WKBN (AM) - History

History

The station was founded in 1926 by Warren P. Williamson, Jr. (1900–1996). It was Youngstown's first radio station, signing on the air on September 26, 1926 at 1400 kHz at 50 watts. The original facilities were in the basement of Williamson's home, but by the following year operations had moved to studios in the YMCA in downtown Youngstown. Ownership was organized in the name of the Radio Electric Service Co., and later WKBN Broadcasting Corporation. With the implementation of the FRC's General Order 40 on November 11, 1928 the station moved 570 kHz where it remains today.

Shortly after WKBN's launch, the station became a charter affiliate of the nascent CBS Radio Network, an affiliation that would last until the end of the century. In the 1930s and 1940s, WKBN established a major presence in Youngstown as the city's CBS network affiliate, and for many years it was one of only two radio stations licensed to Youngstown (the other being WFMJ, now WNIO, which signed on in 1939). On February 8, 1943, Alan Freed started his early radio career on WKBN. Most importantly was broadcasting on Radio Luxembourg to the troops abroad.

Williamson started WKBN-FM in 1948, and for many years it transmitted the same programming as the AM station. The FM station is now WMXY. He also started WKBN-TV in 1953, which became a predominantly CBS-TV affiliate in part due to the AM station's long history with the radio network (WKBN-TV to this day has retained the CBS-TV affiliation).

On January 22, 1999 WKBN Broadcasting Corporation sold WKBN and WKBN-FM to Jacor Communications, ending 75 years of Williamson family ownership. Jacor, however, did not own the stations very long. On April 29, 1999 Clear Channel Communications completed its $6.5 billion purchase of Jacor and its 454 stations, including WKBN and WKBN-FM.