Indiana Broadcast History Archive

WTTS is Bloomington’s oldest commercial radio station, going on air in March, 1949. Started as an AM station by local entrepreneur Sarkes Tarzian, the WTTS call sign moved to the FM dial at 92.3 FM in 1984. It is still locally owned and operated by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc. 

Experimental Origins

In 1944, Armenian-born Tarzian and his wife Mary opened Sarkes Tarzian, Inc. and were manufacturing television tuners in a local bookbindery. During this time, Tarzian identified something that he felt Bloomington was lacking — a local radio station. 

Putting his master’s degree in electrical engineering to work, Tarzian developed an experimental, high frequency station that was not licensed as either AM or FM. With a call sign of W9XHZ, the station went on the air in 1947 and served as proof that operating at higher frequencies allowed for less interference.  

W9XHZ was never meant to last long, however. To Tarzian, it was a purely experimental station to test the technology for his future radio ventures. The station went off the air in 1950 after paving the way for Tarzian’s next radio station. 

Going on Air

With a proof of concept to show the FCC, Tarzian was able to start broadcasting WTTS-AM on March 11, 1949 at a 1370 kilocycle frequency. Initially working with a daytime transmitting power of 1000 watts, the station increased that to 5000 watts just 18 months later. 

WTTS had little competition at this time. Although there were two other AM stations at the time of its first broadcast, both of these were off the air by 1951.  

In 1967, WTTS gained a sister station when Tarzian founded an FM station with the call sign WTTV, a reference to the regional television station he had also founded years earlier.  WTTV-FM was at the 92.3 mHz frequency and its transmitter tower was located with the television’s in Trafalgar, which was ultimately boosted to reach over ⅔ of the state. 

In the 1970s, WTTV changed its call sign to WGTC to reflect its focus on playing music from the country genre. In 1984, the call signs and programming of the two stations switched. Four years later, WGTC-AM was rebranded as WGCL-AM and stopped playing music to focus on talk radio. As of 2023, what was originally WTTS-AM and WTTV-FM is now WGCL-AM and WTTS-FM. 

Throughout over seven decades of being on the air, the stations have remained owned by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc. Tarzian’s son, Tom, is the current CEO and oversees the station. The station has also employed three inductees into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame: Paul Lennon, Paul Mendenhall, and Dave Smith. 

Paul Lennon

Paul Mendenhall

Dave Smith

Programming

In their original incarnations, both stations featured popular music of the time, but were known to the community for their variety of programming. Listeners could tune in to hear anything from talk radio, to Cincinnati Reds games. As time went on, the stations focused on different genres. WTTS-FM now plays a “triple A” (adult album alternative) format while WGCL-AM consists of syndicated and local talk radio as well as live sporting events. 

WTTS was an important part of the community, but had an extra special connection to the Bloomington Hospital. When the hospital was raising funds for interior renovations, WTTS hosted the “Mr. Lift Contest” where local businesses could purchase ads that featured a mysterious voice giving a clue to his true identity (who was movie star William Bendix). All of the ad revenue went to the hospital building its first elevator. 

WTTS On-Air Samples

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By Krissy Brzycki & Jack Lindner

Edited by Jack Lindner

For more information on WTTS and the life of its founder, Sarkes Tarzian, watch Part A and Part B of his oral history interview from IU Media Collections Online.

Last Edit: March 30th, 2024