The Crosley Broadcasting Corporation was a radio and television broadcaster founded by radio manufacturing pioneer Powel Crosley Jr. It had a major influence in the early years of radio and television broadcasting, and helped the Voice of America carry its message around the world.
History
Early years
thumb|right|Crosley Super Musicone speaker,<br /> back of speaker shown, on top of a Crosley radio
The company was founded by pioneer radio station operator Powel Crosley and was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its flagship station, WLW (AM), was first licensed in March 1922. Most of its broadcast properties adopted call signs with "WLW" as the first three letters. In the 1930s, WLW had an effective power of 500,000 watts, and was the only commercial U.S. AM broadcasting station ever to be permitted to transmit regularly with more than 50,000 watts. The 500,000 watt transmissions were only allowed by the FCC in the "experimental" hours, midnight to 6:00 AM, and the signal was heard in many places, including Europe.
By the 1950s, the company operated a small television network in Ohio and Indiana. In 1971, Avco and cartoon producer Hanna-Barbera teamed up for the holiday specials on its network.
In the 1970s, Avco sold all of its broadcasting holdings. In 1975, it sold WLWC-TV in Columbus, WLWI-TV in Indianapolis, WOAI-AM-FM-TV in San Antonio (the AM station was sold to the nascent Clear Channel Communications as the chain's second property), and WWDC-AM-FM in Washington D.C. In 1976, it sold WLW and WLWT-TV in Cincinnati, WLWD-TV in Dayton, and its Avco Embassy Television and Avco Embassy Program Sales divisions. In 1977, it sold KYA-AM-FM in San Francisco and WRTH in Wood River/St. Louis.
The closest equivalent to a "successor" to Avco Broadcasting was Multimedia, Inc. Avco sold flagship TV station WLWT to Multimedia, as well as Avco Program Sales in 1976. In December 1995, Gannett (which owned former Crosley station WXIA-TV in Atlanta) acquired Multimedia, Inc., while the respective syndication division was acquired by MCA Universal. By 1997, all of the original Crosley radio and television properties had been sold off by its successor companies, with the exception of WTHR in Indianapolis, which is now owned by Tegna Inc. since they acquired the Dispatch Broadcast Group in 2019.
The deserted ruins of the major Crosley manufacturing facility can still be seen on the west side of I-75<!-- coordinates for future geographic link (or for a refn): (39.1121N, 84.5365W) -->, just north of the area where the Cincinnati Museum Center (previously the Union Terminal train station) is currently located and near where Crosley Field once stood. The impressively huge transmission tower and old 50,000-watt transmitter at the Tylersville Road facility near U.S. Route 42 (Reading Rd.), between Dayton and Cincinnati<!-- coordinates for future geographic link: (39.353N, 84.327W) -->, still exists.
WLW- call letters
thumb|200px|WLWC Studios in the 1960s.
Many of the "WLW-" station call-letters persist.
WCMH-TV used the WLWC call letters from its 1949 sign-on until the station was sold to Outlet Broadcasting in 1976. In the 1990s, WCMH entered into an agreement to manage the operations of WWHO in the Columbus market under a "local marketing agreement" (LMA) with Fant Broadcasting, owner of WWHO-TV. Outlet, in turn, owned 20% of Fant. Due to the success of this arrangement, WCMH's sister station WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island entered into a similar arrangement to operate Channel 28 in that market, also owned by Fant.
At about the same time, Premier Broadcasting Corporation also announced that it would be using the WLWC call letters for Columbus low-power television station W62BE. Because of the historic and brand value of the WLWC call letters in the Columbus market, Outlet arranged to have the call sign "warehoused" on Channel 28 in Providence, Rhode Island, in order to keep competitors from using them in the Columbus area. Channel 28 applied for and was assigned the WLWC call letters and has used them ever since. Premier's television station, now silent, ultimately took the call letters WLWG.
Lima, Ohio, Radio station WBKS used the WLWD call letters when it was branded "Wild 93.9." The WLWD call letters are familiar in the Lima area since the WDTN signal reaches various portions of the Lima market either over the air or through cable carriage. Today, the WLWD call letters are used by a low-power Daystar station in Springfield, Ohio, which is part of the Dayton, Ohio television market.
The WLWI call letters are used by an AM and FM radio station serving the Montgomery, Alabama radio market.
Former Crosley assets
Broadcast outlets operated by Crosley Broadcasting or its successor Avco include the following. Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
- (**) — indicate a station built and signed-on by Crosley/Avco.
Radio stations
{|
! style="border: 1px solid #a3b0bf; cellpadding="2"; margin: auto" bgcolor="#cedff2" | AM Station
! style="border: 1px solid #a3b0bf; cellpadding="2"; margin: auto" bgcolor="#ddcef2" | FM Station
|}
{| class="wikitable"
! scope="col" | City of license / Market
! scope="col" | Station
! scope="col" | Years owned
! scope="col" | Current status
|-
| rowspan="2" |San Francisco, CA
! style="background: #cedff2;" |KYA 1260
| 1966–1977 || KSFB, owned by Relevant Radio
|-
! style="background: #ddcef2;" |KYA-FM 93.3
| 1966–1977 || KRZZ, owned by Spanish Broadcasting System
|-
|St. Louis, MO
! style="background: #cedff2;" |WRTH 590
| 1969–1977 || KFNS, owned by Zoberist Media, LLC
|-
|New York City, NY
! style="background: #cedff2;" |WINS 1010
| 1946–1953 || Owned by Audacy, Inc.
|-
| rowspan="3" |Cincinnati, OH
! style="background: #ddcef2;" |WLWA 101.1**
| 1946–1953 || Defunct; frequency now used by WIZF
|-
! style="background: #cedff2;" |WLW 700**
| 1922–1977 || Owned by iHeartMedia
|-
! style="background: #cedff2;" |WSAI 1360
| 1928–1945 || Owned by iHeartMedia
|-
|Columbus, OH
! style="background: #ddcef2;" |WLWF 96.3**
| 1949–1953 || Defunct; frequency now used by WLVQ
|-
|Dayton, OH
! style="background: #ddcef2;" |WLWB 97.5**
| 1949–1953 || Defunct; frequency now used by WTGR, Union City
|-
|San Antonio, TX
! style="background: #cedff2;" |WOAI 1200
| 1965–1975 || Owned by iHeartMedia
|-
| rowspan="2" |Washington, D.C.
! style="background: #ddcef2;" |WWDC-FM 101.1
| 1965–1975 || Owned by iHeartMedia
|-
! style="background: #ddcef2;" |WWDC 1260
| 1965–1975 || WQOF, owned by Relevant Radio
|}
Television stations
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" | City of license / Market
! scope="col" | Station
! scope="col" | Channel
! scope="col" | Years owned
! scope="col" | Current status
|-
| Atlanta, GA
! WLWA
| 8/11 || 1953–1962 || NBC affiliate, WXIA-TV, owned by Nexstar Media Group
|-
| Indianapolis, IN
! WLWI**
| 13 || 1957–1974 || NBC affiliate, WTHR, owned by Nexstar Media Group
|-
| Cincinnati, OH
! WLWT**
| 4/5 || 1948–1976 || NBC affiliate owned by Hearst Television
|-
| Columbus, OH
! WLWC**
| 3/4 || 1949–1976 || NBC affiliate, WCMH-TV, owned by Nexstar Media Group
|-
| Dayton, OH
! WLWD**
| 5/2 || 1949–1976 || NBC affiliate, WDTN, owned by Nexstar Media Group
|-
| San Antonio, TX
! WOAI-TV
| 4 || 1965–1975 || NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
|}