WFLO

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WFLO

City of license	Farmville, Virginia
Broadcast area	Southside Virginia
Branding	WFLO Radio
First air date	AM: August 12, 1947 FM: late 1960
Frequency	AM: 870 kHz FM: 95.7 MHz
Format	AM: Country FM: A.C./Variety
ERP	AM: 1,000 wattsdays online FM: 50,000 watts
Class	B
Owner	Colonial Broadcasting
Website	www.wflo.net

WFLO are a pair of radio stations in Farmville, Virginia and owned and operated by Colonial Broadcasting. Studios and transmitters are located about 2 miles north of Farmville on route 45 in Cumberland County. The AM station broadcasts during daylight hours only and has a mixture of country music, bluegrass, gospel, and talk programming. The FM, which is operated 24 hours a day, primarily features adult contemporary, oldies, and top 40 music.

[edit] History

The Communications Act of 1934 was amended in the late 1940's to allow daytime radio stations to come into being, to operate on the same frequencies reserved for the clear channel stations but this was for daylight hours only. Mrs. Carla Keys of Johnson City, Tennessee, who had widespread business interests, had an interest in building a station. She was advised that Farmville, Virginia would be a good place to do it. And so it happened; an application was filed, the necessary paperwork and all taken care of, personnel contacted, engineers, announcers, writers, sales staff, clerical workers, land was leased, building leased, equipment purchased, and so on it went. And on August 12, 1947, WFLO-AM signed on the air.

By 1960, it was becoming evident that FM would be helpful addition to the station. And in that year, WFLO-FM was born at 95.7 with a power of 6,300 watts effective radiated power on a 360 foot tower. It would usually stay on longer than the AM, signing on at 5 am, and signing off at 10 or 11 pm.

WFLO FM increased power to 40,000 watts in the late 1980s and began full time broadcasting, going to a syndicated program service by satellite at night. In 1995, the WFLO parent company (Colonial Broadcasting Company Incorporated) purchased the assets of WSVS in Crewe and became licensee/owner of the former major competitor of WFLO.

In May of 1996 a severe storm destroyed the station tower, bringing it down completely and consequently WFLO-AM and FM were off the air for a time. However, a makeshift AM antenna was put into service within a few days to put AM back on the air at considerably reduced signal strength. The rebuilding of WFLO-FM was another story, but eventually the tower which supports both AM and FM was rebuilt with an additional 150 feet added to the tower height. In addition, FM power was increased to 50,000 watts. The complete rebuilding process took nearly a full year before everything was finalized at a cost of over $100,000.00. The loss was partially covered by insurance.

WFLO-FM is now one of the most powerful FM stations in Southern Virginia, reaching Lynchburg, Richmond, and Charlottesville with a decent signal. WFLO-FM has remained much of Southside Virginia's most listened to station for nearly 20 years.