Crosley Broadcasting Corporation


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

The company was founded by pioneer radio station operator Powel Crosley and was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its flagship station, WLW, 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 radio station ever to be permitted to transmit regularly with more than 50,000 watts. By the 1950s, the company operated a small television network in Ohio and nearby states.
During World War II, Crosley built the Bethany Relay Station in Butler County, Ohio's Union Township, one mile west of its transmitter for WLW, for the Office of War Information. It operated as many as five shortwave radio stations, using the call signs WLWK, WLWL, WLWO, WLWR and WLWS. Many of these stations were later incorporated into the Voice of America. Crosley operated the facilities for the government until 1963.
In 1945, the Crosley interests were purchased by Aviation Corporation. The radio and appliance manufacturing arm changed its name to Avco, but the broadcast operations continued to operate under the Crosley name until they adopted the Avco name in 1968.
Crosley also owned WLWF, an FM radio station it operated along with its WLWC. WLWF went silent in 1953, and Crosley returned its license to the Federal Communications Commission. In the late 1950s, a construction permit for a new station on WLWF's frequency was granted to Taft Broadcasting, owner of WTVN-TV also in Columbus, which signed on the station in late 1959 as WTVN-FM.

Television Network

From the 1950s through the 1970s, Crosley operated a small television network in which programs were produced at one of its stations and broadcast on the other Crosley stations in the Midwest, and occasionally by non-Crosley stations as well. The company occasionally produced programs picked up for broadcast on either NBC or the DuMont Television Network. Programs which aired nationally included NBC's Midwestern Hayride and Breakfast Party. Other programs originated on the Crosley network included DuMont's The Paul Dixon Show and The Ruth Lyons 50-50 Club. The Phil Donahue Show started in 1967, originating from WLWD in Dayton, Ohio.
In 1968, Avco, which had just purchased Embassy Pictures, formed an unrelated company called Avco Embassy Television, to syndicate the Embassy film library on TV.
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, 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 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 still owned by an affiliate of the Dispatch Broadcast Group.
The deserted ruins of the major Crosley manufacturing facility can still be seen on the west side of Interstate 75 in Ohio|I-75], just north of the area where the Cincinnati Museum Center 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, between Dayton and Cincinnati, still exists.

WLW- call letters

By the 1970s, the Crosley name had ceased to exist in the memory of most American citizens, but 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" 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:

AM Radio Stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
Note: Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters indicate a station that was built and signed-on by Crosley/Avco.
City of License / MarketStationChannelYears OwnedCurrent Ownership Status
Atlanta, GeorgiaWLWA8/111953–1962NBC affiliate, WXIA-TV, owned by Tegna, Inc.
Indianapolis, IndianaWLWI**131957–1974NBC affiliate, WTHR, owned by Tegna, Inc.
Cincinnati, OhioWLWT**4/51948–1976NBC affiliate owned by Hearst Television
Columbus, OhioWLWC**3/41949–1976NBC affiliate, WCMH-TV, owned by Nexstar Media Group
Dayton, OhioWLWD**5/21949–1976NBC affiliate, WDTN, owned by Nexstar Media Group
San Antonio, TexasWOAI-TV41965–1975NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group