Technical Profile: WKLF

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Frequency:

1000

Format:

Southern Gospel, Classic Hits (2 pm to 5 am most days)

Transmitter Location:

[map] Off Old Billingsly Road, on the north side of AL-22 (4th Avenue N), just west of Clanton.

Power (ERP):

1.0 kW Days Only

Antenna:

Day: 1 tower

Other Information:

0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files

[FCC]
[FCCdata]

[Radio-Locator]

[Wikipedia]

[Facebook] For the Southern Gospel part of the station
[Facebook] For Roger's Golden Oldies, a program on The Peach part of the station
[Facebook] For the America's Favorites program of Southern Gospel music

[Studio] Street View imagery of the studios of WZNN and WKLF in Clanton.
[Picture] Street View link from 2009, before the tornado brought the AM tower down.

[Article] Story from The Clanton Advertiser on the station's 70th Anniversary celebrations in February 2019.

// W238CS Clanton

Owned by WKLF, Inc. (Christopher W. Johnson)

History:

This station came on the air in late 1947 as WKFL, operated by Southeastern Broadcasting, run by J. Kelley Robinson, J. S. Robinson and Hugh I. Webb.  Before ever signing on, the station went through several frequency and power changes: first it was to be on 1450 kHz as a 250 watt full time operation; then it was changed to 760 kHz with 500 watts as a daytimer.  By the time it signed on, it was on 980 kHz, still as a daytimer, but now with 1,000 watts.  The transmitter site has always been at the same place it is now, but from sign-on until 1953, the studios were located at 703½ Second Avenue North in Clanton.  Around the time the studios moved out on Selma Highway, where the transmitter is, the company had put on one of the state's early FM broadcasts with WKLF-FM. 

It's not known what the format was in the early days of the station, but by 1970 it was doing mostly Country & Western music, with some black programming and gospel, too.  Starting in the late 70's, some oldies were added for good measure.  Some of this programming was simulcast on the FM up through at least the late 70's.  By the mid-80's, the format was Religious programming nearly full-time.
 

This station appears to have run into license difficulties after the FM moved out of town, and was at one point deleted from the FCC database.  The station has apparently remained on the air through much or all of this time, fighting its license revocation.  During this time, it managed to snag an FM translator, W238BS in Clanton.  On 23 January 2012 a tornado struck Maplesville and Clanton, destroying the WKLF tower.  The station had been on the air despite having a deleted license, although its license was eventually reinstated.  In mid-July 2015 it was reported that WKLF was also being heard on area FM WZNN in Maplesville.  The license was officially reinstated in early September, 2016.  Ownership during this time was with Southeastern Broadcasting Company; they transferred the license to Great South Wireless in the summer of 2016 and the FCC approved the transfer in October of that year. 

In the summer of 2016 the translator was sold and moved to Birmingham (to 94.1 MHz, relaying WJLD Fairfield) but Reynolds Technical Associates quickly acquired a translator move-in from LaGrange, GA to replace it, on the same frequency, from the WKLF site west of Clanton.  This station has been reported off the air numerous times over the last few years, and as recently as early April 2017. 

Great South Wireless applied to move the station to 1000 kHz in June 2017; one month later they erected a new tower and put the station on the air at 980 kHz, but that was short lived.  The FCC granted the permit to change to 1000 kHz in September 2017, and the station was reported to have moved to 1000 kHz just one month later.

The station was sold to WKLF, Inc. in August 2018, for $200,000.  The principal behind the company is Christopher W. Johnson, who owns Chilton County's noncommercial station WPJN, via a non-profit, as well as the Troy-area WSMX-FM. 

In October 2019, the translator received a permit to relocate to a site south of Clanton, off County Road 53.

The station began adding Oldies/Classic Hits music in the summer of 2020.  From 5 pm to 5 am, the station becomes "The Peach", a name once used by another Clanton-area radio station that played oldies music. Although the AM is off the air after sunset, the FM translator and online stream carry the Classic Hits Peach format.  In the winter of 2022 that timeframe was extended, to start at 2 pm on most days.

In May 2022, the station debuted an online-only extension to the Peach branding, "Peach Country".

The station filed a license to cover for the translator move to the site south of Clanton in May 2024.