WBZU
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| City | Scranton, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton |
| Branding | WILK Newsradio |
| Frequency | 910 kHz (AM) |
| First air date | 1925 |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | 900 watts (day) 440 watts (night) |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 36200 |
| Former callsigns | WGBI (1925-2005) |
| Owner |
Entercom Communications (Entercom Wilkes-Barre Scranton, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WILK-FM/AM, WKZN |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wilknewsradio.com |
WBZU is a news/talk AM broadcasting radio station licensed to the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The station relays the programming of WILK and the "WILK News Radio" network. WBZU is owned by Entercom Communications. The radio station's call signs were changed by Entercom in 2005 from its long-time original call signs of WGBI which the station held since its sign on date of 1925.
WGBI signed on the frequency of 1250 kHz in 1925, owned by Edward Megargee. In 1927, the station moved to 1300 kHz which it time shared with Scranton's other radio station, WQAN (now WEJL). The two stations which were time sharing a single frequency, moved to 880 kHz in 1931, and then again to 910 kHz by 1941 (the later move, forced by a nationwide frequency reassignment which took place in 1941). WGBI remained at 910 kHz when WQAN moved on to its own broadcast tower and new frequency of 630 kHz in 1948. This meant that WGBI had full-time use of the 910 kHz frequency where it remains to this day. WGBI was a CBS Radio network affiliated station by the 1940s.
The Megargee family's company, Scranton Broadcasters, spawned an FM station (now WGGY) and northeast Pennsylvania's second television station (now WYOU). The Megargees held on to the radio stations well into the 1990s. By the turn of the century, WGBI had been sold to Entercom and become a repeater of WILK-AM, existing mainly to improve its signal in Scranton. While WILK's daytime signal easily covers most of Scranton, the northern portion of the city only gets a grade B signal. At night, WILK-AM must power down to 1,000 watts, leaving most of Scranton with only a grade B signal.
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Wikipedia