WCKY (1530 kHz) – branded Cincinnati's ESPN 1530 – is a commercial sports AM radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio, serving the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Owned by iHeartMedia, WCKY is the Cincinnati affiliate for ESPN Radio; the flagship station for FC Cincinnati; a co-flagship station for the Cincinnati Bengals Radio Network; and the Cincinnati affiliate for the UK Sports Network and the U of L Sports Network. The WCKY studios are located in the Kenwood section of Sycamore Township (with a Cincinnati address), while its transmitter is located at a four-tower facility in suburban Villa Hills, Kentucky. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WCKY is available online via iHeartRadio. WCKY is a class A clear channel station, sharing the frequency with co-owned station KFBK in Sacramento, and can be heard, particularly at night, over most of the eastern U.S. KFBK and WCKY both alter their coverage to operate with directional signals at night to limit interference with each other; however, as Class A stations, both receive more protection than other stations on this channel. For this reason, WCKY does not have to change to its directional signal until three hours past local sunset. The only station it is required to protect is KFBK, and Sacramento is on Pacific Time, making sunset there three hours later than in Cincinnati, so WCKY's signal will not travel toward KFBK until after dark. History WCKY received its initial authorization on February 14, 1929, for 5,000 watts on 1480 kHz, licensed to Covington, Kentucky–across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. The original owner was L. B. Wilson, a prominent local banker and theater owner. WCKY was added as a fourth station operating on a timesharing basis with three existing Chicago-area stations: WJAZ, WSOA and WORD. Moreover, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) grant specified that WCKY would be assigned 4/7ths of the available broadcasting hours, and "was to have first choice of the broadcasting time". After a series of successful test transmissions, WCKY made its debut broadcast on the evening of September 16, 1929. Under the timesharing agreement, the station's regular schedule was from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., and 7:45 to 11:15 p.m. daily. In early 1930, WCKY and its timesharing partners were reassigned from 1480 kHz to 1490 kHz. WSOA later changed its call letters to WCHI, and was subsequently deleted on October 31, 1930, after which its former timeshare partner,