maine radio station that held the call sign wzon fm at 103.1 fm from 2009 to 2012 see wzlo . wzon city bangor maine broadcast area bangor area branding am 620 the pulse slogan a new voice a new choice frequency 620 khz first air date december 1926 format progressive talk audience share 3.2 11 fa 07 r & r 1 power 5 000 watts day and night class b facility id 66674 transmitter coordinates 44 49 44 n 68 47 8 w 44.82889 n 68.78556 w 44.82889 ; 68.78556 wzon callsign meaning the dead zone 2 former callsigns wlbz 1926 1981 wacz 1981 1983 affiliations cbs westwood one red sox radio network owner the zone corporation sister stations wkit fm wzlo webcast listen live website www.wzonthepulse.com wzon 620 khz is an am radio station broadcasting a progressive talk radio format . the station is licensed to bangor and serves central maine . 3 along with sister stations 100 . 3 wkit fm and 103.1 wzlo wzon is owned by the zone corporation the broadcast company owned by authors tabitha king and her husband best selling horror writer stephen king . 4 wzon operates at 5 000 watts using a non directional transmitter by day and a directional pattern at night to protect other stations on 620 khz . it is one of maine s oldest radio stations first signing on the air in 1926 . contents 1 programming 2 history 2.1 play by play coverage 2.2 contests 3 community involvement 4 references 5 external links programming edit wzon airs local morning and afternoon shows on weekdays with nationally syndicated programs the rest of the day including thom hartmann bill press leslie marshall marilu henner clark howard and overnight america with jon grayson . local newscasts from bangor cbs affiliate wabi tv 5 are carried in the early morning and in the early evening . weekends feature shows on home improvement gardening pets travel health money computers movies and books as well as repeats of weekday programs . syndicated shows heard on weekends include the tech guy with leo laporte rudy maxa when radio was and the twilight zone radio hour . hourly national news is supplied by cbs radio news . history edit wzon is one of the oldest radio stations in maine . the station signed on in december 1926 5 as wlbz owned by thompson l. guernsey and operating from dover foxcroft at 1440 khz . it moved to 620 in 1928 ; 6 the following year the station moved to bangor and was transferred to maine broadcasting company 7 which was controlled by guernsey . 8 wlbz was a cbs affiliate by 1930 ; 9 in 1939 it switched to nbc . 10 guernsey first attempted to sell the station to the rines family owner of wcsh in portland in 1938 ; 11 however guernsey did not complete the deal leading the federal communications commission fcc to dismiss the application on june 18 1940 . 12 however in 1944 to help pay off an outstanding note guernsey was forced to sell wlbz at auction to the rines controlled eastland broadcasting company . 13 by 1973 wlbz had a middle of the road music format ; 14 three years later the station adopted an all news format via nbc s news and information service nis . 15 after nbc closed nis a year later wlbz returned to its previous format for a time 16 before flipping to top 40 as z62 in 1978 . 17 the rines broadcasting company the maine broadcasting system decided to sell their radio stations in the early 1980s to focus on their television properties including wlbz tv which the rines had acquired in 1958 ; 18 as a result in 1981 wlbz was sold to acton communications and became wacz . 19 two years later stephen king purchased the station and implemented a rock format under the current wzon call letters . 20 though wzon attracted a loyal audience it was financially unsuccessful leading the station to begin operating on a noncommercial basis in 1988 . 20 under this model wzon began to ask for contributions from its listeners similar to public radio stations . 21 wzon s logo as an all sports station used from august 1993 until october 31 2010 . king sold the station to dr. john tozer in 1990 . 20 tozer returned wzon to commercial operation with a talk format and was the first station in bangor to carry rush limbaugh ; however it remained unprofitable and after two years he sold the station to neb communications . 20 even after the sale wzon s financial problems continued with employees paychecks bouncing and neb falling behind on payments to both tozer and king who still owned the station s studios and within months the station was forced into bankruptcy . 20 in 1993 a bankruptcy court judge approved a sale of the station back to king 20 who began to shift wzon to an all sports format that august ; 22 the last non sports shows including limbaugh and larry king were dropped in january 1994 . 23 even after the various changes at the station wzon maintained its nbc radio affiliation until 1999 when it was dropped after over 60 years in favor of abc news radio . 24 wzon changed its format to progressive talk simulcast with 103.1 wzon fm on november 1 2010 ; this returned the station to political talk programming . the station retained its local sports broadcasts including boston celtics basketball . the morning show hosts were also retained hosting an afternoon show on the am side only but were let go in may 2012 due to the station losing too much money . 25 initially the station carried cnn radio newscasts ; after cnn stopped providing radio newscasts on march 31 2012 wzon switched to nbc news radio returning nbc branded newscasts to the station for the first time in 13 years . wzon fm dropped the progressive talk format in november 2012 becoming wzlo with the format continuing on the am station . after nbc news radio shut down wzon returned to its roots as an affiliate of the cbs radio network . play by play coverage edit wzon broadcasts many high school sporting events american legion baseball games husson college athletic events and other local events such as the kenduskeag stream canoe race . it also airs boston red sox baseball and boston celtics basketball as well as some westwood one and cbs sports coverage . wzon was the long time home of university of maine sports until the summer of 2007 when the broadcasting rights were reassigned by the university of maine and its media contractor learfield sports to wvom and wguy . contests edit wzon often runs contests for local listeners usually giving away tickets to upcoming professional sports events . prizes often include boston red sox playoff tickets boston celtics playoff tickets nascar event tickets and more . in addition to these major contests the local wzon shows include regular trivia segments with less valuable prizes including pizzas and t shirts . community involvement edit wzon participates in the jimmy fund radio telethon and auction each summer . the station gathers local and national sports memorabilia and auctions it off to the highest bidder . listeners have contributed thousands of dollars to the jimmy fund through this fund raising mechanism over the years . the station also brought red sox broadcasters and espn personalities to bangor for special forums . references edit bangor market ratings . radio and records . dead link nelson bob may 10 2010 . call letter origins the list . oldradio.com . retrieved may 24 2010 . wzon facility record . united states federal communications commission audio division . wzon website about us page . broadcasting cable yearbook 1989 pdf . 1989 . p. b 132 . retrieved may 23 2010 . butler f. c. ed . january 1929 . radex pdf . cleveland ohio the radex group 19 http www.davidgleason.com archive % 20radex radex % 2026 % 20january % 201929.pdf . retrieved may 23 2010 . missing or empty title help butler fred c. ed . april 1929 . radex pdf . cleveland ohio the radex group 37 http www.davidgleason.com archive % 20radex radex % 2028 % 20april % 201929 % 20all.pdf . retrieved may 23 2010 . missing or empty title help broadcasting yearbook 1935 pdf . 1935 . p. 32 . retrieved may 23 2010 . butler fred clayton ed . december 1930 . radex pdf . cleveland ohio the radex group 37 http www.davidgleason.com archive % 20radex radex % 2044 % 20december % 201930.pdf . retrieved may 23 2010 . missing or empty title help taylor page ed . october 1939 . radex pdf . teaneck new jersey the radex publishing company 65 http www.davidgleason.com archive % 20radex radex % 20132 % 20october % 201939 % 20all.pdf . retrieved may 23 2010 . missing or empty title help thompson frederic l. 2005 . william henry rines and images in the ether . the rines family legacy . arcadia publishing . p. 98 . isbn 0 7385 3882 5 . retrieved may 23 2010 . bangor decision of fcc appealed pdf . broadcasting . july 15 1940 . p. 63 . retrieved december 15 2010 . wlbz transfer granted eastland broadcasting pdf . broadcasting . february 7 1944 . p. 14 . retrieved december 15 2010 . broadcasting yearbook 1974 pdf . 1974 . p. b 93 . retrieved may 23 2010 . broadcasting yearbook 1977 pdf . 1977 . p. c 92 . retrieved may 24 2010 . broadcasting yearbook 1978 pdf . 1978 . p. c 95 . retrieved may 24 2010 . broadcasting yearbook 1979 pdf . 1979 . p. c 97 . retrieved may 24 2010 . fybush scott . maine radio history 1971 1996 . archives bostonradio.org . retrieved may 24 2010 . broadcasting cablecasting yearbook 1983 pdf . 1983 . p. b 107 . retrieved may 24 2010 . a b c d e f stephen king buys maine radio station . sun journal . lewiston maine . associated press . march 12 1993 . retrieved may 24 2010 . rogak lisa 2008 . the long walk . haunted heart the life and times of stephen king . thomas dunne books . p. 161 . isbn 0 312 37732 0 . retrieved may 24 2010 . brown ron august 25 1993 . dale duff to head expanded sports coverage at wzon . bangor daily news . retrieved may 24 2010 . neff andrew october 18 2010 . wzon is making a lineup change . bangor daily news . retrieved october 19 2010 . fybush scott may 7 1999 . rhythmic oldies claim hartford rochester fms . north east radiowatch . stephen king pulls plug on wzon sportscasters dale duff clem labree external links edit official website query the fcc s am station database for wzon radio locator information on wzon query nielsen audio s am station database for wzon v t e radio stations in the bangor maine market by am frequency 620 910 1230 1340 1400 by fm frequency 88.5 89.3 89.9 90.3 90.9 91.9 92.9 94.1 94.5 95.7 97.1 99.5 100.3 101.7 102.1 103.1 103.9 104.7 105.5 105.7 106.5 107.3 107.7 by call sign w227be w231ch wabk wbak wban wbfb wbqi wbya wbzn wcyr weru fm wezq wguy whcf whmx whsn wjcx wkit fm wksq wkvv wkvz wmeb fm wmeh wqcb wvom fm wwmj wxbp wzlo wzon defunct stations whra maine radio markets augusta waterville bangor portland other maine radio regions northern & downeast maine lewiston auburn see also list of radio stations in maine v t e news talk radio stations in the state of maine stations wban veazie wgan portland wgin biddeford wlob portland wmdr augusta wvom fm howland wvqm augusta wxme monticello wzan portland wzon bangor see