Technical Profile: WELO

AM Technical Profile: WELO

Frequency:: 580
Format:: Classic R&B, Soul
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view | alternate view] [bird's eye]Just east of the interchange of US-278 (Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) and S Eason Boulevard in the southeastern part of Tupelo.
Power (ERP):: Day: 770 watts; Night: 95 watts
Antenna:: Day and night: 1 tower
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files
[FCC]
[FCCdata.org]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
Owned by JMD, Inc.
History:: This station dates back to May of 1941 on 1490 kHz with the WELO calls. The station moved to 580 with 1 kW sometime in the late 50's. Elvis Presley was heard in his very early days on the "Singin' and Pickin' Hillbilly" program, which was hosted by another famous Mississippian, Carvel Lee Ausborn, better known to blues fans as Mississippi Slim. In 1979 the station license was transferred to San Dow Broadcasting. The WELO calls have almost always been here; for a few months in 1987 the station had the WWPR calls (format of the time is unknown.) Earlier in the 21st century the format was adult standards fed by the Music Of Your Life network. More recently, the format was classic country as "Miss AM", contrasting the contemporary country on Miss FM (WWMS in Oxford). Later still, the format has flipped to classic R&B and soul under the ownership of JMD, Inc, which appears to have occurred sometime in May of 2012. The station is now known both as "The Pulse of Tupelo" and "Tupelo's Heart and Soul".

The station was reported off the air in September 2019.