WING (1410 AM) is a commercial radio station in Dayton, Ohio operating with 5,000 watts along with studios, offices and transmitter located on David Road in Kettering. It is the first (and oldest) full-time commercial radio station in Dayton. It is currently a local affiliate for ESPN Radio and the Ohio State Sports Network, but is best known and remembered as Dayton's first Top 40-formatted station. WING operates at 5,000 watts around the clock. A single tower is used during the day, providing at least secondary coverage to most of southwestern Ohio. At night, two towers are used in a directional pattern to protect CFTE in Vancouver, British Columbia, concentrating the signal around Dayton. Early history WING was first licensed on May 31, 1924 as WDBS to the S.M.K. Radio Corporation at 39 East Third Street in Dayton, Ohio. After a short period of testing, it made its formal debut broadcast on the evening of June 4, 1924. The station's call letters were randomly assigned by the Department of Commerce from an alphabetical list, and Stanley M. Khron, Jr., owner of the S.M.K. Radio Corporation, adopted "Watch Dayton's Broadcasting Station" as a slogan that reflected the call sign. The call letters were changed to WSMK in early 1925 to match Khron's initials. It also upgraded its power to one thousand watts that same year. Programming hours were sporadic and operated on several different frequencies. Its first studio was located in the former Beckel House Hotel on East Third Street in downtown Dayton. Actor/dancer/singer/musician Scatman Crothers got his start at the station during the WSMK era in 1932. Another ownership change took place in 1939 when Cincinnati businessman Charles Sawyer bought the station from Krohn and switching the calls, at the suggestion of Jack Snow, to WING to become synonymous with Dayton's aviation history. It then moved to the second floor above the Loews Theater also located downtown at 125 North Main Street (demolished in 1975) where it remained until 1960. It was that same year when WING was granted by the FCC to upgrade its power to 5 thousand watts and to construct a new transmitter site on David Road in Kettering. "High Flying" WING in the 50s, 60s and 70s It was in the 1940s during the Big Band era and later with the advent of R&B-combined rock n' roll in the 1950s when WING became Dayton's original hit