AM Technical Profile: WFXO
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- Frequency:
- 1050
- Format:
- Classic Country
- Transmitter
Location:
- [map]
[street
view] On Radio Road in Alexander City. Street view shows tower
and small studio space.
- Power (ERP):
- Day: 1 kW
- Night: 48 watts
(authorized)
- Antenna:
- Day: 1 tower
- Other
Information:
- 0.5 mV/m Daytime
Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public
Files
[FCC]
[FCCdata.org]
- [Radio-Locator]
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// W242CP Alexander City, AL
Owned by Marble City Media, LLC
- History:
- Came on around
1948, probably with a top 40 format and the WRFS (Radio's
Friendliest Station?) calls. In the 50's was affiliated with the
Keystone Broadcasting Network. An FM followed on 106.1 MHz with
about 4600 watts. For years the AM and FM simulcast. When the FM
finally went to full power (as WSTH-FM), it went to country, leaving
the AM as top 40. It stayed that way for several years then began
simulcasting the country on the FM station, as well as then WSTH-AM,
540 in Columbus. Later, when WSTH-FM moved its facilities to
Columbus, the AM reverted to nostalgia as an independent station.
The station flipped back to country as "Dixie 1050" before again
settling on a standards/nostalgia format. Charles and James Whatley
of Alexander City owned the station to one degree or another, along
with WETU in Wetumpka and WNUZ in Talladega.
- In August
of 1990 the calls were WXTH; In June 1992 they became WTLM; In April
1994 they became WRFS (Radio's Friendliest Station, or supposedly,
Russell Family Sweatshirts!)
- .
- In the summer of
2005 the station changed to southern gospel music after being bought
by Joy Christian Communications.
- In September of
2007 this station was reported to be off the air. Trade
publications have listed the station as sold to William And Margaret
Neeck, for cancellation of the mortgage.
- .
- As of July 2008
the station may have still been silent, but the calls changed from
WRFS to WBNM.
- .
- As of August 2008
it has been reported that the format is now sports talk with the
ESPN Radio network. Perhaps the calls stand for
"Bill-N-Margaret"? It is also reported that the station still
operates off the same 40's era tower.
- It is
being reported that on the end of May 2010, the station has been
sold to Jimmy Jarrell Communications. A flip to a Christian
religious format to compliment Jarrell's other stations never
materialized, but in August of 2010 the station flipped from sports
to oldies with Scott Shannon's True Oldies Network. In the
spring of 2012 the station dropped oldies for Cumulus' "Real
Country" satellite classic country format. In September 2012
the station was shown as the parent for a translator being moved in
to the city, on 99.1 MHz. The station has also dropped country
for Salem's "Solid Gospel" satellite format. In October 2014
the translator was granted a permit to move to 99.7 MHz, 250 watts,
from a new transmitter location northwest of town. That same
month, ownership passed from Jimmy Jarrell to Pat Jarrell. That
signal had its license to cover filed on 19 August 2015. That
same month it was announced that Westburg Broadcasting Montgomery
had bought the station from the Pat Jarrell, as well as the
translator, which had been owned by Alabama Christian Radio.
That deal closed on 22 December 2015. The next day, Marble
City Media, LLC, began programming the station by relaying their
WRFS-FM licensed to Rockford. Marble City Media acquired the station
from Westburg Broadcasting in 2016. The call sign changed to
WLMA (Lake Martin,
Alabama) in late
February 2016.
On 26 March 2016 the station debuted a new classic country format as
well as a new FM translator, W242CP on 96.3 MHz, an AM
Revitalization move-in from Winona, Mississippi. The station
went by the name "Real Country" until it changed to "Kix
96.3". The Kix branding is also being used on a set of
stations up the highway in Sylacauga.
On 13 February 2019 the call sign of this station changed from WLMA
to WSGN, taking those historic calls from the former Gadsden State
Community College station in Etowah County, which was sold to EMF.
The station was reported off the air briefly due to damage from
Hurricane Zeta in late October 2020.
The station is slated to exchange call signs with WFXO in
Stewartville at the end of July 2022, when that station will launch
an oldies format using these call letters, which were once on
Birmingham's big Top 40 outlet.