980 WXIX significant engineering projects across the nation. He was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army and appointed chief of engineers in 1879. Wright retired in 1884 and was involved in many prominent engineering projects, including New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge. He also served as chief engineer for the completion of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Wright died in 1899, survived by his wife, Louisa, and two daughters. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia under an obelisk erected by veterans of the 6th Corps. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Brigadier General Horatio Gouverneur Wright.” www.hq.usace.army .mil/history/coe2.htm (accessed July 9, 2006). Wikipedia. “Horatio Wright.” www.wikipedia.com (accessed July 9, 2006).
Dave Hatter
WXIX. WXIX-TV, also identified as FOX19, is the FOX television network affi liate serving the Cincinnati–Northern Kentucky region. This UHF television station is licensed to the city of Newport, but its broadcast facility is in Cincinnati. WXIX was Cincinnati’s first independent commercial TV station; it offered syndicated programs, classic movies, and children’s shows long before the days of cable television superstations. James Lang, owner of Newport’s WNOP radio station, obtained the construction permit to build WXIX in 1955. The site originally planned for the station’s studio and tower was cleared and graded in September 1954, on top of the hill where the residential development known as Wiedemann Hill is today, in the Cote Brilliante area of Newport. That facility was never built. The station ownership transferred twice before the station actually went on the air in 1968 as WSCO, channel 19. Metromedia purchased the station in 1972 and changed the call letters to WXIX, for the Roman numerals for 19 (XIX). Malrite Communications purchased WXIX in 1983. The station joined the new FOX commercial network, as a charter affi liate, in the late 1980s. Channel 19 launched Cincinnati’s first local 10:00 p.m. evening news in 1993 and the area’s first all-local morning newscasts in 1997. During its first decade on the air, WXIX featured locally produced television shows, including the weekday children’s favorite Larry Smith’s Puppets and the weekend late-night science fiction movie program Scream-In, which featured host Dick Von Hoene as the campy “Cool Ghoul.” WXIX is currently owned by Raycom Media. Nash, Francis M. Towers over Kentucky: A History of Radio and Television in the Bluegrass State. Lexington, Ky.: Host Communications, 1995. Raycom Media. “WXIX–Cincinnati, Ohio.” www .raycommedia.com/stations/wxix.htm (accessed May 28, 2007). Reis, Jim. “The TV Era Ushered in by Advertising,” KP, June 21, 1993, 4K.
Wood, Mary. “Commercially Independent Ch. 19 Celebrates 10th,” CP, August 16, 1978, 33.
John Schlipp
WYK (WICK), WALTER F. (b. December 4, 1889, Buffalo, N.Y.; d. February 28, 1969, Fort Thomas, Ky.). Walter Wyk learned to box at an early age and became a top performer in the boxing ring around Buffalo, N.Y., and in Northern Kentucky, where he was known as the “Covington Caveman.” He is considered one of the greatest pugilists ever to box in the region. Boxing as a lightweight, Walter Wyk reached the pinnacle of his career just before World War I. Of his 182 bouts, he won 98 by knockouts. He defeated many opponents who later went on to become world champions. His record indicates that he fought at the International Athletic Club in Buffalo at least five times in 1911 and that as late as 1922 he fought in Indianapolis, Ind., and Covington, Ky. He knocked out Perry Nelson on July 26, 1922, in Covington at the former Riverside Park (the old Federal League Baseball Park) at Second and Scott Sts. Wyk lived at various locations in Covington: in a room on Court St., at 814 Scott St., and for many years at the YMCA. After his boxing career ended, he worked as a brakeman for the Pennsylvania Railroad, holding that job until he retired. For many years he continued to train boxers at a gymnasium in Morrow, Ohio. After a long illness, Wyk died at St. Luke Hospital in Fort Thomas, survived by his wife, the former Mary Niedzielski, and four children. He was buried at Mother of God Cemetery in Latonia. BoxRec. www.boxrec.com (accessed June 25, 2007). “Brakeman Hurt,” KP, September 13, 1927, 1. “Death Notice,” KE, March 2, 1969, 17E. “Ohio River Is Richer by One $1200 Diamond,” KP, July 16, 1927, 1. Raver, Howard. “Walter K. Wyk, Former Boxer,” KP, March 1, 1969, 3. “Walter F. Wyk, 80, Railroader, Boxer,” KE, March 2, 1969, 5D.
WZIP. WZIP, the “Voice of Northern Kentucky,” went on the air October 5, 1947. This was the first Northern Kentucky broadcast station after WCKY moved to Cincinnati in 1939. ZIP, as it was called, had its offices and studios atop the building at the southwest corner of 6th and Madison in Covington. Its tower still stands along I-75, near Goebel Park. The station began as a result of a year-long competition between two local groups to obtain a license that the Federal Communication Commission had made available in 1946. The winning group, Northern Kentucky Airwaves, was made up of Arthur Eilerman, Gregory Hughes, and Charles Topmiller. The station’s frequency was set at 1050 kilocycles. It was a daytime station, with a 250-watt power base.
Arthur and Carmen Eilerman in WZIP studio.
WZIP supported the local community through innovative programming, including frequent interviews with community newsmakers, public officials, educators, business leaders, and religious figures. It featured local entertainers, sports teams, farm news, civic groups and events, and man-on-the-street interviews. Among its on-air personalities was Ernie Waites, Greater Cincinnati’s first black disc jockey. Its local religious programming included a Saturday morning show with a rabbi from the Temple of Israel (see Synagogues) on Scott St. in Covington. Station president Eilerman was elected president of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association in 1957; he was the only Northern Kentuckian ever to hold the post. His wife, Carmen, was a well-known personality who served as announcer, interviewer, and program director. Among her own shows, produced with studio audiences, were Carmen’s Corner, Bulletin Board, and Down Memory Lane. The station was sold in 1957 to Leonard Goorian and Alfred Kratz of Cincinnati. They sold it in 1959 to a group headed by Edward Skotch, who moved the offices to the Vernon Manor Hotel in Cincinnati. Skotch’s group sold the station in 1960 to Carl, Robert, and Richard Lindner. After subsequent ownership changes, it operates today as WTSJ, a talk and Christian music station. Files of documents, letters, and photographs relating to WZIP radio station, Covington, Ky., 1947– 1956, Kenton Co. Public Library, Covington, Ky. Microfi lm. Nash, Francis M. Towers over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State. Lexington: Host Communications, 1995. Reis, Jim. “The Voice of Northern Kentucky: WZIP Served Six- County Area,” KP, October 21, 1996, 4K.
Chuck Eilerman