WHCU
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| Broadcast area | Ithaca, New York |
|---|---|
| Branding | News-Talk 870 |
| Frequency | 870 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 95.9 W240CB (Ithaca) |
| Repeater(s) | 103.7-3 WQNY-HD3 |
| First air date | January 23, 1923 |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | 5,000 watts (day) 1,000 watts (night) 250 watts (translator) |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 18048 |
| Transmitter coordinates |
42°27′54″N 76°22′23″W / 42.46500°N 76.37306°W (day) 42°21′47″N 76°36′22″W / 42.36306°N 76.60611°W (night) |
| Callsign meaning | W Home of Cornell University (original owner) |
| Former callsigns | WESG, WENY, WEAI |
| Affiliations |
Premiere Networks Westwood One CBS Radio News |
| Owner | Saga Communications |
| Sister stations | WIII, WNYY, WQNY, WYXL |
| Website | whcu870.com |
WHCU (870 kHz) is a radio station in Ithaca, New York, that programs a news/talk radio format. The station has been owned by Saga Communications since 2005, after having been owned by Cornell University. Its programming is also simulcast on FM translator W240CB 95.9 MHz.
The forerunner to WHCU began in 1912 as an experiment in the School of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University. The original call letters were 8YC, later changed to 8XU. A forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission issued a broadcast license on May 27, 1922, with the call letters WEAI. The new station took to the air on January 23, 1923. The station was used as a vehicle for promoting the university's extension service and all of its programming was educational in nature.
In 1932, Cornell joined with the Elmira Star-Gazette to start the radio station WESG in Elmira, New York, which shared programming with WEAI. The Star-Gazette managed the station during this period. However, the FCC ordered Cornell in 1940 to run the station itself or surrender the license. Within 12 hours of the deadline, the station signed on with borrowed staff and equipment.
WESG became WENY and WEAI became WHCU, which stands for Home of Cornell University.
WHCU's first complete studios and offices were completed in 1941. New studios were built in downtown Ithaca in 1957.
Cornell University sold WHCU and its sister station WYXL to Eagle Communications in 1985. Six years later, the stations moved into a new complex on Hanshaw Road in the town of Dryden, northeast of Ithaca.
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