WBYN (AM)

This article is about the AM radio station known as WBYN. For the FM radio station also known as WBYN, see WBYN-FM.
WBYN
City Lehighton, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area Lehigh Valley
Branding ESPN Lehigh Valley
Slogan Lehigh Valley Sports Radio
Frequency 1160 kHz
First air date 1962 (as WYNS)
Format Sports (WEEX simulcast)
Power 4,000 watts day
1,000 watts (night)
Class B
Facility ID 69688
Transmitter coordinates 40°49′3.00″N 75°41′31.00″W / 40.8175000°N 75.6919444°W / 40.8175000; -75.6919444
Former callsigns WYNS (1962–2005)
Affiliations ESPN Radio
Owner Connoisseur Media
(Connoisseur Media Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations WEEX, WODE-FM, WTKZ, WWYY
Webcast Listen Live
Website espnlv.com

WBYN (1160 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Lehighton, Pennsylvania, USA. The station is owned by Connoisseur Media, through licensee Connoisseur Media Licenses, LLC.

It broadcasts a sports format and features programming from ESPN Radio.[1] Until January 4, 2016 the station ran a wide array of Christian programs ranging from local church services to national political religious features to national radio preachers and teachers. The station also previously played a moderate amount of inspirational music.

History

The station was signed-on in 1962 by Martin Phillip under the call letters WYNS (pronounced wins). Phillip sold the station to Ragan Henry in 2000. Following financial losses, Henry took WYNS off-the-air on December 31, 2002; in 2003, he sold WYNS to Nassau Broadcasting Partners. Following the sale, the station, which had been an oldies station, began carrying sports radio programming from ESPN Radio, simulcast from sister station WEEX. (WYNS had abandoned the oldies format in 1998 in favor of country music, but subsequently reversed that change.)[2]

In 2005, WBYN, a co-located Christian FM station was leased in an LMA to Nassau, with plans to eventually purchase that FM station. The call letters were changed to the current WBYN on September 25, 2005, when the station started simulcasting WBYN-FM. The simulcast continued until the winter of 2006 when the FM station changed formats to an Adult Rock Hits format called Frank FM and call signs to WFKB. WBYN's religious format remained on AM 1160 and on WFKB-FM HD-2. Nassau continued to manage WFKB with plans to buy that. After being unable to negotiate a purchase of WFKB or extend the LMA, WDAC Radio took back operations of WFKB on March 15, 2009. On March 31, 2009, WFKB dropped the Adult Rock Hits format, reverted to a religious format, and reverted to WBYN-FM calls.

The religious format on WBYN-FM, while similar to WBYN, is different programming. WBYN-FM focuses more on national features, plays more music, while WBYN-AM focuses more on talk and teaching, with some shows coming from Salem Media. Some shows overlap but the stations are no longer co-owned. WBYN 1160 is still owned by Nassau and is programmed from Princeton, New Jersey much of the same content as co-owned WCHR.

The station, along with nine other Nassau stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was purchased at bankruptcy auction by NB Broadcasting in May 2012. NB Broadcasting is controlled by Nassau's creditors — Goldman Sachs, Pluss Enterprises, and P.E. Capital.[3][4] In November, NB Broadcasting filed a motion to assign its rights to the stations to Connoisseur Media.[5] The sale to Connoisseur Media, at a price of $38.7 million, was consummated on May 29, 2013.

On January 4, 2016 WBYN changed their format from contemporary inspirational to a simulcast of sports-formatted WEEX 1230 AM Allentown, PA.

Previous Logo

References

  1. ↑ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  2. ↑ Parker, Chris (February 14, 2003). "WYNS to be sold, broadcast all sports". The Morning Call. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  3. ↑ "10 Nassau Stations Go To NB Broadcasting LLC". All Access. May 30, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ Pierce, David (June 12, 2012). "Pocono radio stations now in the hands of creditors". Pocono Record. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Connoisseur Moves To Assume Debtor's Bid To Buy 10 Nassau Stations, Including WPST". All Access. November 21, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2012.

External links

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