WFXY

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WFXY-AM Middlesboro, Kentucky, broadcasts on 1490KHz with a full-time power of 1000 watts. The station is owned by Countrywide Broadcasters, Inc., and programs a Hot Adult Contemporary format, making it one of the relatively few remaining AM stations in the United States still broadcasting current pop hit music.

WFXY signed on in 1969, with the call letters WAFI at 1560KHz. Programming included a full-service format with pop and country music. In the late 1970s, the station moved to a full-time Top 40 format and changed to the current frequency in order to add nighttime service. Currently, WFXY broadcasts from a tower site on Bloomsbury Avenue in Middlesboro, 24 hours per day. WFXY is also rebroadcast in the Middlesboro area on New Wave Communications Cable Channel 13.

The 1490KHz frequency was originally occupied by station WMIK in Middlesboro from its sign-on date in 1948. WMIK, now a Southern Gospel station, moved to its present frequency at 560KHz after the station's owners purchased Middlesboro station WCPM in May of 1950. WCPM signed off the 1490KHz frequency which remained unused until 1977. During that year, the stations frequency and call letters were changed; WAFI at 1560 KHz became WFXY at 1490KHz. A few months later, WFXY moved its tower and transmitter from a location off US-25E to its present location.

In late 2005, WFXY and its parent company, Countrywide Broadcasters, Inc., were acquired by Joshua Wilkey, a North Carolina businessman who moved to Middlesboro to run WFXY and sister station WANO. The station has since dropped the satellite format it was airing (Westwood One/Dial Global's "Bright AC") in favor of local DJs and automation.

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