Branding 97-9 ESPN First air date July 1990 (1990-07) | Slogan Game On | |
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City Windsor Locks, Connecticut Broadcast area Greater Hartford, Connecticut Frequency 97.9 MHz (also on HD Radio) | ||
WUCS (97.9 MHz, "97-9 ESPN") is a commercial FM sports formatted radio station licensed to Windsor Locks, Connecticut. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and serves as the Hartford media market's ESPN Radio network affiliate. WUCS acts as the technical flagship station for the network because its signal covers Bristol, Connecticut, home of ESPN's headquarters. The station first signed on in July 1990 as WPKX, a country music station targeting Springfield, Massachusetts. It was originally licensed to Enfield, Connecticut but was able to move to Windsor Locks through an agreement with WMAS-FM which was formerly licensed to Springfield, Massachusetts. WUCS's studios are at 10 Columbus Boulevard, in Hartford, Connecticut.
It was owned by SFX Broadcasting in the late 1990s, then Capstar. AMFM owned it briefly before being acquired by Clear Channel Communications now iHeartMedia in 2000.
The station had an HD Radio HD-2 station broadcasting Americana music since early 2006.
In March 2010, iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications) filed an application with the FCC to move the WPKX transmitter from Provin Mountain in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts to the top of City Place in Downtown Hartford, effectively moving the station from the Springfield Arbitron market to the larger and more lucrative Hartford Arbitron market. The previous country format has moved to WRNX (100.9 FM).
On January 27, 2012 at 6 a.m., the station switched to a simulcast of ESPN Radio affiliate WPOP (1410 AM). The call sign was changed to WUCS on February 7, 2012. WPOP switched to Fox Sports Radio in March 2012, with ESPN Radio remaining on WUCS.
WPOP (now a talk radio station) is currently simulcast on WUCS's HD-2 signal.