- WENY (AM)
Infobox Radio Station
name = WENY
area = Elmira, NY
branding = "Two-way talk"
slogan =
airdate = 1932
frequency = 1230 (kHz)
format = Talk
power = 1,000watt s
class = C
owner =Route 81 Radio
website = [http://route81radio.com/ route81radio.com]
callsign_meaning = W Elmira, New YorkWENY is an AM station in the Elmira-Corning market of
New York state . It broadcasts at 1000watt s day and night on 1230 kHz from studios in Corning, New York. It is atalk radio station that airs local sports and a 3 hour morning local talk show with host Paul Lyle. It is currently simulcast with WENI-AM (formerly WCLI-AM 1450 AM).It was the first station licensed in Chemung County and the first in the market.
The station signed on in 1932 as WESG, broadcasting on 1200 KHz from a studio on Market Street in Elmira, which remains its
city of license . Its call letters stood for "Elmira Star-Gazette ," the local newspaper and one of its owners.At some point after 1940, when WESG cut ties with Ithaca station WEAI, the station changed its call letters to WENY, which stood for "
Elmira, New York ." It also changed frequencies to 1230 kHz, where it remains today.Sister station
WENY-FM was launched in the 1960s.In the 1970s, as a
Top 40 music station, WENY adopted the slogan "We're the One," a play on the Orleans song "Still The One," which was popular at the time and was used in promotions forABC television , of which then-sister station WENY-TV 36 was an affiliate. The members of Orleans also were natives of the Elmira and Ithaca areas.The station kept playing music until the early 1990s, when it switched to
talk radio . Ironically, that was when it dropped "Voice of the People," a long-running local talk show that ran weeknights at 6 p.m.Longtime owner Howard Green sold the station to White Broadcasting in 2000, which switched it to an
oldies format. Under a limited marketing agreement, the station was managed by Eolin Broadcasting Inc., which also ownedtalk radio stationWCLI , WCBA-FM (adult contemporary ), WCBA (adult standards) andWGMM (oldies ). White sold the station to EBI in 2001, at which time the television station was separated from the radio stations.EBI moved the station to its headquarters in South Corning and switched WENY back to talk radio, simulcasting with WCLI.
In 2003, EBI sold all of the stations to Route 81 Radio, based in Hazleton, PA.
WENY alumni
*John Kobylt
*Jay Flannery
*Jack Shane / John Horn
*Paul Leigh / The Friendly Giant External links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
