WSAI

Encyclopedia : W : WS : WSA : WSAI

WSAI is an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Its' studios (along with all other Clear Channel Cincinnati stations) are in the Towers of Kenwood building next to I-71 in the Kenwood section of Sycamore Township and its transmitter is located in Mount Pleasant.

WSAI broadcasts talk hosts with progressive and liberal views, and is the flagship station of Springer on the Radio, a radio show hosted by former Cincinnati mayor, WLWT newscaster, and talk show host Jerry Springer. Many of its shows come from the Air America Radio network, with top-of-the-hour news updates from CBS Radio.

The station also broadcasts many weekend shows of the "paid program" variety. On Sundays, WSAI provides eight hours of local programming including "Financing the Dream" (a program dedicated to money matters and home ownership), "Computer Troubleshooters", "City Talk" (which focuses on issues regarding inner city living) and "Enchanted Moments" (a show of "New Age" and alternative religion topics).

Contents

1 History

1.1 Logos

2 Programming

2.1 Monday - Friday
2.2 Weekends

3 External Links

History

One of the oldest radio stations in the city, this was WSAI's original frequency, and was Cincinnati's AM Top 40 powerhouse during the 1950's and 1960's, up until about 1978 when they switched to country music. That format was dropped for a simulcast of soft rock FM station WWNK (formerly WSAI-FM) in 1985. (Following that, the WSAI calls did land on 100.9-FM, but were soon dropped for WIZF in less than one year.) By 1988, the WSAI calls were brought back to 1360-AM with an oldies format, which in turn was scuttled in 1992 with sports/talk (the first such station in the market), but it didn't last long. Jacor Communications then acquired the intellecutal property of WCKY 1530-AM, and merged it with WLWA 550-AM (the former - and current - WKRC).

On April 14, 1994, the WCKY calls were moved to 550-AM, and the WSAI calls moved to 1530-AM, adopting an Adult Standards format. The former WSAI became WAOZ, with a children's music format. Then, on August 30, 1996, WAOZ flipped to WAZU, with a news/talk format. That format, in turn, changed back to sports talk as "1360 Homer" on December 12, 1997. The WAZU calls were scuttled in favor of WCKY, following the Clear Channel-Jacor merger that allowed for the WKRC calls to be restored on 550-AM.

"Homer" was initally seen by many as an also-ran in the market when compared to Cincinnati Reds flagship WLW (which also has a 50,000 watt frequency as opposed to 1360's 5,000 watt frequency), and against crosstown rival - and Bengals flagship - WBOB. WCKY slowly gained respect by stealing the radio rights to National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals from WBOB via a three-way arrangment with WLW-AM and WEBN-FM. "1360 Homer" served as the AM flagship when the Bengals and the Cincinnati Reds baseball team share the season schedule. After the Reds' season ends, the games moved to WLW.

On January 17, 2005, WCKY and WSAI swapped their call signs back to the original dial positions. 1360-AM retained its format with the traditional WSAI calls (albiet only mentioned at the top of the hour), while 1530 as WCKY switched formats from oldies to liberal talk. Then, on July 7, 2006, WCKY and WSAI switched programing once again. The "Homer" sports/talk format moved to WCKY, while WSAI picked up the liberal/progressive talk as "1360 WSAI: The Revolution of Talk Radio".

WSAI's original transmitter site in Mason, Ohio is now currently in use by WLW. The Crosley Broadcasting Corporation, WLW's original owners, bought WSAI intentionally so as to place WLW at that site.

Logos

Image:WSAI.jpg|"1360 Homer" (2000) Image:WSAI1.jpg|"1360 WSAI" (2006)

Programming

Monday - Friday

5:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m.: The Wall Street Journal This Morning with Gordon Deal
6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: Air America Mornings
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Springer on the Radio
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: The Al Franken Show
3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.: The Ed Schultz Show
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.: The Randi Rhodes Show
10:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. The Lionel Show
1:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m.: The Majority Report with Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder

Weekends

The Best of The Al Franken Show: Saturdays & Sundays 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
The Best of The Ed Schultz Show: Sundays 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
The Best of The Lionel Show: Saturdays 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

External Links

[Query the FCC's AM station database for WSAI]

AM Radio Stations in the Cincinnati, Ohio Market [(Arbitron #28)]

By Frequency: 550 | 700 | 740 | 910 | 1050 | 1160 | 1230 | 1320 | 1360 | 1450 | 1480 | 1530 | 1560

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