WFRA

WFRA
City	Franklin, Pennsylvania
Branding	The Allegheny News-Talk Sports Network
Frequency	1450 kHz (AM)
Repeaters	WTIV 1230 Titusville WMGW 1490 Meadville
First air date	April 13, 1958
Format	News, talk, sports
Power	1000 watts (unlimited)
Class	C
Callsign meaning	FRAnklin (city of license)
Owner	Forever Broadcasting, LLC
Website

WFRA is an American radio station, licensed to Franklin, Pennsylvania; the seat of government for Venango County, Pennsylvania.

WFRA broadcasts at the assigned frequency of 1450 kHz at a full-time power of a thousand watts. WFRA is owned by Forever Broadcasting, LLC; which also owns its primary programming vehicle, the Allegheny News Talk Sports Network.

History

WFRA went on the air in 1958, three years after the debut of its affiliate station, WTIV in Titusville, about 15 miles north of Franklin just north of the Crawford-Venango County border. Though within close proximity of each other, owner and founder Robert H. Sauber was allowed to put another AM station on the air because the two stations were in separate counties, thus meeting more stringent FCC ownership limits at the time.

Like WTIV, WFRA boasted a full-service format of news, talk, sports, and middle of the road music, which was typical (and still is though to a lesser degree today) of small-town AM radio stations. Though co-owned, both stations (the latter doing business as Northwestern Pennsylvania Broadcasting Company, Inc.) were still managed and operated very separately, with Sauber's son Thomas running the station in its later years.

In March 1971, Sauber put an FM station on the air, WVEN, which simulcast some programming of its AM affiliate in its early years. The station later became known as WFRA-FM. However, as more and more cars became equipped with FM radios, WFRA-FM finally broke away from WFRA completely, forming its own identity.

In July 2000, Sauber wanted to retire and put his stations up for sale. All three were purchased by Altoona-based Forever Broadcasting, LLC for an undisclosed sum. Sauber died in October 2004 at the age of 72.

Programming

For most of the broadcast day, WFRA is a "trimulcast" of three radio stations (including itself) in Venango and Crawford Counties. The two others are WTIV and WMGW (until December 2009, WOYL in Oil City had also been a part of this network, in effect making it a quadcast; WOYL permanently ceased operations in July 2010). During weekday mornings, WFRA airs a live and local morning show, while WTIV and WMGW air their own live local morning show with local content exclusive to the immediate area. After the morning show, the three-station trimulcast begins.

Though most programming, sales and administrative functions originate out of Forever Broadcasting's office in Meadville, WFRA maintains a separate office at 484 Allegheny Blvd in Franklin. Local sales efforts and the WFRA morning show also originate out of this location.

WFRA-AM-FM's former home, at 1411 Liberty Street in Franklin. The radio stations maintained an office in this hotel for many years until its recent move to Allegheny Boulevard, where it remains today.

External links

Radio stations in the Meadville-Franklin, Pennsylvania market

By AM frequency	790 940 970 1120 1450 1490

By FM frequency	89.5 90.3 90.3 91.1 91.9 91.9 94.3 95.1 96.3 98.5 99.3 100.3 101.7 104.5 107.7

By callsign	W212BK W220BA WARC WAWN WFRA WFUN WGYI WGYY WHMJ WKQW WKQW-FM WGRP WGYY WMGW WMVL WOXX WPIC WSAJ-FM WUZZ WUUZ WVME WWGY WXXO

Defunct stations	WOYL/1340 WSAJ/1340

Pennsylvania radio markets Allentown–Bethlehem Altoona Bradford–Coudersport Chambersburg–Waynesboro Erie Harrisburg–Lebanon–Carlisle Lancaster Montrose New Castle Philadelphia Pittsburgh Reading Sayre–Towanda–Mansfield–Wellsboro Wilkes-Barre–Scranton Williamsport York Other Pennsylvania radio regions Bedford Indiana Johnstown Lewistown–Mifflintown Meadville–Franklin Punxsutawney–DuBois St. Marys–Emporium–Kane State College Stroudsburg Sunbury–Selinsgrove–Lewisburg Warren See also List of radio stations in Pennsylvania

ESPN Radio stations in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Full-time affiliates	Allentown WTKZ Altoona WVAM Chambersburg WCBG Easton WEEX Erie WRIE Gettysburg WGET Huntingdon WHUN Jersey Shore WEJS Lehighton WBYN Mexico WJUN Philadelphia WPEN Pittsburgh WBGG Scranton WBAX Scranton WEJL Starview WONN-FM State College WQWK Williamsport WLYC

Part-time affiliates	Meadville WMGW Titusville WTIV Dubois WCED Milton WMLP Lansdale WNPV Franklin WFRA Greencastle WCBG Sunbury WKOK Pottsville WPPA

Defunct	Somerset WBHV

See also List of ESPN Radio affiliates See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Pennsylvania See also ESPN Radio ESPN Deportes Radio Fox Sports Radio CBS Sports Radio NBC Sports Radio Yahoo! Sports Radio Sports Byline USA

Coordinates: 41°23′30″N 79°48′41″W / 41.39167°N 79.81139°W / 41.39167; -79.81139

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