City Anderson, Indiana Frequency 1240 kHz First air date April 1923 | Broadcast area Muncie-Marion Translator(s) 103.7 MHz (W279CL) | |
Branding Newstalk Sports Anderson | ||
WHBU (1240 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Anderson, Indiana, United States, the station serves the Muncie-Marion area. The station is currently owned by Woof Boom Radio Muncie License LLC. The station currently carries some nationally-syndicated programs including Rush Limbaugh, Dave Ramsey and Sean Hannity. A local morning show "Anderson Live" with host Doug Zook is heard on weekdays, along with local programming each evening and much of the weekend.
WHBU is the longest running commercial radio station in Anderson, the second oldest radio station in Indiana and the oldest commercial station in Indiana.
History
WHBU made its initial sign-on in April 1923. Its founder and original owner was the Anderson Broadcasting Corporation and for much of its history, was located (along with its rooftop transmitting tower...now razed) in the Citizens Bank Building on Meridian Plaza in downtown Anderson. Once located at 1210 kHz in the 1930s, it would affiliate with the CBS Radio Network until its sale in 1998. It was a stand-alone AM with a full service middle of the road format before becoming clustered with Muncie area stations operated by Indiana Radio Partners. WAXT (now WBKQ) licensed to nearby Alexandria would later join the cluster. A gradual trend towards soft adult contemporary music took place beginning in the mid-1970s, which was reflected in its jingle package "Reaching Out, Touching You" produced by Pepper-Tanner Productions in Memphis. Its main competition was the former WHUT (AM) with a Top 40 (and later a country) format and the original WLHN "Stereo 98" as its FM sister with an easy listening format...which is now WGNR and WGNR-FM with a gospel format owned by Moody Broadcasting.