host (and Heidelberg College
Heidelberg College
Heidelberg University is a private liberal arts college located in the city of Tiffin, Ohio in the U.S. state of Ohio. Founded in 1850, it was known as Heidelberg College until 1889 and from 1926 to 2009.- History :...
graduate) 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...
's company Tiffin Broadcasting LLC. BAS will continue to operate WTTF via an LMA(local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
) until late 2009 . Naturally, Stephan's syndicated weekday talk show Doug Stephan's Good Day is now carried on WTTF.
According to the October 25th issue of the Advertiser-Tribune, WTTF will soon be donated to Heidelberg College as a gift by Stephan . Though Stephan still owns the station, WTTF's studios moved from Washington Town Square into Heidelberg's new Adams Hall School of Business (the former Laird Hall of Science) in December of 2010, teaming it with Heidelberg's existing campus station WHEI
WHEI
WHEI is a radio station licensed to Tiffin, Ohio. The station is owned by and serves Heidelberg University....
, while still operating as a commercial entity . Heidelberg's plans for programming WTTF have continued to emphasize local programming.
On February 26, 2011, WTTF once again resumed an FM simulcast, this time using FM translator
Broadcast relay station
A broadcast relay station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator , rebroadcaster , or repeater is a broadcast transmitter which relays, repeats, or reflects the signal of another radio station or television station, usually to an area not covered by the signal of the originating station...
W227BJ at 93.3 MHz (but otherwise branded as "AM 1600 and Cool FM 93.3 WTTF").
WTTF People
WTTF has enjoyed a history of tenured personnel over the years. Former news director Frank Barber held this position when joining WTTF-AM/FM in 1994 until the sale to BAS Broadcasting in February 2008 (although he still was employed by Clear Channel until a nationwide downsizing effort on April 28, 2009 ). Barber replaced Jack Kagy, who had held the position for 22 years until leaving the station to take a job with Seneca County.Account executive Conrad (C.C.) Hufford is also a longtime fixture of WTTF, having first joined the station in the late 1960s. Also, John Buccigross
John Buccigross
John Buccigross , has been an anchor for ESPN since 1996.-Biography:A graduate of Steubenville Catholic Central High School in Steubenville, OH, and Heidelberg College , his television duties include the Emmy winning SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight...
, of ESPN, and well known standup comic Brian Regan
Brian Regan
Brian Regan is a stand-up comedian who uses observational, sarcastic, and self-deprecating humor. His performances are relatively "clean" as he refrains from profanity and off-color humor. Regan's material typically covers everyday events, such as shipping a package with UPS and a visit to an...
each worked one season with Kagy as color announcers for WTTF's coverage of Heidelberg college football while they were students at Heidelberg.