WRFC (AM)

WRFC
City Athens, Georgia
Broadcast area Athens Metro
Branding SportsRadio 960 The Ref
Frequency 960 kHz
Format Sports
Power 5,000 watts day
2,500 watts night
Class B
Facility ID 1218
Transmitter coordinates 33°59′58.00″N 83°26′0.00″W / 33.9994444°N 83.4333333°W / 33.9994444; -83.4333333
Affiliations ESPN Radio
Owner Cox Radio
(Cox Radio, Inc.)
Sister stations WNGC, WGAU, WGMG, WPUP, WXKT, WSB, WSBB-FM, WSB-FM, WSRV-FM, WALR-FM, WTSH-FM, WSB-TV
Webcast Listen Live
Website 960theref.com

WRFC (960 AM) is a sports radio station affiliated with ESPN Radio and licensed to Athens, Georgia, United States. Owned by Cox Media Group, the television and radio subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, the station is sister to radio stations WNGC, WGAU, WGMG, WPUP, WXKT, and the WSB family of stations. WRFC has studios in downtown Athens, while its transmitter is located off O'Conner Boulevard in North Valley, northwest of Athens.

History

WRFC was founded in 1948 and was originally owned by Mr. L. H. Christian, hence the callsign after his father, Robert Franklin Christian).

WRFC operated for many years at 5,000 watts non-directional daytime and 500 watts directional nighttime using a three-tower array northeast of Athens, broadcasting from an impressive mansion in downtown Athens.

On February 20, 1971, NORAD broadcast a normal required weekly test of the Emergency Broadcast System. However, AT&T reported that the US Air Force used the wrong tape by accident, initiating an Emergency Action Notification, normally issued by the president. It prompted all north Georgia radio stations by order of the FCC to operate under emergency procedures and feed the broadcast from WSB in Atlanta through their transmitters. Everett Langford was at the microphone at WRFC and had no idea what had happened. He listened to WSB but heard no emergency announcements. He was attempting to call the owner, L.H. Christian, when he heard the corrected message from the Air Force; one could hear in his voice that he was very relieved it was only a mistake.

In January 2008, WRFC was sold (along with sister stations WGMG, WPUP, WNGC, and WGAU) to Cox Radio in Atlanta. Southern Broadcasting of Athens and associated owners continue as a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox.[1]

Former on-air staff

  • John Holliman (news, later with CNN) (deceased)
  • Bill Hartman (sports and news)
  • Johnny Jay (real name: Howard Toole)
  • Larry Melear (1965–75) (was also chief engineer 1965–70 and 1971–75) (deceased)
  • Jim Byard (1968 -1970)
  • Tom Collins (1968 - 1971)
  • Earl Pledger (1969–71)
  • Everett Langford (1967–71) (was also chief engineer 1970–71)
  • Ed Thilenius (sports)
  • A.O. "Red" Healan
  • Kate Murphy (Kathleen Emerson-Lambert)
  • Jim Koger
  • Morris "Night Owl" Knight
  • Larry Johnson
  • Charles Pinckney

References

  1. ↑ "Deals," Broadcasting & Cable, January 28, 2008.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.