WJLT

WJLT is a radio station licensed to broadcast at 105.3 on the FM in Evansville, Indiana.

History

The station started as WVHI-FM, a religious station.

In 1982, the owners decided to compete with WBKR and changed to a country music format. The station became WYNG (Wing 105).

WYNG was successful through the 1980s, but then things began to sour. The first blow came when WBKR started to target Evansville, IN a little more (it was primarily targeting Owensboro, Kentucky, but had a 100 kW signal that was received in Evansville). The second blow came in 1992 when WKDQ dumped its Adult Contemporary/Oldies hybrid format in favor of country, immediately taking numbers from WYNG. A third blow came when, in a desperate move, WYNG dumped its Wing 105 moniker and started calling itself Y105 and trying to target younger listeners.

WYNG was later acquired by Cumulus Media (along with WGBF-FM/AM, WDKS, and WTRI) and later spun to Clear Channel Communications, which finally sold the stations to Regent Communications (now Townsquare Media). Clear Channel elected to move WYNG to the 94.9 frequency which was a 50 kW facility, but the transmitter was further north in Mount Carmel, Illinois. and ratings plummented. Eventually the 94.9 frequency was sold to W. Russ Withers, Jr..

Meanwhile, Clear Channel decided to compete with Evansville's adult contemporary powerhouse and consistent ratings leader WIKY-FM. With a callsign change to WJLT, Lite 105.3 took to the air, but the ratings plummeted for 105.3 in the new AC format. When Clear Channel spun off its Evansville cluster to Regent Communications (now Townsquare Media), Regent flipped WJLT to oldies.

WJLT has seen much success with that format, with respectable ratings among the top five or six stations in Evansville.^[1]

A large part of that success can be credited to the fact that Regent was able to lure Joe Blair, a popular local morning DJ who had previously built up a loyal audience at WIKY and later at WJPS-FM (now WLFW, to take on the station's morning show.

WJLT brands itself as "Superhits 105.3" and airs numerous television commercials. The station simulcasts audio of local television station WEHT when severe weather is in the area and when WEHT is covering the weather wall-to-wall.

WJLT call letters

In the mid-1980s, the WJLT calls were assigned to a station in Crozet-Charlottesville, VA on 102.3 FM. The station was known as Light 102.3 FM and featured an AC satellite format. The station was co-owned with WPED-AM (810 on the dial), which had a contemporary country format. Both were owned at the time by Elting Enterprises. The stations were later sold.

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WJLT
• Radio-Locator information on WJLT
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WJLT

References

1. ↑ http://www.stationratings.com/ratings.asp?market=185

Coordinates: 38°04′44″N 87°36′36″W / 38.079°N 87.610°W / 38.079; -87.610