WKVL

The station signed on the air on March 23, 1953 (1953-03-23). Its original call sign was WKVL which stood for its city of license, Knoxville. Over time, it was allowed to boost its power to the maximum for commercial AM stations, 50,000 watts. But because it shared its frequency with KOA Denver, a Class A station, WKVL could not broadcast after sunset.

In the 1970s, it played country music as WIVK, simulcasting co-owned WIVK-FM 107.7. In the mid-1980s, 850 AM was adult contemporary WHIG but later returned to the WIVK simulcast. For a time, it had a public radio news and information format as WUTK, owned by the University of Tennessee. It was a member station of National Public Radio.

On July 2, 2010, the classic country music returned to the 850 airwaves. The station targeted country hits from the 1950s through the 1980s. The local lineup included Bob Lewellyn, Eddie Beacon, Tee Blackman and newcomer Tim Byrd.[1][2]

In May 2013, Blount Broadcasting Corporation, owner of WKVL and WLOD, entered into a time brokerage agreement.[3] The deal was made with Oak Ridge FM. The station's Talk format moved from WNOX, which the company had recently sold.

WKVL for a time simulcast with WLOD. On March 31, 2014, WKVL changed formats to classic country.[4]

On December 15, 2014, WKVL went silent. On December 14, 2015, WKVL returned to the air with classic country. On June 1, 2018, WKVL changed formats from classic country to sports radio, branded as "Rocky Top Sports".[5] Effective December 11, 2018, WKVL was given permission to moved its city of license from Knoxville to Maryville. That was combined with a reduction in power from 50,000 watts to 1,000 watts.

On April 15, 2022, the Blount Broadcasting Corporation announced it had come to an agreement to sell WKVL, its sister station WGAP, and two FM translators to Loud Media.[6] The sale, at a price of $175,000, was consummated on August 17, 2022.

On August 21, 2022 at midnight, WKVL changed formats from sports to variety hits, branded as "Random Music Radio". The first song on “Random Music Radio” was “Mr. Jones” by Counting Crows. On November 24, 2022, WKVL-AM flipped to a simulcast of sister station WPLA 104.9 FM, airing its classic hits music.[7]

On September 20, 2023, WKVL dropped its simulcast with WPLA and began stunting and applied for new WSMM call letters.[8] It has since returned to variety hits with "Random Music Radio" branding.