WSMJ (AM)

WSMJ
City Cave City, Kentucky
Broadcast area Glasgow, Kentucky
Mammoth Cave area
Frequency 800 kHz [1]
First air date May 23, 1975 (1975-05-23) [2]
Last air date 1991
Format Adult contemporary [1]
Power 500 W [3]
Former callsigns WKVE (1974-1984)
Owner Twin City Broadcasting (1974-1984)
Newberry Broadcasting (1984-1989)
Murray Communications, Inc. (1989-199?) (final)

WSMJ was a radio station that was broadcast at 800 kHz. Licensed to Cave City, Kentucky, USA, the station served Glasgow and the Caveland region of south central Kentucky. The station was owned by Commonwealth Broadcasting.

History

The first application with the FCC by Twin City Broadcasting was filed in December 1974.[4] The station began broadcasting as WKVE in 1975 under Twin City ownership.[5] The WSMJ call letters were after Steve Newberry, a former on-air personality, purchased the station in 1984.[6] WSMJ originally transmitted from a tower on the southern outskirts of Cave City along US Route 31W. Evidence from old radio-and-TV-hobbyist publications dating from the 1970s to 1984 show that WKVE broadcast a Top-40 format,[7] but switched to an Adult contemporary format in the mid 1980s around the time of its change of call letters to WSMJ.[1] Throughout its life, the station also utilized some programming from ABC Radio. [2]

On February 5, 1985, WSMJ increased its transmitter power from 250 watts to 500 watts. Signal orientation was changed to non-directional.[3] On October 21, 1987, Newberry filed an application to sell the station to Murray Communications, Inc.[8]

The station permanently went off the air in 1991 due to financial problems. The permanent sign off was also because the station was unable to maintain a good-quality signal and/or gain consistent listenership and ratings against Munfordville's WCLU-FM, Bowling Green's WBLG-FM (now WUHU), or Nashville's WYHY (now WRVW), all of which also broadcast an adult contemporary format (in the case of WRVW, now broadcasting a top-40 format as of February 1996). WHHT was also an AC format radio station, but has since switched to a country format in 2013 after a frequency swap with WPTQ. Currently, WHHT-FM is the only radio station in the market that has a broadcasting license to the town of Cave City itself. In spite of this, the Cave City/Glasgow area is still served by full-service radio station WCLU and its FM countrtpart, WCLU-FM, Munfordville-based WLOC, and most full-power FM stations out of Bowling Green and Nashville.

On-air personalities

References

  1. 1 2 3 Broadcasting Publications (1989). Across the Dial, page 63.
  2. 1 2 1979 Broadcasting Yearbook, page C-86
  3. 1 2 "For the Record" -- "Facilities Changes" - AM actions. Broadcasting, February 25, 1985, page 82.
  4. ↑ "VHF frequency swap in Nashville."For The Record -- "Applications - New AMs". Broadcasting, December 16, 1974, page 47.
  5. ↑ "For the Record" -- "Facilities Changes" - AM actions. Broadcasting, December 1, 1975, page 55.
  6. ↑ "Steve Newberry: 'We've Learned How to Deal in the New Normal'". RadioWorld.com (September 14, 2011). Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ Broadcasting Publications (1983). Across the Dial, page 44.
  8. ↑ "For the Record" -- "Ownership Changes." Broadcasting, November 2, 1987, page 69.
  9. ↑ "TALK OF THE TOWN: Q&A with Rick Dubrose". Bowling Green Daily News, November 2, 2015, page 1-A.
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