My first memories of WIBC go back to the early 1960s.  My parents bought my brother Tom & I new transistor radios, fairly high tech for that day and age.  That’s when I began listening to AM 1070, WIBC.

At that time, WIBC with the top rock station in Indianapolis.  Bouncing Bill Baker was on every morning while preparing for school.  But the station also did plenty of news and sports.  Sid Collins had a sports roundup every evening.

When WIFE-AM went on the air, replacing the old WISH Radio at 1310 AM, they took the rock audience with them and WIBC transitioned to more adult music.  But WIBC remained a top station in the Indianapolis market.

When I began my radio career in the late 1960s, WIBC had the best radio newsroom in the state.  It was a first-class operation from top to bottom.

As radio’s business model began to change, the owners switched the FM station on 93.1 to WIBC and transformed the AM 1070 signal to WFNI, a sports talk station.

Only a few days ago, an historic event happened.  The AM 1070 signal went silent.  The ownership says they are searching for another way to bring AM 1070 back, but the radio engineers I know say that will be a tough goal to reach.

The 6 towers that manage the 1070 directional signal have been located near Zionsville.  you can see the towers from I-65.  But you won’t for long.

Turns out suburban sprawl made the land where the towers are located just too valuable and developers made an offer to the radio station ownership they could not refuse.  So the towers are coming down and development on the property  is already underway.

Because the signal for AM 1070 is directional, so as not to interfere with other AM stations, finding a location to bring 1070 back will be difficult, but not impossible.  Emmis Broadcasting says they are trying and I believe the company.

But all those memories dating back to the early 1960s came back when I learned about the demise of AM 1070.  Only time will tell if it ever returns.