WHIZ (1240 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Zanesville, Ohio, featuring a full service format known as "AM 1240 The Voice". Owned by Marquee Broadcasting, this station is the local affiliate for ABC News Radio, the Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, Columbus Blue Jackets and Ohio State Buckeyes radio networks, in addition to carrying ESPN Radio and Westwood One programming. WHIZ's studios are located in a combined facility with WHIZ-TV, WHIZ-FM and WZVL on Downard Road in Zanesville, while the transmitter is located to the northeast of the city's downtown. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WHIZ is relayed over low-power Zanesville translator W272EE () and is available online. Established in 1924 as WEBE in Cambridge, Ohio, the station was originally a small 10-watt operation until moving to Zanesville in 1930. The present call letters WHIZ were adopted in 1939, and the station was owned by the Littick family for 75 years as the "Southeastern Ohio Broadcasting System" (and often did business as the "WHIZ Media Group"). Under the Litticks, WHIZ built a companion television station and multiple FM radio stations. History Cambridge years Roy W. Waller founded WHIZ in July 1924 as WEBE in Cambridge, Ohio; the first program went out from the station on July 25. The station broadcast from Waller's home on Fourth Street in that city; early programming featured music and market reports. The station continued regular broadcasts until the summer of 1926, when a lightning strike destroyed the facility. It was rebuilt at the same site and returned to operation by the end of the year. The 10-watt outlet, which had broadcast on 1280 kHz, moved to 1210 kHz in 1927, but it almost did not survive to see the 1930s. As the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) sought to clean up the congested United States airwaves and implement the Davis Amendment to balance the relationship between radio stations and population, it targeted WEBE for removal, calling it a "bedroom" station—because it broadcast from Waller's actual bedroom—with homemade equipment that was, per chairman Ira E. Robinson, "assembled of parts of a questionable nature". The radio commission sent WEBE an order asking it to close by August 1, 1928. Waller successfully fought the order, noting that the small station was serving five counties with a total of 200,000 people and providing local programming of interest. The station also increased its power to 100 watts late