WIBX

WIBX (950 AM) is a talk radio station based in Utica, New York. The station is owned by Townsquare Media as part of a cluster with Hot AC-formatted WLZW, country-formatted WFRG-FM, and classic hits-formatted WODZ.

History

WIBX went on the air December 5, 1925. The station was originally owned by Grid Leak, Inc., a local radio dealer, with WIBX's facilities being housed at the store; the following April, Grid Leak transferred the station to a subsidiary, WIBX, Inc., and a month later a new facility was opened at the Hotel Utica. Initially operating at 1460 kHz, WIBX moved to 1280 kHz in late 1926, and then to 1260 kHz in April 1927.

The Boston Store acquired the station in early 1928, a move intended to keep WIBX in Utica; that April, the station was taken over by John C. Drummond. The Federal Radio Commission moved WIBX to 1200 kHz on November 11; on December 1, the station moved its studios to the First National Bank Building. The Buffalo Broadcasting Corporation, which operated several stations in Buffalo (including WGR, WKBW, and WMAK), acquired WIBX in August 1929; in March 1931, the station was sold to a partnership of Percy B Brown and Scott Howe Bowen. Bowen soon acquired Brown's stake; his family would maintain ownership for nearly five decades. WIBX affiliated with the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) on October 14, 1934; it would remain a CBS Radio Network affiliate for 76 years.