WDCZ

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Coordinates: 42°44′41″N 78°53′13″W / 42.74472°N 78.88694°W / 42.74472; -78.88694
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WDCZ
Broadcast areaWestern New York
Frequency970 kHz
BrandingWDCX
Programming
FormatChristian
(simulcast of WDCX-FM)
Ownership
Owner
  • Crawford Broadcasting
  • (Kimtron, Inc.)
History
First air date
October 14, 1924 (as WEBR)
Former call signs
WEBR (1924-1993)
WNED (1993-2012)
Call sign meaning
disambiguation of
WDCX-FM
Technical information
Facility ID27668
ClassB
Power5,000 watts

WDCZ is an American radio station in Buffalo, New York which until midnight November 30, 2012 simulcasted WBFO at a frequency of 970 kHz.[1] The owner at that time had announced at 10pm that it would cease operations at midnight. The station was silent for an entire month which gave those who enjoy trying to receive distant stations an opportunity to receive distant signals at or near that frequency that they would not otherwise have.[2] The station returned to the air as WDCZ on January 1, 2013 as a simulcast of WDCX-FM (99.5).

On August 29, 2012, Crawford Broadcasting, a Denver based firm, announced its intention to buy the then-WNED for $875,000. A spokeswoman for WNED said a closing date for the sale depended on approval by regulators. Donald B. Crawford, the Crawford Broadcasting president said that he expected his company to take over the station and begin programming it around January 1, 2013.[3] This is a second station for Crawford in the Buffalo market as it is the long time owner of WDCX-FM, whose programming it planned to simulcast in order to further its reach into southern Ontario.[4] The finalization of the sale took place at midnight November 30, 2012, through licensee Kimtron, Inc; the station's call sign was changed the same day to WDCZ. [5]

History

WDCZ was launched on October 14, 1924 as WEBR. Fran Striker, later famous for co-creating the Lone Ranger, worked for the station in the early 1930s. The station was a commercial operation for its first five decades on air, competing (generally with a measure of success, despite the weakness of its highly directional signal) against competing Buffalo stations. At at least two points in its history it was a sister station to WBEN, during the times when regulatory rules allowed it.

The station changed formats and owners (one of which was the Buffalo Courier-Express) in the early 1970s until the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association bought WEBR and sister station WREZ-FM (now WNED-FM) in 1975. The station adopted an (almost) all-news format a year later (although an evening and overnight jazz program, Jazz In The Nighttime with Al Wallack, remained on the air). In 1993 the station was renamed WNED and all non-news programming was dropped.[6] Unlike its counterpart, WBFO which still had music programming overnight and on the weekend; WNED focused entirely on news and talk programming. Several of the programs on WNED and WBFO (specifically both drive time programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered) overlapped with different production teams for local inserts, each with its own hosts. (In addition, the weekend A Prairie Home Companion aired on both WNED-AM and WNED-FM, an arrangement that continues as of 2013 with WBFO and WNED-FM.)

Until March 1, 2012, WNED was one of two National Public Radio affiliates in Buffalo. The remaining affiliate is WBFO, formerly operated by the University of Buffalo. WBFO was purchased from the State of New York by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, the parent organization of WNED, WNED-TV and WNED-FM in July 2011.[1] With WNED's takeover of WBFO, the duplication of programming was expected to end;[7] there had been speculation (which turned out to be accurate) that WNED would be sold despite strong support in the local market for differentiated jazz, blues, news and talk programming.[8]

On March 1, 2012, WNED was relegated to a simulcast of WBFO. This led to much of the news and information programming that had aired on the weekend by WNED being replaced by NPR entertainment programs, such as Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and Car Talk. WNED, which had not aired music since 1993, now aired blues programming Saturday and Sunday evenings, but in return, WBFO (and, with it, the entire Buffalo market) was stripped of all of its jazz programming.[9] In mid 2013 a weekly one hour of jazz programming returned to the Buffalo market on WJJL, a commercial station in nearby Niagara Falls.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/article743568.ece
  2. ^ Chernos Saul Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:01:56 -0800 Reporting the open frequency as a benefit for those wishing to receive long distance reception. 970 WNED NY Buffalo off-air International Radio Club of America Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  3. ^ Robinson, David (29 August 2012). "WNED-AM being sold to Denver company". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  4. ^ Robinson, David (30 August 2012). "WNED-AM to broadcast religious programming". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  5. ^ Jane Kwiatkowski WNED-AM sale to Crawford Broadcasting finalized buffalonews.com Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  6. ^ Buffalo Broadcasters website History of WEBR/WNED 1924 to 1998 Buffalo Broadcasters Association Retrieved 29 December 2012
  7. ^ http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/article674904.ece
  8. ^ http://blogs.artvoice.com/avdaily/2011/10/05/wbfo-wned-get-earful-from-public/
  9. ^ http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wbfo/guide.guidemain?action=viewGuide

References from The Buffalo News are limited without paid access.

External links

42°44′41″N 78°53′13″W / 42.74472°N 78.88694°W / 42.74472; -78.88694

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