WEBN

The attitude also extended to actual advertising. Ad time on WEBN was extremely desirable to local merchants, but the station wasn't about to permit the staid and often amateurish production values that often permeated American radio. The majority of local spots were WEBN produced, and bore the same outrageous wit and audacity that the station was known for. And, as it had already promoted non-existent events, the station advertised products by "Brute Force Cybernetics", also the name of the corporate holding company. Brute Force Cybernetics featured a logo of three monkeys based on the theme "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." Among the BFC "products" for which the station broadcast tongue-in-cheek "ads" were:

• "Boogie Mat" (a small rug; anyone who steps on it will begin to boogie uncontrollably)
• "Cultured Truffle Franchises"
• "Encephalographic Printout Device" (attach the electrodes to your head before going to sleep and the device will record the brilliant insight you otherwise remember having had just before you woke up and forgot what it was)
• "Negative-Calorie Cookies" (eating them actually burns calories)
• "Portable Hole" (apply it to a surface, peel off the plastic backing, make your stash or whatever, then remove)
• "Precognitive Scanner" (place it behind your ear, and it will read the speech center in your brain and emit a warning beep to prevent you from uttering "faux pas, Freudian slips, and ill-timed obscenities")
• "Stereo-Vision" TVs (a television mounted on a short track that bounced back and forth so quickly as to simulate 3D)
• "Voice Equalization Ampules" (wrapped in cotton and filled with helium or sulfur hexafluoride; break the ampule and inhale the gas to raise or lower the timbre of your voice, respectively)

These spots were picked up by some other stations, such as Chicago's WDAI in its progressive/underground days c. 1971.

Other spots were for the "White Rose and Lilac Virginity Restoration Clinic", "WEBN's Tree Frog Beer" Starting 1st with "The Sleezy People's Beer" and then years later with "It doesn't taste like much but it sure gets you there", and a spoof on the Rambo movies entitled "Sambo: Real Blood Part Four" featuring an african-american superhero driving a rescue Cadillac and yelling "Hey Chin Ho, Ronnie Reagan says you can kiss his white butt!" before a jet fly-over drowns out the last word. A crossover between these spots in fantasy and reality occurred in 1972 when Hudepohl Beer allowed some of its product for the Cincinnati area to be wrapped in faux labels for "WEBN's Tree Frog Beer, The Sleezy People's Beer", Tree B. Frog and his best friend Tyrone Z. Dragonfly soon became household mascots for the station. The station markets t-shirts and sweaters with the station's mascot Tree B. Frog for August just before the annual fireworks, as well for December with a holiday version. The tag line for Brute Force Cybernetics was "The company that creates a need and then fills it." The station began referring to itself with monikers and slogans like, "RRRRRRIBBIT!", "Radio That Makes You Feel Good!", "For Something Different On Your Radio...", "Lighten Up!", "A Different Kind Of A Radio Station", "The Rock 'N' Roll Station", "The Classic Rock 'N' Roll Station", "Rockin' Stereo!", "Cincinnati's Undisputed Champion Of Rock 'N' Roll!", "The Last Great Untamed Radio Station In North America", "WEBN Rocks Cincinnati!", "Good, Clean, Fun!", "Turn Us On, Tune Us In, And Crank It Up!", "Frog 'Em!", "It Must Be WEBN!", "Go Rock Yourself!", "Shut Up And Rock!", "It's Not Just The Size, It's The Frequency", "OutFrogRageous!", "No Pussies Allowed", "Cincinnati's Rock Station And The Home Of The Kidd Chris Show!", "Step Aside Small Change!", "WEBN, The Lunatic Fringe", and the 1988 version "The Lunatic Fringe Of American FM", these 2 slogans come from Red Rider's song "Lunatic Fringe".

WEBN was always passionate about promoting local artists. Also, the concept of national artists (who happened to be in town for shows) performing live in the radio studio began at WEBN.

As part of WEBN's commitment to promoting local artists, it began issuing a series of records featuring local artists, each designated a "WEBN Album Project," beginning in 1976. Proceeds from sales were donated to charity. The album projects featured exclusively local artists performing original songs. The album projects focused primarily on rock performances, but featured a wide range of different styles, including folk, jazz, and novelty songs. Popular local bands such as The Raisins and Wheels had cuts on WEBN album projects. WEBN often gave airplay to songs on the album projects. Eleven different WEBN album projects were released in the 1970s and 1980s.

Riverfest/WEBN Fireworks is one of the most famous annual fireworks shows in the nation.

WEBN also presents the Cincinnati Riverfest annual fireworks display, a spectacular exhibition on the Riverfront, on Labor Day weekend in conjunction with Cincinnati Bell and Rozzi's Famous Fireworks. The seventeen-year agreement with Toyota came to an end in 2007. The show is set to music broadcast by the station. The first WEBN fireworks show happened in 1977 as a one-time celebration of the station's tenth birthday, but it was so well-received that it has been repeated every year since under the auspices of the station's "Committee for Aesthetic Public Spectacle." The event routinely draws over 500,000 people to the Cincinnati Riverfront.

The event has been broadcast live on local TV stations since 1984 when WXIX-TV aired the fireworks. In 2008, the show was broadcast in high definition for the first time on WLWT-TV. It was untelevised in 2015 when WXIX did not renew the contract, but the fireworks show returned to television in 2016 via WKRC-TV.

The event was held in a secret location in 2020 due to COVID-19. It took place at Kentucky Speedway.

WEBN-HD2 logo

On August 16, 2012, translators W264BW Norwood (100.7 FM) and W292DT Mt. Auburn (106.3 FM) began simulcasting the alternative rock format on WEBN-HD2 as "The Project 100.7 / 106.3". As of January 2014, W292DT identifies as W238BJ and broadcasts at 95.5 FM; WEBN-HD2 itself continues to simulcast over 106.3 FM, now via translator W292CO Middletown. Although FM translators in the U.S. are generally not permitted to originate their own programming, the Federal Communications Commission has recently allowed FM translators to simulcast the programming of both AM stations and HD2 digital subchannels. In effect, this allows radio companies to create additional analog stations, like W264BW, outside the traditional path established by the FCC.[12]

W264BW provides limited coverage to southern and central parts of Greater Cincinnati. On April 24, 2012, W264BW owner EMF Broadcasting, Inc. leased the translator to Clear Channel. Over W264BW, Clear Channel opted to simulcast the hot adult contemporary (hot AC) format heard on the HD2 subchannel of Cincinnati area station WKFS (107.1 FM). Branded "100.7 The River", WKFS-HD2 and W264BW aired content from Today's Mix, a national format on the Premium Choice network. On August 16, 2012 W264BW began simulcasting WEBN-HD2.[6][13]

On May 29, 2013 CincyMusic.com announced a partnership with WEBN-HD2 to begin a weekly radio show called the CincyMusic Spotlight. "Cincinnati has such a rich music scene. The Project already champions amazing local acts like Walk The Moon, Foxy Shazam, 21 Pilots and Cinema Sleep in regular rotation. The Sunday Spotlight will give us a chance to expose even more of the talent Cincy has to offer, and provide local bands the platform to make it to the next level. As we were developing plans to showcase local music, it only made sense to turn to the foremost experts at CincyMusic.com to be the engine of that exploration" (Chris Williams Program Director, The Project 100.7 / 106.3)[14]

WEBN-HD3 logo

WEBN-HD3 launched on December 18, 2014; the digital subchannel also began simulcasting over Cincinnati translator W272BY (102.3 FM). Branded "102.3 The Beat", WEBN-HD3 initially aired a classic hip-hop format promoted as "throwback hip hop and R&B".[7] On March 7, 2016, the station shifted to a current-based mainstream urban format while keeping the "Beat" branding; this made it a direct competitor to WIZF 101.1.[15]