WRFD

WRFD (880 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to both Columbus and Worthington, Ohio. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format. WRFD and sister station WTOH (98.9 FM) share studios on North High Street in the northwest portion of Columbus.

By day, WRFD is powered at 23,000 watts non-directional. (6,100 watts during critical hours.) The AM transmitter is near the former site of Cooper Stadium in the Franklinton section of the city's west side. WRFD is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission as a daytime-only station. To avoid interference, it is required to sign off at local sunset to protect WCBS in New York City, a 50,000-watt clear-channel station using the same frequency. Despite the interruption of over-the-air service, WRFD can be heard around the clock on 250-watt FM translator station W283CL (104.5 FM), which launched in November 2016.

History
WRFD signed on the air on September 14, 1947. It broadcast only during the day, originally at 5,000 watts of power. It was owned and operated by Peoples Broadcasting Company. Peoples Broadcasting was a subsidiary of the Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company (the present-day Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company; the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation was Nationwide's founding member). WRFD was originally aimed at the regional agricultural market (hence the use of RFD, or rural free delivery), and had its studios and transmitter located on East Powell Road in rural Delaware County, north of Columbus.



WRFD held a construction permit for an FM station that actually was on the air for a period of time in the early 1950s. But few people owned FM receivers in those days and the license was turned in a short time later. In 1961, WRFD decided again to launch an FM station. WRFD-FM 97.9 had a classical music format. In 1967, it ended the classical format, becoming radio station WNCI, with the new call letters standing for parent company Nationwide Communications and Insurance. WRFD was later sold to Buckeye Media in 1974, which sold it to current owner Salem Communications in late 1981.

Since February 1, 1982, WRFD has operated with a Christian talk and teaching format. On air personalities at that time included Chuck Brown, Rick Dolezal, Boyce Lancaster, Bill DeWeese and Steve Lineberry. The station also maintained a daily broadcast schedule of farm news and agribusiness information. In the late '90s, the farm program adopted the brand Ohio Farm Radio.

One widely known WRFD farm broadcaster was Ed Johnson, who hosted the program from 1967 until 1972. Leaving WRFD, he founded The Agri Broadcasting Network (ABN) which he owned and operated until his death in February 2001. The longest serving Farm Director at the station during the Salem years was Joe Cornely, who broadcast weekday farm news and information until 1998, when he joined the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation staff. He was followed by Darrin Johnston, who was replaced in 2002 by Andy Vance who left Salem Communications in 2005 to found the Buckeye Ag Radio Network, and later acquire Johnson's ABN Radio.

In 2005, Salem executives, with hopes of providing a more consistent programming schedule, decided to discontinue WRFD's agricultural programming.

Programming
Local programming on WRFD includes Bob Burney Live on weekday afternoons and repeated overnight. On Saturdays, local programs include Listen to Your Money, Saving Face, and Saturday Live, hosted by Columbus radio veteran Tom Wiebell.

WRFD carries programs from national religious leaders, including Greg Laurie, Chuck Swindoll, Jim Daly, John MacArthur, J. Vernon McGee, Joni Eareckson Tada and David Jeremiah. Two secular conservative talk hosts are also heard, Jay Sekulow and Eric Metaxas. WRFD uses a brokered programming format, where hosts pay for their time on the air and may use their shows to seek donations to their ministries.