WIMA (AM)

Infobox Radio station
name = WIMA


city = Lima, Ohio
area = Lima
branding =
slogan = Newstalk
airdate =
frequency = 1150 kHz
format = News Talk Information
power = 1,000 watts
erp =
haat =
class = B
facility_id = 37498
coordinates = coord|40|40|47.00|N|84|6|34.00|W|region:GB_type:city
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns =
owner = Jacor Broadcasting Corporation
licensee =
sister_stations =
webcast =
website = [http://www.1150wima.com 1150wima.com]
affiliations = Fox News Radio, Premiere Radio Networks, ABC Radio

WIMA "The Talk Station" is a commercial AM broadcasting station operating at 1150 kHz in Lima, Ohio owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications which also operates FM sister stations WIMT, WBUK, WLWD, WZRX-FM and WMLX from its studio and office location on West Market Street. Its transmitter is located on McClain Road in Fort Shawnee. It is Lima's first and oldest commercial radio station. The call letters,when spoken like a word rhymes with the city of Lima .

Early history

Originally WBLY (at 1240 on the AM dial) which aired traditional middle of the road programming in the early 1930s then switching the call letters to WLOK in the early 1940s. Veteran broadcaster Hugh Downs started here while a student at Bluffton University in nearby Bluffton, Ohio. Long time Lima broadcast legend Easter Straker was program director for many years in addition to hosting "Easter's Parade" a live mid-day program on Channel 35. It switched to the WIMA call sign in 1955. Its then-owner Lloyrd A. Pixley, a former Ohio State football legend later founded WLOK-TV (later WIMA-TV now WLIO) and WIMA-FM (now WIMT) which was later sold to George Hamilton and Robert Mack's company Northwestern Ohio Broadcasting in 1954.

For much of its early years WIMA was a daytime station which eventually was granted an FM station in the late 1950s. WIMA-AM was granted a 24 hour license in 1970. WIMA-FM switched to a pre-recorded country music format in 1973, while WIMA-AM continued its' "middle-of-the-road" format, with discjockeys Alan Henry DeBoer, Tom Francis, Joe Jansen, G. Arthur Versnick, and Andy Wetherall, under program director Jack Stower, and station manager Les Rau.

In April 1974, Jack Stower moved from WIMA-AM, to WIMA-FM (Country Lovin'), to become that station's first manager. Mr. Stower was succeeded by Joe Jansen as WIMA-AM program director. WIMA-FM is now known as WIMT "T-102". The former WIMA-TV (now WLIO) was sold off in 1972 to Lima Commnications Corporation, a division of Toledo-based Block Communications,owners of the Toledo Blade newspaper.

The WBLY call sign later moved to an AM station in Springfield, Ohio where it resided from 1954 to 2002 which is now WULM.

WIMA along with four other Clear Channel Lima radio stations were initially sold to Florida based GoodRadio.TV LLC in May 2007, but the deal soon collapsed prior to FCC approval. The most recent proposed deal was to banker American Securities under the new name "Frequency Licensing Partners LLC", but it has yet to be completed or approved.

WIMA Today

WIMA airs a mix of talk and sports programs including Rush Limbaugh with Fox sports programming in addition to local sports programming.

ee also

*Lima, Ohio
*Jacor
*Clear Channel Communications (former owner)
*List of radio stations in Ohio
*GoodRadio.TV LLC

External links

* [http://www.1150wima.com Official WIMA site (with streaming audio)]
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?call=WIMA Query the FCC's AM station database for WIMA]
* [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wima&sr=Y&s=C WIMA technical information from Radio-Locator website]