Classical Music Stations
There are only about 35 all-classical music radio stations left in the United States. Such major cities as Detroit and Philadelphia no longer have classical stations.
In addition to the approximately 35 fulltime stations, there are other stations that offer classical music during certain periods of the day.
Here are the fulltime classical stations, all of which also stream their music on the Internet:
Classical Music Stations Streaming
ARIZONA
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
CONNECTICUT
WMNR 88.1 Monroe and WGRS 91.5 Guilford
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
FLORIDA
ILLINOIS
KENTUCKY
MAINE
MARYLAND
MASSACHUSETTS
MICHIGAN
Classical Music America (Internet only)
NEW JERSEY
NEW YORK
NORTH CAROLINA
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
OREGON
PENNSYLVANIA
RHODE ISLAND
TEXAS
VERMONT
WNCH 88.1 Norwich and WVTQ 95.1 Sunderland (Vermont Public Radio)
WASHINGTON
CONSOLIDATION AND CLEAR CHANNEL AM RADIO STATIONS – Updated September 2008
This is an examination of the increasing concentration of control of the most important AM radio stations in the United States. Now the largest conglomerate owns 16 of the prime 58 high power AM stations in the United States, whereas in pre-consolidation days before the 1990s, the most owned was four stations.
Below is a complete list of clear channel AM stations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. There are 87 total, including 58 in the U.S., under international agreement, a treaty that took effect inn March 1941.
A clear channel station – not to be confused with the group station owner Clear Channel Communications – means that the station is almost always 50,000 watts and during hours of darkness has interference-free coverage for about 750 miles around its city of license. Other stations on the same frequency sign off at sunset or go directional to protect the huge service areas of the clear channel stations. The clear channel stations also have wide daytime coverage, sometimes extending 100 miles or more in many directions.
While FM stations sometimes have greater audience in some markets, clear channel stations are usually the top information and talk stations in their markets. They usually carry tremendous influence in their markets, and often are the top billing stations, even though the age of FM dominance spans more than a quarter century now.
Clear channel stations, once designated as Class I-A and I-B stations, are now designated as Class A AM stations. (There are other 50,000 watt stations but they are not clear channel stations, and are not protected from interference and have no recognized wide area coverage at night. Examples include WRKO 680 Boston, WEEI 850 Boston, WINS 1010 and WEPN 1050 New York, CKLW Windsor, Ontario, KTRH 740 Houston, and KCBS 740 San Francisco, among many others.)
In pre-consolidation days before the 1990s the highest number of clear channel AM stations owned was four: CBS owned WBBM 780, Chicago, WCBS 880 New York, KNX 1070 Los Angeles and KMOX 1120 Saint Louis. NBC owned three: WNBC 660 New York, WMAQ 670 Chicago and KNBR 680 San Francisco. ABC owned three: WABC 770 New York, KGO 810 San Francisco and WLS 890 Chicago.
Now the biggest owner is Clear Channel Communications, which took its name from WOAI 1200 San Antonio, which it acquired in 1975. Clear Channel Communications now has 16 of the 58 clear channel stations. (Clear Channel also had rights to programming and sales and marketing for another, in Tijuana, Mexico, XETRA 690, but in 2006 the FCC notified Clear Channel XETRA would be counted against its total of AM and FM stations in San Diego, so Clear Channel surrendered XETRA.) In all, Clear Channel owns 1,200 of the most powerful and influential AM and FM stations in the nation.
CBS is next with 13 stations.
Also included on this list below are the names of the station owners of stations before consolidation. Many of them were locally owned, and local owners tend to be more sensitive to the local community and its needs, rather than a corporate owner which is looking at the bottom line. A vivid example of this was in West Virginia three years ago. In March 2004 the Daily Mail of Charleston WV reported Clear Channel planned to remove WWVA 1170 from Wheeling, and move it to the Akron/Cleveland market to greatly increase its value, depriving West Virginia of its only 50,000 watt clear channel AM station. The plan was quietly dropped.
When WTIC 1080 Hartford was locally owned by Travelers Insurance, Travelers said it wanted the station to act like a mirror reflecting the community in the region, and WTIC’s service was legend.
Though with deregulation, one company can own up to eight stations in a market, Clear Channel and other companies are seeking an even higher limit. In May 2005 Clear Channel was reported in Inside Media as saying it wished to increase the total number of stations it would own in a single market from up to 8, to 12. A Clear Channel executive said that if satellite radio companies have 50 music channels, Clear Channel deserves to have more local broadcast stations in each market. The FCC is now considering whether to relax the rules on how many radio and TV stations a company can own, and whether to allow further consolidation.
There has also been a relaxation of the ownership rules for TV, and in New York, Fox now owns two of the six VHF television stations, WNYW channel 5 and WWOR channel 9, as well as the daily New York Post and it is now seeking a stake in the giant Long Island daily Newsday.
With consolidation, there has also been a replacement of local programs on AM radio, with nationally syndicated political talk shows, such as Rush Limbaugh, a show owned by Clear Channel Communications. (Clear Channel also owns the Glenn Beck and Dr. Laura Schlesinger shows.)
Here are the tallies for clear channel stations owned by the big conglomerates and station groups:
- Clear Channel Communications: 17
- CBS: 13
- Citadel: 9
- Bonneville (Mormon Church): 3
- ABC: 2
- Buckley: 2
- Entercom 2
- Bahakel: 1
- Bloomberg: 1
- Cox: 1
- Cumulus: 1
- Fisher: 1
- Gaylord: 1
- Hearst: 1
- Hubbard: 1
- Jefferson Pilot: 1
- Journal: 1
- Tribune: 1
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (government-owned public broadcasting system) owns 6 in Canada.
Here are the 87 clear channel stations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas: For web sites, just click on each set of call letters. (Shapes of night patterns for stations that are directional are shown. Patterns for non-directional stations – which would be a simple circle – are not shown.)
540 CBK
CBK Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada CBC
540 XEWA San Luis Potosi, Mexico
640 KFI
KFI Los Angeles, CLEAR CHANNEL, Talk
640 CBN
CBN Saint Johns, Newfoundland, CBC
650 WSM
WSM Nashville, GAYLORD, Country Music
660 WFAN
WFAN New York, CBS, Sports
670 WSCR
WSCR Chicago, CBS, Sports
680 KNBR
KNBR San Francisco, CUMULUS, Sports
690 XETRA
XETRA Tijuana
690 CINF
Directional Antenna – Shape Of XETRA Night Pattern)
CINF Verdun/Montreal, News (French)
Directional Antenna – Shape Of CINF Night Pattern)
700 WLW
WLW Cincinnati, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
710 WOR
WOR New York, BUCKLEY, Talk
Directional Antenna – Shape Of WOR Night Pattern)
710 KIRO
KIRO Seattle, BONNEVILLE, News/Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KIRO Night Pattern)
WGN Chicago, TRIBUNE, Talk
730 XEX
XEX Mexico City, Sports (Spanish)
740 CFZM
CFZM Toronto, MOSES ZNAIMER, Standards Music
750 WSB
WSB Atlanta, COX, Talk
760 WJR
WJR Detroit, CITADEL, Talk
770 WABC
WABC New York, CITADEL, Talk
780 WBBM
WBBM Chicago, CBS, News
800 XEROK
XEROK Juarez, Mexico
810 WGY
WGY Schenectady, CLEAR CHANNEL, Talk
810 KGO
KGO San Francisco, CITADEL, Talk
Directional Antenna – Shape Of KGO Night And Day Pattern
820 WBAP
WBAP Fort Worth/Dallas, CITADEL, Talk
830 WCCO
WCCO Minneapolis, CBS, News/Talk
840 WHAS
WHAS Louisville, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
850 KOA
KOA Denver, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
850 XETQ
XETQ Orizaba, Mexico (Spanish)
<a href=http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/308578-32345.pdf< Directional Antenna At Night – Shape of XETQ Night Pattern
860 CJBC
CJBC Toronto, CBC (French)
870 WWL
WWL New Orleans, ENTERCOM, News/Talk
Directional Antenna – Shape Of WWL Night and Day Pattern
880 WCBS
WCBS New York, CBS, News
890 WLS
WLS Chicago, CITADEL, Talk
900 XEW
XEW Mexico City (Spanish)
940 CINW
CINW Montreal, Rock oldies
940 XEQ
Directional Antenna – Shape Of CINW Night Pattern
XEQ Mexico City (Spanish)
990 CBW
CBW Winnipeg, CBC
1000 WMVP
WMVP Chicago, ABC, Sports
Directional Antenna – Shape Of WMVP Night Pattern)
1000 komo
KOMO Seattle, FISHER, News
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KOMO Night Pattern
1000 XEOY
XEOY Mexico City (Spanish)
1010 CBR
CBR Calgary, Alberta, CBC
Directional Antenna Night And Day
1020 KDKA
KDKA Pittsburgh, CBS, News/Talk
1030 WBZ
WBZ Boston, CBS, News/Talk
Directional Antenna – Shape Of WBZ Night And Day Pattern
1040 WHO
WHO Des Moines, CLEAR CHANNEL, Talk
1050 XEG
XEG Monterey, Mexico (Spanish)
1060 KYW
KYW Philadelphia, CBS, News
Directional Antenna – Shape Of KYW
Night And Day Pattern)
1060 XEEP
XEEP Mexico City, Radio Education (Spanish)
1070 KNX
KNX Los Angeles, CBS, News
1070 CBA
CBA Moncton, New Brunswick, CBC
1080 WTIC
WTIC Hartford, CBS, Talk
Directional Antenna Starting at Sunset in Dallas, Texas – Shape Of WTIC Night Pattern)
1080 KRLD
KRLD Dallas, CBS, News/Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KRLD Night Pattern
1090 WBAL
WBAL Baltimore, HEARST, News/Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of WBAL Night Pattern
1090 KAAY
KAAY Little Rock, CITADEL, Religion
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KAAY Night Pattern)
1090 XEPRS
XEPRS Tijuana, Sports
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of XEPRS Night Pattern
1100 WTAM
WTAM Cleveland, CLEAR CHANNEL, Talk
1110 WBT
WBT Charlotte, JEFFERSON PILOT, News/Talk
Directional Pattern At Night – Shape Of WBT Night Pattern
1110 KFAB
KFAB Omaha, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KFAB Night Pattern
1120 KMOX
KMOX Saint Louis, CBS, News/Talk
1130 WBBR
WBBR New York, BLOOMBERG, Business News
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of WBBR Night Pattern
1130 KWKH
KWKH Shreveport, Louisiana, CLEAR CHANNEL, Country and Western music
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KWKH Night Pattern
1130 CKWX
CKWX Vancouver, British Columbia, News
Directional Antenna – Shape Of CKWX Pattern At Night
1140 WRVA
WRVA Richmond, Virginia, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
Directional – Shape of Night And Day WRVA Pattern
1140 XEMR
XEMR Monterey, Mexico (Spanish)
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape of XEMR Night Pattern
1160 KSL
KSL Salt Lake City BONNEVILLE, News/Talk
1170 WWVA
WWVA Wheeling, West Virginia, CLEAR CHANNEL, Talk; Religion Evenings
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of WWVA Night Pattern)
1170 KFAQ
KFAQ Tulsa, Oklahoma, JOURNAL, Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KFAQ Night Pattern
1180 WHAM
WHAM Rochester, New York, CLEAR CHANNEL
1190 KEX
KEX Portland, Oregon, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
Directional At Night – Shape Of KEX Night Pattern
1190 XEWK
XEWK Guadalajara, Mexico (Spanish)
1200 WOAI
WOAI San Antonio, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
1210 WPHT
WPHT Philadelphia, CBS, Talk
1220 XEB
XEB Mexico City, Nostalgia music (Spanish)
1500 WFED
WFED Washington, BONNEVILLE, Federal news
Directional Antenna – Shape Of WFED Night Pattern
1500 KSTP
KSTP Saint Paul, HUBBARD, Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape of KSTP Night Pattern
1510 WLAC
WLAC Nashville, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of WLAC Night Pattern
1510 KGA
KGA Spokane, Washington, CITADEL, Sports
Directional Antenna – Shape Of KGA Night Pattern
1520 WWKB
WWKB Buffalo, ENTERCOM, Progressive talk
Directional Antenna – Shape Of WWKB Night And Day Pattern
1520 KOKC
KOKC Oklahoma City, RENDA, Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KOKC Night Pattern
1530 WCKY
WCKY Cincinnati, CLEAR CHANNEL, Sports
1530 KFBK
KFBK Sacramento, CLEAR CHANNEL, News/Talk
Directional Antenna – Shape of KFBK Night Pattern
1540 KXEL
KXEL Waterloo, Iowa BAHAKEL, News/Talk
Directional Antenna At Night – Shape Of KXEL Night Pattern
1540 ZNS-1
ZNS-1 Nassau, the Bahamas, News/Talk
Directional Antenna – Shape Of ZNS-1 Night And Day Pattern
1550 CBE
CBE Windsor, Ontario, CBC
Directional Antenna – Shape Of CBE Night And Day Pattern
1550 XERUV
XERUV Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, Educational (Spanish)
1560 WQEW
WQEW New York, ABC, Radio Disney (children’s format)
1560 KNZR
KNZR Bakersfield, BUCKLEY, News/Talk
Directional At Night – Shape Of KNZR Night Pattern
1570 XERF
XERF Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico (Spanish)
1580 CKDO
CKDO Oshawa, Ontario, Rock oldies