Broadcast area Utica-Rome area Format Sports | Branding ESPN Radio 1310 AM | |
City WRNY: Rome, New York
WTLB: Utica, New York
WIXT: Little Falls, New York Frequency WRNY: 1350 kHz
WTLB: 1310 kHz
WIXT: 1230 kHz First air date WRNY: 1959
WTLB: 1946
WIXT: 1952 (as WLFH) | ||
WRNY (1350 AM) is an American radio station broadcasting at 1350 kHz. The station was owned by Clear Channel Communications until September 2007, when ownership was transferred to Galaxy Utica as a result of Clear Channel's decision to "go private". The station had been acquired by Clear Channel from Dame Media in June, 1999.
WRNY is part of a three station simulcast that includes WTLB AM 1310 in Utica, New York and WIXT AM 1230 in Little Falls, New York. The three stations are affiliated with ESPN Radio.
WTLB has been granted an FCC construction permit to decrease day power to 2,600 watts and decrease night power to 38 watts. The antenna pattern will change from directional to nondirectional.
History
Before their transfer of ownership to Galaxy, WRNY and WIXT (which, until 2005, was known by the call sign WLFH) operated as part of a four station network of Sports Talk radio stations identified as "The Sports Stars", along with WADR in Remsen and WUTQ in Utica. The stations carried a variety of local and syndicated sports talk programming, along with live coverage of local sporting events. The Sports Stars network also carried an affiliation with Fox Sports Radio, as was the standard for Clear Channel sports radio stations.
WTLB, at the time, was under Galaxy Communications ownership; WTLB was mostly a simulcast of WTLA in Syracuse (hence the call sign) and WSGO in Oswego; all three stations ran the Music of Your Life adult standards format.
Upon Clear Channel's exit from the Utica market in September 2007, the network was rearranged. WADR and WUTQ, the two weakest stations in the network, were sold to Ken Roser and became full service outlets, while Galaxy Communications acquired WRNY and WIXT, which retained their sports format. Galaxy then paired the stations with WTLB, which ended its adult standards format to simulcast WRNY/WIXT. The stations retained their Fox Sports Radio affiliation, but changed their identification from "Sports Stars" to "1310 The Game." In 2010, Galaxy reached an affiliation deal with ESPN Radio, in which their Utica and Syracuse AM stations would join the network. The deal took effect on March 5, and WTLB/WIXT/WRNY promptly dropped Fox Sports to join ESPN. Galaxy's Syracuse stations, WTLA and WSGO, also ended their Music Of Your Life affiliation at that time to join ESPN.
Since WTLB and WRNY have to lower power at night to avoid interference with other stations, Galaxy sought a FM translator to serve the city at night. In 2012, they acquired translator W256AJ at 99.1 FM from the Christian Broadcasting System, owners of WJIV, moved the translator from Hotel Utica to the top of Smith Hill, and boosted its power. The new signal began simulcasting WRNY's programs on September 13, 2012. On September 8, 2016, W256AJ broke from its WRNY simulcast to become variety hits-formatted "Tony FM", which also simulcasts on the HD2 subchannel of sister station WKLL.
In 2016 Galaxy moved their Utica studios (WKLL, WOUR, WUMX, WTLB, WRNY and WIXT) from Washington Mills to Downtown Utica inside the new Landmarc Building (the old HSBC Location) and renamed it Galaxy Media. Inside their new location the walls on the side of the street for each studio are made entirely of glass, allowing people to see DJ's at work similar to the "Good Morning America" Studios (Galaxy has long used a similar layout for their studio in Syracuse).