It was 4PM on Saturday, February 9th, 1935 when Dayton's newest radio station, WHIO signed on the air on the 1260 spot on your radio dial. The frequency had previous belonged to a station in Oil City Pennsylvania. It was Dayton Daily News owner (and former Ohio Governor) James M. Cox who purchased the license and had it moved to the city of Dayton.

The station's studios were located in offices next to the old Dayton Daily News offices on South Ludlow Street. The official "dedication" ceremony was held at the Miami Hotel and attended by 900 invited guests. 32 prominent business and industrial leaders sat at the speakers table including Orville Wright and the Commander of Wright Field, Lt. Col. C.H. Pratt.

The station received a power increase by the FCC in June of 1936 to 5,000 watts where it remains to this day. In January, 1941, as a frequency reallocation by the FCC, the frequency was moved to 1290 kilocycles, where it has remained ever since.

In 1941, a young announcer from Lima, Ohio (whose boss was none other han Hugh Downs) was hired as a staff announcer. His name was Lou Emm and he went on to take the reins of WHIO's morning show and would become Dayton's preeminent morning show host until his retirement in 1992.

Another early member of the WHIO news department was a young man by the name of of Phil Donahue. He would anchor WHIO's morning newscasts with Lou Emm, and was one of the first hosts of what was at the time a cutting-edge interview show called Conversation Piece. The program aired on WHIO for decades, even after Donahue had the idea to take the basic conversation piece format and convert it to television. Once done, Donahue became the pre-eminent nationwide TV talk host of the day.

Conversation Piece continued for many years after Phil departed attracting many newsmakers and stars to the WHIO microphones including Lily, Tomlin, John Wayne, Buzz Aldrin, and President Gerald Ford.

On April 3rd, 1974 an outbreak of severe thunderstorms moved up from the south, forming 148 tornadoes across the United States and Canada which is the largest outbreak in world history. One monster tornado formed over Warren County, and moved into southern Montgomery County before turning and making a bulls-eye for Xenia, Ohio. 33 people were killed by the tornado and hundreds were injured as the city was destroyed. WHIO radio went wall-to-wall with coverage of the aftermath for days after the storm.

WHIO's dominance of the airwaves continued into the 1980's. From the Reagan Presidency, the Challenger explosion, and the George H. W. Bush's Presidency, WHIO covered it all. Locally the WHIO Radio News department was all over the infamous Miamisburg toxic chemical train derailment. WHIO covered what turned out to be the largest evacuation in Ohio history with the WHIO Airscout.

By the early 1990's, music on AM radio was beginning to lose its luster, as audiences moved to the FM radio for their favorite songs. About this time Lou Emm retired from the WHIO microphones. This was when the station followed many other big AM stations and made the switch to a news-talk programming format. With an all news morning show, and the nation's top syndicated talk talent filling the station's airwaves, WHIO was once again back into dominance in Dayton. When WHIO added a simulcast broadcast on 95.7 FM in 2006, WHIO rose to the top of the Dayton radio ratings.

WHIO Radio has continued to focus on bringing the Miami Valley the news and information they want and need in the new millennium. When the winds of Hurricane Ike hit the area in September of 2006 it caused severe damage and widespread power outages around the Miami Valley. WHIO immediately dropped its syndicated programming and spent the next 3 days serving the area with wall-to-wall information. Today, Dayton's home for weather, traffic, and news still remains in its 75th year The Voice of Dayton.