Technical Profile: WLWI

AM Technical Profile: WLWI

Frequency:: 1440
Format:: Talk, News
Transmitter Location:: [map] [bird's eye] South of the loop and Seth Johnson Estates, along and east of Narrow Lane Road near its intersection with Seibels Road.
Power (ERP):: Day: 5 kW; Night: 1 kW
Antenna:: Day: 1 tower, omnidirectional; Night: 2 towers, three equal lobes: ENE, NW, SW [pattern - PDF]
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files

[FCC]
[FCCdata.org]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]

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[Studio] The Cumulus studios in downtown Montgomery.; // WXFX-HD3 Prattville; Owned by Cumulus Broadcasting LLC
History:: This station dates back to an original construction permit issued to Howard E. Pill (who put on several other stations in Alabama) and S. G. Persons (as Montgomery Broadcasting), granted in March 1929. The station originally requested 1010 kHz with 1 kW day and night, but was instead granted 1410 kHz at 500 watts, time-shared with WODX in Mobile.

A license to cover for the facility was granted in April 1930. The original studio location was listed as being at the corner of Catoma and Montgomery streets in downtown Montgomery at the Jefferson Davis Hotel, with the transmitter being "3 miles east on Mobile Highway". Early FCC records were not very descriptive! At the start, the call sign was WSFA, for South's Finest Airport, a reference to what was then Maxwell Field. Maxwell itself has a history dating back to the early teens when the Wright Brothers opened a flying school at this location. Today, the airfield is known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base.

Not long after going on the air it became clear that the time sharing with the station in Mobile was not ideal; both WODX and WSFA tried, unsuccessfully, the move frequencies. In 1930, WSFA applied for more power, but was denied; they applied to move to 780 kHz, but that too was denied. In the spring of 1931, the station was successful in petitioning the FCC to allow full-time operation during the day, reducing the time-shared situation to nighttime hours only. In 1934, the station was granted a transmitter move to a vertical antenna located atop the Jefferson Davis Hotel, where the studios were. Later that same year the station was granted a boost in daytime power to 1 kW. The station would attempt to increase nighttime power from 500 watts to 1 kW as well, in 1937, but the attempt was scuttled for unknown reasons. The station was granted another transmitter move in January 1938, to a site on Narrow Lane Road near what is today's US-82/South Boulevard. The also tried to boost nighttime power to 1 kW again but that request was denied or withdrawn.

In 1941, many stations went through a frequency change thanks to the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, or NARBA. WSFA was moved to 1440 kHz, which allowed them to cease time-sharing with the station in Mobile. It would also allow them to later increase power: In July 1941 the station was granted a permit to move the transmitter to a site on Hunter Loop Road while increasing power to 5 kW full time, with a directional antenna setup at night. It appears that they never were able to build out this facility as one year later they were applying for 1 kW days and 500 watts night, directional instead of the higher power. They'd try again to go to 5 kW in 1946 but that was denied. Instead, they wound up "kicking the can down the road" with the permit for 1 kW days and 500 watts night, directional, all the way until a license to cover was finally filed for the facility in the summer of 1947.

According to FCC history records, the station attempted to get an FM antenna mounted to the south tower of the directional AM array in 1949, but it was denied by the FCC due to a lack of clarity on whether it would disrupt the directional pattern in use at night.

The station was finally granted a boost to 5 kW daytime power in April 1951, and a license to cover for that change was granted in August 1951. The station installed a new Continental type 315 transmitter at that time. On Christmas Day 1954, the station put on the air WSFA-TV. The TV and radio station also debuted a new studio location around this time, at 10 Delano Street near the intersection of South Court Street. In 1955, the stations were sold to WKY Radiotelephone, Inc (Oklahoma Publishing Company).

In 1957, the station was granted a permit to move the transmitter 0.9 south of the previous location, while still on Narrow Lane Road, the site the station still uses today. That same year, the station was split from the TV outlet and sold off to Charles W. Holt, Connie I. Holt and Robert N. Robinson. Under their ownership, the TV station kept the call letters and this station changed to WHHY. The significance of the call sign isn't known, but other Holt/Robinson stations had similar call signs: WHNY in McComb, MS; WHSY in Hattiesburg, MS; WHXY in Bogalusa, LA. In 1958, the studio would move from 10 Delano Street to suite 403 in the Guaranty Savings and Life Building at the corner of Montgomery and Moulton Streets.

The transmitter move that was granted in 1957 didn't have a license to cover granted until April 1965! The owners kept kicking that can down the road (to use that phrase again) and at one point, the permit had actually expired before getting reinstated. By the mid-60's, the station was known to be doing Top 40. At some point in the late 60's, the station spawned an FM sister station, WHHY-FM. The stations apparently simulcast the Top 40 format until the FM broke away to do a country format.

The studios moved to 3435 Norman Bridge Road in 1970. In 1975, the station had its license challenged by the Montgomery chapter of the National Organization for Women, but the denial was withdrawn after an agreement was reached between the group and the station.

The station would remain Top 40 or some variant thereof through the entirety of the 80's and even into the early 90's, either partially or fully simulcasting WHHY-FM. In 1993 the station's ownership passed away and the stations went to a receiver by the name of Thomas Duddy; he in turn sold the stations to McDonald Investment Corporation. Under their ownership, the "mostly simulcast" situation continued until the late 90's when the FM went country as WJCC, with this station taking a stab at All News, simulcasting CNN Headline News TV audio. After the flip to news, the call sign changed to WLWI.

By June of 2000 the station was noted to be doing a more conventional News/Talk format, but still simulcasting CNN Headline News overnights until 7 am, and on most weekends.

The station was reported to be simulcast on WXFX-HD3 as of June 2011, giving the station a (somewhat) presence on FM. In June 2018, the station was granted an FM translator companion station on 106.3 MHz, but the permit expired unbuilt.; It was reported by Radio Insight in mid-March 2025 that Cumulus would be shutting the station down due to low ratings. It was part of a larger shutdown of their stations across the country and the third AM in Alabama to be shut down by the company in 2025.