History (Edited from Wikipedia)

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WCNN (680 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to North Atlanta and serving the Atlanta-area radio market. It is owned by Dickey Broadcasting and airs a sports radio format as "680 The Fan" with studios at The Battery adjacent to Truist Park in Cobb County. Local sports shows are heard weekdays with the ESPN Radio Network airing nights and weekends. WCNN is the flagship of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.

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WCNN broadcasts with a power of 50,000 watts during the daytime, and 10,000 watts. WCNN's transmitter and towers are located near Norcross, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. As of 2010, WCNN is also heard on a 250-watt FM translator, W229AG at 93.7 MHz.

 

Chronology

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On September 1, 1965, the station signed on as WRNG, Atlanta's first talk radio station. The last three letters of the call sign represented the station's branding as "Ring Radio," as in the ringing of a telephone. The station was originally a daytimer operating at 5,000 watts but having to sign-off at night. It was the first broadcast home of talk radio personality Neal Boortz, who went onto a long career at WSB and syndicated nationally. Other, now well known talk radio personalities were also heard on the station, including Ronn Owens, later at KGO in San Francisco, Southern Humorist Ludlow Porch, and Barry Young, later at KFYI in Phoenix.

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In 1982, the station began an experiment by broadcasting the audio feed of CNN Headline News. The call letters were changed to WCNN, a nod to CNN's headquarters being in Atlanta.

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In February 1987, the station switched to an adult standards radio format and changed its call letters to WGTW. Its call sign was a reference to the Atlanta-based classic movie Gone with the Wind, which, coincidentally, is the favorite movie of CNN founder Ted Turner. The station went by the branding "Stardust 680" during that time, but the format failed to gain ratings in the market.

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In late 1988, chief engineer Bob Mayben and his staff built elaborate studios in the CNN Center (formerly known as The Omni) and became WCNN "All News 680", with a 24-hour local news format. The CNN Headline News audio returned in June 1990, when the local all-news format failed to generate sufficient ratings.  In 1995, WCNN was leased to Cox Radio for a 5-year term. The radio format was switched to Sports Talk as "680 The Fan".  In 1998, the format switched to news/talk to complement WSB's programming.  In 2000, when the LMA expired, control of WCNN returned to Dickey Broadcasting, and the "680 The Fan" branding and the sports radio format returned to WCNN.

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WCNN was the flagship station of the Atlanta Thrashers before the Thrashers moved to Canada, and was the flagship of the Atlanta Hawks Radio Network before rival WZGC gained the rights in 2013. It has been the flagship station of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network since 2010 (along with WNNX). WCNN is also the flagship station of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football and men’s basketball. In 2019, the station became the flagship of Atlanta Gladiators hockey.

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