WCBC (1270 kHz) is an AMradio station that serves the greater area of Cumberland, Maryland. WCBC provides news coverage: locally, regionally, and nationally; weather forecasts; participation in major community events to promote the area and its organizations by way of remote broadcasts and community service announcements.
The station was founded in 1953 as WKYR, licensed to Keyser, West Virginia. In 1965, the station was granted full-time status and changed its city of license to Cumberland. In 1976, the call letters became WCBC.[1]
Lawsuit against Allegany County schools
On August 28, 2007, Cumberland Broadcasting Corporation, the owners and operators of WCBC-AM-FM, and "the Maryland Delaware DC Broadcasters Association filed a law suit in the United States District Court in Baltimore against each member of the Allegany County Board of Education, and the Superintendent of Allegany County Schools, Bill AuMiller", according to the WCBC (AM) website.
The reason for the lawsuit is "that the Board of Education has acted to deny WCBC its First Amendment rights", again quoting the WCBC website.
"Following criticism of the Board’s actions, WCBC was denied access to information provided to other media, denied access to press boxes at county schools, and denied information that would enable it to participate in a Board-endorsed scholarship program."[2][3]
On August 31, 2007, the Allegany County Board of Education offered an olive branch[4] to WCBC and would again allow WCBC access to information, press boxes, etc. as it was prior to August 17, 2007, letter from the BOE which took those services away.[5]
According to a September 15, 2007, AP/WJZ-TV report:[6]
A Cumberland radio station will be able to broadcast high school football games while it fights a decision by the Allegany County school board denying access to the games.
A federal judge in Baltimore granted the temporary injunction requested by WCBC-AM.
The judge ruled the station's constitutional rights were violated by the ban, and the public would be served by an injunction.
The station claims the board's ban on access to a stadium press box was a result of unflattering news stories about the county schools.
In one story, a reporter was able to walk into five county schools without being questioned.
Allegany High School Attorneys says an agreement last week by the parties to seek mediation fell apart.
So, despite the previous "WCBC/BOE Agreement" signed on August 31, 2007, WCBC's lawsuit against the Allegany County (of Maryland) Board of Education remains in the courts.
