WFOR (AM)

WFOR
City Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Branding TheScore1400
Frequency 1400 kHz
Translator(s) W224DP (92.7 MHz, Hattiesburg)
First air date April 1924
Format Sports
Power 1,000 watts (unlimited)
Class C
Facility ID 54612
Transmitter coordinates 31°20′03″N 89°19′08″W / 31.33417°N 89.31889°W / 31.33417; -89.31889
Callsign meaning FORrest County[1]
Affiliations Fox Sports Radio
Owner Eagle Broadcasting, LLC
(Eagle Broadcasting, LLC)

WFOR (TheScore1400 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States. The station is owned by Eagle Broadcasting, LLC.

Programming

WFOR broadcasts a sports talk format as an affiliate of the FOX Sports Radio Network.[2] Syndicated sports talk programming on WFOR includes The Dan Patrick Show.[3] Local programming includes, The Pine Belt Sports Drive and To The Top Talk with Jamie Arrington.

History

The station, established in April 1924, was assigned the WFOR call sign by the Federal Communications Commission.[4]

The first High Power Transmitter was hand build by Station Engineer, B. B McLemore, 250 watts making it in it's time the most powerful AM station in South Mississippi. The original Studio was in an old 2 story building on Hemphill St, in the early 1950, the new tower and office location on West 7th st was constructed. (It to suffered a bad fire many years after). Fact: while constructing the current radio tower the top section came ajar, and 30ft fell to the ground in a free-fall, leaving a worker danging by rope on the tower in shock. Weeks passed but finally the new section was installed and proper guide tension wires attached. When the original transmitter was retired it was returned the original station Engineer Mr McLemore, who maintained it as a keepsake for over 50 years. - Last know it was still in Hattiesburg.

In September 1998, Radio Hattiesburg, Inc., reached an agreement to sell WFOR to Cumulus Media as part of a multi-station deal valued at a combined $4.5 million.[5][6] The deal was approved by the FCC on December 18, 1998, and the transaction was consummated on April 2, 1999.[7]

In October 2000, Cumulus Media, LLC, announced an agreement to sell this station to Clear Channel Communications as part of a large station swap and sale, including seven Cumulus stations in the Laurel-Hattiesburg radio market.[8] The deal was approved by the FCC on December 19, 2000, and the transaction was consummated on January 18, 2001.[9]

On July 20, 2016, iHeartMedia announced that WFOR will be sold to Eagle Broadcasting, LLC for $120,000.[10]

On October 5, 2016, the transaction was consummated and Eagle Broadcasting, LLC assumed ownership of WFOR.

Transmitter site fire

A fire was noticed at the station's transmitter site at around 19:45 local time on December 15, 2015. WFOR's owner iHeart Media's senior vice president of programming Jackson Walker noted that there is no timetable for returning the station to the air & that the fire marshal said the building was a total loss.[11]

Relaunch post fire

TheScore1400 WFOR-AM relaunched on October 6, 2016 at 11:45 local time under the ownership and direction of Eagle Broadcasting, LLC.

References

  1. ↑ Nelson, Bob (June 2, 2009). "Radio/TV Station Call Letter Origins #238". Broadcast Archive.
  2. ↑ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Where To Tune In To The Dan Patrick Show". DanPatrick.com. Retrieved June 19, 2009. Hattiesburg, WFOR-AM 1400, 8:00a-11:00a
  4. ↑ "Call Sign History". CDBS Public Access Database. FCC Media Bureau. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Changing Hands - 1998-09-14". Broadcasting & Cable. September 14, 1998.
  6. ↑ "Cumulus Media Inc acquires WHER-FM, WFOR-AM, Hattiesburg,MS from Radio Hattiesburg". Thomson Financial Mergers & Acquisitions. September 3, 1998.
  7. ↑ "Application Search Details (BAL-19981028EA)". FCC Media Bureau. April 2, 1999.
  8. ↑ Prospect Public Library "Cumulus Media Inc. Announces Several Transactions" Check |url= value (help). Business Wire. October 3, 2000. Laurel-Hattiesburg, Mississippi (Market Rank #208 of 276) -- WEEZ-AM, WJKX-FM, WHER-FM, WUSW-FM, WMFM-FM, WFOR-AM, WNSL-FM.
  9. ↑ "Application Search Details (BAL-20000817ADK)". FCC Media Bureau. January 18, 2001.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Article on WFOR's transmitter fire from WDAM-TV: December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.


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