WCVI (AM)

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WYJL is a commercially-licensed AM radio station, operating at the federally-assigned frequency of 1340 khz, with a maximum power output of 1,000 watts. WYJL is licensed to Connellsville, Pennsylvania; approximately 40 miles southest of Pittsburgh.

Contents 1 History: Beginnings as WCVI 2 Changes 3 Partnership Dissolved 4 Bankruptcy sale 5 Aftermath

[edit] History: Beginnings as WCVI

First coming on the air back in 1947, WCVI-AM was a typical radio station of its time, boasting a middle-of-the-road music format with local talk and sports broadcasts, serving Western Pennsylvania's fabled "Fay-West" area (southern Westermoreland and northern Fayette Counties. Founded by local physician Dr. Cam "Doc" Troilo, WCVI became one of the top stations in Western Pennsylvania, and best known for fostering the careers of local sportscaster legends such as Kevin Harrison and Jack Benedict.

[edit] Changes

In 1985, Troilo sold the station to Mar Com Broadcasting, owned by Marlene Hesler of Monroeville. The following year, an FM sister station joined WCVI into the fold. WPQR had been acquired that year by Pittsburgh attorney Geoffrey P. Kelly, doing business as Kel Com Broadcasting. Though the licenses of the two stations were separately owned, both Heshler and Kelly were able to make a partnership work, reducing expenses through shared employee functions.

[edit] Partnership Dissolved

Things began to fall apart in about 1991, when the partnership was dissolved and Kelly acquired the assets of WCVI, though Heshler stayed on as General Manager for a year or two after its dissolution. Unfortunately, both stations fell on hard times throughout the 1990's, reducing the staffs of both stations to a skeleton crew, and WPQR being silent for approximately two years due to a broken transmitter component and no money to fix it. The remaining staff, however, remained loyal to the station and stayed on (some even working for free), trying to keep their heads above water. Eventually this began to take its toll.

[edit] Bankruptcy sale

WCVI also went silent in 2000 and remained so until it and WPQR were acquired for $475,000 by Keymarket Communications of Carnegie in a bankruptcy court sale, to satisfy more than a million dollars in debt incurred by Mar Com and Kel Com. After undergoing an extensive technical overhaul, WPQR finally returned to the air under the new call letters WPKL (99.3 The Pickle) and an oldies format. WCVI also returned to the air under the call letters WPNT, but only as a simulcast of its FM sister. The station recently changed its call sign to WYJL, but still has no independent programming of its own.

[edit] Aftermath

Both stations now operate out of Brownsville, on the other side of Fayette County, as the former 19th century studio building on East Crawford Avenue stands vacant, having been condemned four years ago by Connellsville city officials. Back taxes are still owed on the building, which has pieces of brick falling from it and a tree growing out of the back of it.