WCNS-AM
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| Broadcast area | Latrobe, Pennsylvania / Pittsburgh |
|---|---|
| Branding | "Oldies 1480" |
| First air date | 1956 |
| Frequency | 1480(kHz) |
| Format | Oldies, sports |
| ERP | 500 watts (non-directional Daytime) 1000 watts (directional Night) |
| Callsign meaning | none |
| Owner | Longo Media Group, Inc. |
| Website | http://www.1480wcns.com |
WCNS is a commercially-licensed AM radio station, licensed to Latrobe, Pennsylvania. WCNS broadcasts at the federally-assigned frequency of 1480 kilohertz, with a daytime power output of 500 watts, and a nighttime power of 1,000 watts. The station broadcasts non-directionally during the daytime, and uses a four-tower directional antenna pattern at night.
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[edit] Beginnings
Beginning in 1956, WCNS signed on four years after the debut of another Latrobe AM station, WQTW. Three years after WCNS signed on, a substitute DJ by the name of John Longo was hired as an employee, and 30 years later, Longo would assume the ownership of this station. Though Longo would later leave WCNS to pursue advancement opportunities at other neighboring stations, he would later return in 1980, one year after the station was purchased by Advance Communications Corporation. WCNS saw its most dramatic changes under Advance's ownership and Longo's leadership.
[edit] WCNS Sees Major 'Advance's in Dramatic Growth Period
The station operated as a daytime-only radio station for much of its existence, until it received permission in 1984 to broadcast with nighttime power. Broadcasting a Top 40 format for much of its existence, and now with nighttime power, WCNS became one of only 15 affilates in the United States at the time to affiliate with the Transtar Radio Network. The move was made to avoid a costly expense of hiring additional on-air personalities, putting the existing announcers to local news and sports duties, where their talents would be better utilized. The station also made the switch in its music content by affiliating with Transtar's 'Country Coast to Coast' format. It was a bold move indeed, because stations utilizing satellite-delivered music formats were more music-intensive FM stations, and WCNS was one of the very few AM's that went the satellite route. A nearby AM station north of Latrobe, WCCS, (known then as WRID and licensed to Homer City in Indiana County) had achieved success less than a year before using the same concept.
With the addition of nighttime power, WCNS also built a new transmitter facility adjacent to the Westmoreland County airport, increasing the amount of its towers from one to four.
One by one, WCNS began to add regional sports franchises to further augment its position as a full-service station for Westmoreland County, though it was not licensed to the county seat of Greensburg. WCNS signed affilate agreements for Pittsburgh Steelers football, University of Pittsburgh football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball.
[edit] Sale To Longo Media Group
In January of 1989, John Longo, having by this time established a solid reputation as a successful sales manager, programming and marketing consultant, and a general manager, purchased the very station where he began his career 30 years ago under the name of his newly formed company, Longo Media Group. It was a family-owned business in every sense of the word. Longo managed the station and sold airtime, his wife Donna served as the station's business manager, and his adult children, John Paul and Lisa, also sold airtime.
Recognizing the need for an adult contemporary music format to compliment the full-service elements of WCNS, Longo Media Group switched affiliation agreements to Transtar's AC II format. Later that year, Longo acquired an FM station 13 miles north in Blairsville, known then as WNQQ, giving WCNS an FM sister station (though not co-located until years later) for the first time in its history. The new station was assigned the call letters WLCY-FM.
In an unusual move that eventually paid off, WCNS agreed to affiliate with the Post-Gazette Radio Network, which started up during a 1992 strike that stopped the presses at both the Post-Gazette and its separately-owned but co-managed affiliate, the Pittsburgh Press. After the strike had settled, the newspaper decided on short notice to cease the Post-Gazette Network's operations and sell its satellite-delivery network to the KBL Sports Network, the local cable TV network in Pittsburgh that carried Pittsburgh Penguin hockey. Because KBL had also acquired the contract to carry Penguin hockey, they offered the old PGN affiliates first right of refusal for carrying the broadcasts...many of which were NOT already carrying the games.
Because WCNS and WLCY were both PGN affiliates, Longo Media Group agreed to carry the games on both stations. WCNS had exclusive radio game rights for Westmoreland County, and WLCY had the exclusive radio game rights for Indiana County...taking the game broadcasts from competitors WHJB and WCCS. This locked up the third and final Pittsburgh pro sports franchise for WCNS in 1993.
The next year, WCNS switched its format to oldies and took the moniker "Oldies 1480 WCNS".
Despite a very successful run of 13 years that demonstrated long-term profitability for Longo Media Group, John Longo in 2002 decided to sell WLCY to Pittsburgh-based Renda Broadcasting Corporation, which had been looking to establish a foothold in the Indiana County market. Longo Media did retain possession of WCNS.
[edit] WCNS Today
WCNS continues to enjoy success as Westmoreland's County's exclusive full-service radio station, as WHJB, the county's first radio station, eventually changed its city of license from Greensburg to Irwin to serve the eastern Pittsburgh suburbs and changed its call letters to WKHB. Longtime WCNS announcers Dow Carnahan and Chuck Campbell have each been with WCNS for more than 25 years.
