WTRN

WTRN is an American commercial AM radio station, licensed to the borough of Tyrone, Pennsylvania. The station operates at the federally assigned frequency of 1340 kHz with a full-time power output of 1,000 watts. WTRN is the flagship station for the Allegheny Mountain Network (AMN).

History

WTRN's beginnings were part of a boom in local radio station construction in the northern and central part of Pennsylvania that began in 1950. In 1947, Allegheny Mountain Network founder Cary H. Simpson helped build WHUN, where he also would serve as program director, in his hometown of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania; approximately 20 miles southeast of Tyrone in Huntingdon County. Inspired by the station's success, Simpson built the first station in his group, WKBI (AM) in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. As this was the very first station in his group, WKBI served as the flagship station for the other stations that Simpson would build and put on the air over the next four decades.

Desiring to put a station on the air in his newly adopted hometown of Tyrone, Simpson petitioned the FCC for an AM license to be assigned to Tyrone. A construction permit was granted, and Simpson signed WTRN on the air on January 12, 1955. Simpson also successfully applied for an FM license to also be assigned to Tyrone. That station, WGMR (which was sold to Forever Broadcasting in Altoona in 2008), was granted license to operate at 101.1 mHz and signed on August 15, 1961.