WISR was one of these stations, and prior to the nighttime authorization, had never used satellite technology on the air, relying on world and national news via UPI wire service.

Joel Rosenblum continued to operate WISR out of its original studio on North Main Street in downtown Butler until 1997, when he agreed to sell the station to Brandon Communications Systems, Incorporated.

That company, headed by Robert C. Brandon and his brother Ronald, was the licensee of WISR's crosstown competitor, WBUT and WLER-FM, which first signed on the air in 1949.

In an effort to make the three stations compete less with each other, Brandon Communications switched the format from adult contemporary to one of MOR and easy listening music.

The station had been originally known as WISR-FM until the Rosenblum ownership returned the license to the FCC, failing to make a go with it in these early years of FM.

Larry Berg, the former owner of competitor WBUT-AM-FM from 1964 until 1978, resurfaced at WISR a few years later, where he hosted his own afternoon talk show and sold airtime.

A few years later, the Brandon brothers, one by one, sold their interests in the station to another ownership group made up of four local entrepreneurs, but the Butler County Radio Network remained the name of the licensee.

WISR's current format is a mixture of news, talk, sports, and classic hits music, and continues its affiliation with the CBS radio network, which it has maintained since being granted nighttime power.