WEAE

Infobox Radio Station
name = WEAE-AM


city = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
area = Pittsburgh metropolitan area
branding = "ESPN Radio 1250"
slogan = "Breaking Sports News First... Guaranteed"
airdate = 1922
frequency = 1250 kHz HD Radio
format = Sports Talk
power = 5,000 watts
class = B
facility_id = 65691
owner = Disney/ABC Radio
licensee = Sports Radio Group, LLC
webcast = [http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1250/story?id=listenlive Listen Live]
website = [http://www.1250espn.com/ www.1250espn.com]
callsign_meaning = a portmanteau of:
ESPN (current owner)
-- and --
previous WCAE and WTAE calls
affiliations = ESPN Radio

WEAE is an AM radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, broadcasting at 1250 kHz with a power level of 5,000 watts. The station is an ABC owned and operated station and uses the on-air nickname "ESPN Radio 1250."

WEAE carries a Sports Talk format, and is the Pittsburgh affiliate of ESPN Radio, plus airs ESPN shows Mike and Mike in the Morning and The Mike Tirico Show. The station also features local sports talkers "The Junker and Crow Show" (with Guy Junker and Eddy Crow), Mark Madden in afternoons, and "Pittsburgh Game Night" (with Jim Colony, Joe DeStio, and Ken Laird). However, Madden was fired in late May for making an on-air remark that he wished that Sen. Edward Kennedy be assassinated. ["Madden removed from air by ESPN," "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette," May 28, 2008] In early August 2008, Stan Savran joined the staff of ESPN 1250 taking over for Eddy Crow on the mid-day show joining his former SportsBeat co-host Guy Junker in the 10am-1pm slot. Eddy Crow moved from mid-days to the 3pm-7pm slot with former WDVE Morning show host Scott Paulsen. Former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Logan will also be a part of the afternoon show with Crow and Paulsen.

The station is also the flagship station for the Penn State Nittany Lions football. (Source: according to GoPSU.com's website of Penn State affiliates) It was also the longtime flagship station of the Pittsburgh Steelers; this station lost the broadcast rights to WDVE and WBGG in 1998.

History

The station is one of the five original Pittsburgh stations that signed on the air in the 1920s. It first signed on under the WCAE call letters on May 3, 1922. When then sister TV station WTAE-TV began broadcasting in 1958, the AM callsign was changed to WTAE (AM).

The station was also known for a time as WRYT. As WTAE, the station was highly successful from the early 1970s to the early 1980s as an oldies-heavy Adult Contemporary station (with a nighttime sports talk show) under general manager Ted Atkins, who used programming techniques he had learned from Bill Drake at KHJ in Los Angeles. The widely popular morning show, O'Brien & Garry featured Larry O'Brien and John Garry doing comedy skits, playing music, and other general morning fare. Don Berns hosted a mid-day music show, and Phil Musick did talk in the afternoon.

In 1987, as at many AM radio stations, music was abandoned in favor of more talk. Hosts included Jack Bogut, Lynn Cullen, Doug Hoerth and Phil Musick. In 1997, Hearst-Argyle sold WTAE radio to SFX, who then traded the station to Chancellor, who in turn traded it again to Jacor Communications in exchange for WKNR in Cleveland, Ohio in August 1998. Jacor finally sold it to ABC later that year. During Jacor's brief ownership, the station changed the call letters to WEAE in order to separate it from the now-former sister TV station.

WEAE Today

Today, WEAE serves as the local affiliate for ESPN Radio, which is itself owned by ABC. Though no longer co-owned with WTAE-TV, WEAE and its ABC-controlled leased sister station, WWCS, reside in WTAE's building at 400 Ardmore Boulevard in Wilkinsburg.

The WRYT call sign is now used by a station in Edwardsville, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.

ee also

*WTAE-TV

References

External links

* [http://www.espnradio1250.com Official website]
*AMQ|WEAE
*AML|WEAE
*AMARB|WEAE
* [http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/taestart.htm Jeff Roteman's tribute to 1250 WTAE]
* [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08210/900032-194.stm Savran, Paulsen highlight changes at ESPN 1250]