City | Cincinnati, Ohio |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Greater Cincinnati |
Branding | 102.7 WEBN |
Slogan | The Lunatic Fringe of American FM |
Frequency | 102.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
Translator(s) |
W264BW/Norwood 100.7 MHz W272BY/Cincinnati 102.3 MHz W292CO/Middletown 106.3 MHz |
First air date | August 31, 1967 |
Format |
Mainstream rock HD2: Alternative rock HD3: Mainstream urban |
ERP | 16,000 watts |
HAAT | 264 meters |
Class | B |
Facility ID | 29734 |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°06′59.00″N 84°30′7.00″W / 39.1163889°N 84.5019444°W |
Affiliations |
Cincinnati Bengals Radio Network Premiere Networks Premium Choice |
Owner |
iHeartMedia (Citicasters Licenses, Inc.) |
Sister stations | WCKY, WKFS, WKRC, WLW, WSAI |
Webcast |
Listen Live HD2: Listen Live HD3: Listen Live |
Website | 102.7 WEBN |
WEBN (102.7 FM) – branded 102.7 WEBN – is a commercial mainstream rock radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio, serving Greater Cincinnati. Owned by iHeartMedia, WEBN serves as the FM flagship for the Cincinnati Bengals Radio Network; the Cincinnati affiliate for The Side Show Countdown with Nikki Sixx; and the home of radio personality Kidd Chris. The WEBN studios are located in Cincinnati, as is the station transmitter. Besides a standard analog transmission, WEBN broadcasts over three HD Radio channels, and is available online via iHeartRadio. WEBN-HD2 simulcasts over local translators W264BW/Norwood (100.7 FM) and W292CO/Middletown (106.3 FM), while WEBN-HD3 simulcasts over W272BY/Cincinnati (102.3 FM).
When it initially went on the air on August 31, 1967, it was owned by Frank Wood, Sr., a Cincinnati attorney. WEBN broadcast classical music daytimes and an all night jazz program. The night programming was managed by a bank of 10½-inch Scully reel to reel tape machines in an early instance of station automation. However, in the late evening hours of Saturdays and Sundays, it also broadcast a program hosted by Frank's son and EBN's 1st DJ, Frank Wood Jr. (or known by his air-name, Michael Bo Xanadu), called "The Jelly Pudding Show". The show featured many album cuts by both popular and somewhat obscure artists, other than the recognized hit songs or radio edits, tagged "rock, jazz, folk and ragas." The program and its music proved to be so popular that the station eventually made this "album-oriented" rock the bulk of its programming, much to the chagrin of the older Wood. The station pioneered the concept of album-oriented rock, and is in fact the longest running AOR-formatted station in the United States, first airing this format in 1967.