WTYM
| Broadcast area | Kittanning, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Branding | "Hometown Radio" |
| Frequency | 1380 kHz |
| First air date | March 1, 1949 (as WACB) |
| Format | Talk, news, Christian |
| ERP | 1000 Watts (day) 28 Watts (night) |
| Class | D |
| Callsign meaning | Good TYM(time) Radio |
| Owner | Family-Life Media-Com, Inc. |
| Website | wtymradio.com |
WTYM is a 24-hour commercially licensed AM radio station broadcasting at 1380 kHz with a maximum power output of 1,000 watts, non-directional. The station is wholly owned by Family-Life Media-Com Inc., and its city of license is Kittanning, the seat of government for Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.
WTYM began broadcasting in 1949 as WACB, with the call letters standing for Armstrong County Broadcasting, the name of the original licensee, headed by its president, Lawrence Henry; and vice president Joseph B. Moore. WACB was the second radio station to come on the air in Armstrong County. The first was WAVL in nearby Apollo the year before; and the third was WKIN, which came on the air later in 1949 at 1600 kHz, but that station would later fail and its license returned to the FCC.
Armstrong County Broadcasting sold WACB in December 1964 to WACB, Inc., a company parented by Rosenblum Stations, which also owned WISR in nearby Butler, Pennsylvania. Ray Rosenblum served as president of WACB, Inc.
The station signed on the air at first with a power of 500 watts, but was granted permission in 1952 to double that amount, and began operating at its current daytime power in February 1953. WACB broadcast from its debut until about 1965 on Market street in downtown Kittanning. Like many small-town stations in the golden age of radio, the station broadcast news, music, local ball games, and the programs of the day. However, unlike its counterparts, WACB was an independently programmed station, never having any kind of a network audio affiliation until almost the end of the 20th century. It also never had a co-located FM station in its portfolio.
Shortly before its 1982 sale, the station moved from its longtime location to 221 Butler Road in West Kittanning.
WACB, Inc. ended its 18-year ownership tenure in 1981, when the company agreed to sell the station to its third owner, Nicholas Enterprises of Butler County. The station was sold to the newly formed Nicholas Broadcasting Company for $300,000 by the end of the year. It was during this ownership period that WACB experienced its largest growth until its subsequent sale in 1992.
Upon purchasing the station, Nicholas Broadcasting Company recognized a need for more space for the station than what the building at 221 Butler Road offered. The following year, a new studio and office building was completed at the station's transmitter site on Bunker Hill Road in North Buffalo Township, Pennsylvania, about three miles southwest of Kittanning, where it remained until July 2010.
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