WCNN

WCNN
City North Atlanta, Georgia
Broadcast area Atlanta metropolitan area
Branding 680 The Fan
Slogan Atlanta's Sports Station
Frequency 680 kHz
Translator(s) 93.7 W229AG (Atlanta)
First air date 1967
Format Sports
Power 50,000 watts day
10,000 watts night
Class B
Facility ID 56389
Transmitter coordinates 33°57′42″N 84°15′46″W / 33.961551°N 84.262776°W / 33.961551; -84.262776
Callsign meaning Cable News Network
(CNN Headline News, the former news radio format carried by the station)
Former callsigns WRNG (1967-1982)
WCNN (1982-1987)
WGTW (1987-1988)
Affiliations CBS Sports Radio
Owner Dickey Broadcasting Company
Webcast Listen Live
Website 680thefan.com

WCNN is an AM station broadcasting on a frequency of 680 kHz and serving the Atlanta-area radio market with a sports radio format. The station is commonly known by the on-air branding as "680 the Fan". The station formerly broadcast the audio portion of the CNN Headline News channel (hence its current callsign) along with some local news and commercials, a news radio format that the station pioneered in the 1980s and re-appeared on the station later in the station's history.[1] WCNN broadcasts with a power of 50,000 watts during the daytime, and 10,000 watts during nighttime, and is actually licensed to serve North Atlanta, with transmitter and towers located near Norcross, Georgia (in the northeastern Atlanta suburbs).

WCNN is the flagship of three all-sports stations owned by Dickey. This station carries a local talk lineup, while WFOM is the affiliate of ESPN Radio and WIFN is the affiliate for Fox Sports Radio.

History

"680" began in 1967 as WRNG, Atlanta's first talk radio station.[1] The last three letters of the callsign represented the station's branding as "Ring Radio". It was the first broadcast home of talk radio personality Neal Boortz, now on WSB and syndicated nationally.[1] Other, now well known talk radio personalities were also heard on the station, including KGO's Ronn Owens, San Francisco, Southern Humorist Ludlow Porch, and KFYI's Barry Young, Phoenix.

In 1982, the station began an experiment by broadcasting the audio feed of CNN Headline News.[1] The call letters were changed to WCNN, a nod to CNN's headquarters being in Atlanta.[2] While no longer on WCNN, the CNN Headline News audio feed ended on April 1, 2012 on many radio stations in the United States as a satellite-delivered service of Dial Global.

In February 1987, the station temporarily switched to an Adult standards radio format and changed its call letters to WGTW.[1][2] Its callsign was a reference to the movie Gone with the Wind, which, ironically, is the favorite movie of CNN founder Ted Turner. The station went by the branding "Stardust 680" during that time.[1][2] The radio format failed to gain ratings in the market. In late 1988, chief engineer Bob Mayben and his staff built elaborate studios in the CNN Center (formerly known as The Omni) and became WCNN "All News 680", with a 24-hour local news format. The CNN Headline News audio returned in June 1990, when the local all-news format failed to generate sufficient ratings.[1][2] In 1995, WCNN was leased to Cox Radio for a 5-year term. The radio format was switched to Sports Talk as "680 The Fan".[1][2] In 1998, the format switched to news/talk to complement WSB's programming.[1] In 2000, when the LMA expired, control of WCNN returned to Dickey Broadcasting.[1] The "680 The Fan" branding and the sports radio format returned to WCNN.[1][2]

WCNN was the flagship station of the Atlanta Thrashers,[3] before Thrashers moved to Winnipeg. It has been the flagship station of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network since 2010 (along with WNNX),[4] and the flagship station of the Atlanta Hawks since 2012. It also carries Florida Gators football.

WCNN is now an affiliate of CBS Sports Radio after years of carrying ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio programming.

On November 30, 2010, WCNN got an FM simulcast on broadcast translator W229AG FM 93.7. In 2010, that station was actually assigned to carry WWWQ FM 99.7 HD-3. It is located on Sweat Mountain, and for several years previously carried KAWZ FM, a Christian broadcasting station which feeds hundreds of translator stations from Calvary Chapel in Twin Falls, Idaho. It had Sandy Plains and now Atlanta as its community of license. 99X was reportedly set to move to this station, which had a construction permit granted in July 2010 to relocate to the same tower near North Druid Hills as WWWQ and W250BC, and has the same power but somewhat lower height (and therefore broadcast range) as 99X has on W250BC. The station was still owned by Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls, when it filed for the permit in April 2010. After being approved in early July, Calvary applied just a few days later to transfer ownership of the station to Cumulus for $400,000. It is now licensed to Cumulus Licensing LLC and resides on the WWWQ tower.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Atlanta Area AM Radio Stations
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jeffrey Leachman - Atlanta, Georgia AM Radio Directory
  3. ↑ Atlanta Thrashers Official Site - Thrashers Broadcasters
  4. ↑ Atlanta Braves Official Site - Braves Radio Network
  5. ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/78139/cumulus-buying-new-analog-translator-for-99x-atlan
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