# WFRA > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/WFRA > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/WFRA.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFRA > Source revision: 1340185309 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Radio station in Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States WFRA Simulcasts WMGW Meadville Franklin, Pennsylvania United States Frequency 1450 kHz Branding Pop! Radio 98.1/100.7 Programming Format Top 40/CHR Affiliations Compass Media Networks Ownership Owner Seven Mountains Media (Southern Belle Media Family, LLC) Sister stations WGYI, WGYY, WHMJ, WUZZ, WKST, WMGW, WRQI, WRQW, WTIV, WXMJ, WYLE History First air date April 13, 1958 Call sign meaning Franklin (city of license) Technical information[1] Licensing authority FCC Facility ID 49777 Class C Power 990 watts unlimited Translator 98.1 W251CL (Franklin) Links Public license information Public file LMS Webcast Listen live Website ilovepopradio.com **WFRA** (1450 [AM](/source/AM_broadcasting)) is an American [radio station](/source/Radio_station) that is licensed to [Franklin, Pennsylvania](/source/Franklin%2C_Pennsylvania); the seat of government for [Venango County, Pennsylvania](/source/Venango_County%2C_Pennsylvania). WFRA broadcasts at a full-time power of 990 [watts](/source/Watt). It is owned by Seven Mountains Media, through licensee Southern Belle Media Family, LLC. ## History WFRA went on the air in 1958, three years after the debut of its affiliate station, [WTIV](/source/WTIV) in [Titusville](/source/Titusville%2C_Pennsylvania), roughly fifteen miles north of Franklin just north of the Crawford-Venango County border. Though the stations were situated within close proximity of each other, owner and founder Robert H. Sauber was allowed to put another AM station on the air because the two stations were in separate counties, thus meeting more stringent FCC ownership limits at the time. Like WTIV, WFRA boasted a [full-service](/source/Full-service_radio) format of [news](/source/News_radio), [talk](/source/Talk_radio), [sports](/source/Sports_radio), and [middle of the road](/source/Middle_of_the_road_(music)) music, which was typical (and still is, though to a lesser degree today) of small-town AM radio stations. Though co-owned, both stations (the latter doing business as Northwestern Pennsylvania Broadcasting Company, Inc.) were still managed and operated very separately, with Sauber's son Thomas running the station in its later years. WFRA-AM-FM's former home, at 1411 Liberty Street in Franklin. The radio stations maintained an office in this hotel for many years until its recent move to Allegheny Boulevard, where it remains today. In March 1971, Sauber put an FM station on the air, WVEN, which simulcast some programming of its AM affiliate in its early years. The station later became known as WFRA-FM; however, as more and more cars became equipped with FM radios, [WFRA-FM](/source/WHMJ) finally broke away from WFRA completely, forming its own identity. In July 2000, Sauber wanted to retire and put his stations up for sale. All three were purchased by Altoona-based Forever Broadcasting, LLC for an undisclosed sum. Sauber died in October 2004 at the age of 72. Until 2023, most of WFRA's broadcast day was a simulcast of two radio stations (including itself) in Venango and Crawford Counties. The other was [WMGW](/source/WMGW) (until December 2009, [WOYL](/source/WOYL) in Oil City had also been a part of this network, in effect making it a quadcast; WOYL permanently ceased operations in July 2010). During weekday mornings, WFRA aired a live and local morning show, while WTIV and WMGW aired their own live local morning show with local content exclusive to the immediate area. After the morning show, the two-station simulcast began. Effective January 1, 2023, Forever Broadcasting sold WFRA as part of a package of 34 stations and 12 translators to Seven Mountains Media for $17.375 million. On October 19, 2023, WFRA and WMGW changed their formats from news/talk/sports to Top 40/CHR, branded as "Pop 98.1/100.7".[2] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-FCC-LMS-49777_1-0)** ["Facility Technical Data for WFRA"](https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityTechDetails.html?facilityId=49777). *Licensing and Management System*. [Federal Communications Commission](/source/Federal_Communications_Commission). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Seven Mountains Launches Pop 98/100.7 IN NORTHWEST PA](https://radioinsight.com/headlines/260111/seven-mountains-launches-pop-98-100-7-in-northwest-pa/) Radioinsight - October 19, 2023 ## External links - [Facility details for Facility ID 49777 (WFRA)](https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=49777) in the [FCC](/source/Federal_Communications_Commission) Licensing and Management System - [WFRA](https://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=SP26&band=am&callLetter=WFRA) in [Nielsen Audio](/source/Nielsen_Audio)'s AM station database - [Facility details for Facility ID 201149 (W251CL)](https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=201149) in the [FCC](/source/Federal_Communications_Commission) Licensing and Management System - [W251CL](https://fccdata.org/?facid=&call=W251CL&ccode=1&city=&state=&country=US&zip=&arn=&party=&lmspf=&lmspl=&party_type=LICEN&latd=&lond=&lang=en) at FCCdata.org v t e Radio stations in Meadville–Franklin, Pennsylvania This region includes the counties Crawford and Venango. By AM frequency 970 1120 1230 1450 1490 By FM frequency 89.5 90.3 91.1 91.9 94.3 95.1 96.3 98.5 99.3 100.3 101.7 104.5 107.7 Translators 90.3 91.9 By call sign W212BK W220BA WARC WAWN WFRA WFUN WGYI WGYY WHMJ WKQW WLOQ WGYY WMGW WMVL WRQI WRQW WSAJ-FM WTIV WVME WXMJ WYLE Defunct WOYL (1340 AM) WSAJ (1340 AM) Nearby regions Ashtabula Erie Northern Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Punxsutawney–DuBois Youngstown See also List of radio stations in Pennsylvania v t e CHR / Top 40 radio stations in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Allentown WAEB-FM Altoona WFBG Berwick WBWX Bloomsburg WHLM Clarion WCCR-FM Clearfield WPQP Erie WICU-FM WRTS Franklin WFRA Honesdale WDNH-FM Johnstown WJHT WNTJ Lancaster/York WLAN-FM Levittown/Trenton, NJ WPST Meadville WMGW Philadelphia WIOQ Pittsburgh WKST-FM Saint Marys WKBI-FM Scranton/Wilkes-Barre WBHT WKRZ State College WBHV Sunbury WVRZ Sykesville WQQP Tobyhanna/Stroudsburg WKRF Warren WICU Waynesboro WIKG Williamsport WOTH WVRT See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Pennsylvania See also Contemporary Hit Radio Rhythmic KISS-FM MOVin v t e Seven Mountains Media/CapCity Communications AM radio stations WARM WBHV WBVR WBWX WCPA WEJS WENI WFBG WFRA WGGI WHLM WHUN WJUN WKST WKYW WLBR WLEJ WLGJ WLUI WLYC WLYQ WMAJ WMGW WNDA WNGZ WNTJ WOEN WOLY WPCO WPKB WTIV WTNA WUZZ WWCH WWKU FM radio stations W240CP WALY WBUS WBVR-FM WCBF WCCR-FM WCFT-FM WDBF-FM WENI-FM WFGE WFGI-FM WFGY WFKY WFRT-FM WFVY WGGE WGYI WGYY WHBR-FM WHMJ WHNA WHUN-FM WIBF WIFT WJHT WJNG WKFT WKLX** WKPQ WKYE WKYL WLIH WMKX WMRF-FM WMTT-FM WMXO WNBT-FM WNKI WNNA WOGA WOVO WOWQ WOWY WPHD WPIG WPQP WPTQ WQQP WQRS WQWY WRBG WRKW WRKY-FM WRQI WRQW WRZZ WSBG WUHU WVKY WVPO WXIL WXMJ WYLE WZBF WZHD WZWW Brands Bigfoot Country (country) Bigfoot Country Legends (classic country) Froggy (country) The Goat (classic rock) Pop Radio (adult contemporary) ** Owned by a third party and operated by Seven Mountains under an agreement. [41°23′30″N 79°48′41″W / 41.39167°N 79.81139°W / 41.39167; -79.81139](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=WFRA¶ms=41_23_30_N_79_48_41_W_type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [WFRA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFRA) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFRA?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.