Technical Profile: WIXI

AM Technical Profile: WIXI

Frequency:: 1360
Format:: Classic R&B, Black Gospel, Talk (actually… mostly dead air these days)
Transmitter Location:: [map] [bird's eye] [street view] [street view #2] In the middle of Carver Park in Jasper. Behind the city works building off 1st Avenue South.
Power (ERP):: Day: 12 kW; Night: 42 watts
Antenna:: 1 tower
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files
[FCC]
[FCCdata.org]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
[Facebook] For WJLD Radio
[Studio] Street View imagery of the old WIXI studio on 9th Avenue in Jasper.; Owned by Richardson Broadcasting
// WJLD Fairfield, AL
// W277DM Jasper, AL
Silent
History:: A construction permit was granted to Walter William Bankhead for a new station on 1240 kHz in the fall of 1945. When it signed on in 1946, it ran 250 watts day and night with a Western Electric 451A1 transmitter, located on 3rd Avenue at the foot of Coke Oven Hill just south of downtown. Jim Reese of Huntsville was the first station manager. Ownership of the station was transferred to Bankhead Broadcasting Company, Inc. later that year. The station was affiliated with the ABS network early on.

The station had a major upgrade in 1955, moving to the present 1360 kHz allotment, with 1 kW day and night with a Gates BC-1F. The studios moved to the Bankhead-Long Building. Around this time they may have switched from ABS to Mutual's network.

The station changed to a Gates BC-1-T in 1962. That same year, the launched the area's first local FM, WWWB-FM on 102.5 MHz. Two years later, in 1964, the license was transferred to Tri-W Broadcasting, Inc. Control of Tri-W Broadcasting was relinquished by W. W. Bankhead in 1968. It was given to Blossom B. Dill, Marion B. Grant and John H. Bankhead.

In 1974, the station moved to new studios and a new transmitter site. Studios relocated to 403 9th Avenue in Jasper; the transmitter moved to the site it occupies today off 1st Avenue south of the railroad tracks. Through the late 60's and into the 70's, the station was known to have a Middle of the Road (MOR) music format, simulcasting at least part-time with their FM compaion.

By the mid-80's, the station had dropped MOR for Adult Contemporary. The AM/FM combo were sold to Tuscaloosa's SIS Sound, Inc. for $737,500, in the summer of 1986. The station's AM-FM simulcasting times ended in 1988 when the FM became WZBQ and went Top 40. This station's call sign changed to the very similar sounding WZPQ, while having a mix of Adult Contemporary and Oldies music.

The music gave way to a Sports Talk format in the late 90's. By the dawn of the 21st century, the station had become a Christian Religious-formatted outlet. SIS Sound, Inc. sold the station to James T. Lee in 1999 for $100,000.

The call sign changed to WIXI in June 2005. The station was sold to Snively Broadcasting Company, LLC in 2008, for $199,500. Under their ownership, the station flipped to a Classic Country format; in October 2009 the station received a permit to upgrade its daytime power to 12 kW. A license to cover was filed in March 2010.

In November 2012 the license was transferred from Snavlely Broacasting to Riviera Communications for $132,000. Riviera flipped the format from Classic Country to Spanish language programming in January 2012. The station simulcasted with WJHX in Lexington and WZGX in Bessemer with the "La 10 Q" format until sometime in mid-June 2013, when that format moved to Richardson Broadcasting's WAYE 1220 in Birmingham. (This move also caused WZGX to fall silent since it was duplicate programming.)

Richardson's R&B-flavored WJLD is now being heard on this station. In August 2013 it was announced that Richardson Broadcasting agreed to swap WAYE in Birmingham for ownership of WIXI. As part of the unusual deal, the swap involves the payment of $275,000 in cash and several home improvements to owner Gary Richardson's home, including, "enclosure of the patio deck, construction of a two car garage, repair and replacement of gutters, replacement of two windows, and repairs to the foundation." In January 2016 the station fell silent, but still on air. It's been reported as of the 25th of January to having run with no programming content for "a couple of weeks".

In January 2018 the station received a new construction permit for a companion translator station on 103.3 MHz. It signed on in early April 2018.

The station was reported silent in July 2018, although no Silent STAs were ever filed with the FCC.

The station was reported active again in August 2022, relaying WJLD in Birmingham.