WRSL

WRSL (1600 AM) was a radio station licensed to Corbin, Kentucky, United States, broadcasting a Southern gospel format. The station was owned by Lincoln-Garrard Broadcasting Co., Inc.,[1] and broadcast from 1961 to 2017. The station moved to Corbin in 2004 after 43 years of broadcasting from Stanford, Kentucky.

WRSL
Frequency1600 kHz
Programming
FormatSouthern Gospel
Ownership
OwnerLincoln-Garrard Broadcasting Co., Inc.
History
First air date
November 1, 1961
Last air date
2017
Former call signs
  • WRSL (1962–2008)
  • WKFO (2008–2011)
Former frequencies
1520 kHz (1961–2004)
Technical information
Facility ID37559
ClassD
Power
  • 2,000 watts day
  • 27 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
37°01′06″N 84°05′58″W

The station's license was surrendered on December 15, 2017, and cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission on February 26, 2018.

History

WRSL went on air November 1, 1961, on 1520 kHz.[2] The station was located halfway between Stanford and Lancaster on the farm of W. G. Morgan, one of the station's four owners, and broadcast with 500 watts during the day.[3] The first initials of each of the four owners—W. G. Morgan, Ray Doss, S. C. Bybee, and Lanier Burchett—were reflected in the station's call letters.[4] Blanchard had been a sales manager for WAIN at Columbia, but Morgan had no experience in radio; he was a funeral director and bank owner.[5] The station initially had a block programming structure with a range of music formats.[5] 1967 brought with it an FM extension, WRSL-FM 95.9;[6] the two stations simulcast a country format for the next 15 years.[5] Future Louisville television anchor and newspaper columnist Byron Crawford, a Stanford native, worked at WRSL while in high school.[5]

Calvin C. Smith bought out Morgan and Bybee's shares in 1965, followed by Burchette's in 1969.[5] Under Smith's ownership, an entertainment complex was built on the WRSL property, including a restaurant with two meeting rooms seating 200 and 75,[7] known as the Frontier Dinner Theatre.[8] The dinner theatre closed by 1976, when its restaurant equipment was sold at auction in order to convert the building to other uses.[9] Just two months later, however, the dinner theatre reopened under the management of Jim and RubyAnn Cooper Gaskin, who also took over the operations of WRSL-AM-FM.[10] The theatre closed again in 1979.[11]

The Gaskins ran WRSL-AM-FM until 1982, when health reasons forced Jim Gaskin to relinquish operations;[5] owner Cal Smith then operated WRSL, typically with a southern Gospel format, until his death at the age of 55 from pancreatic cancer in 1987.[12] His wife, Ruth, ran the station until she retired in 1994 and sold it to their son, John Smith.[4] While the FM embarked on a signal upgrade and frequency change, the AM station changed its format to contemporary Christian.[13] 1520 continued to share local news and weather with its sister FM outlet.[14]

In 2001, WRSL-FM, hoping to trade on its expanded regional broadcast area, became WXKY;[15] the next year, Smith opted to lease out all of the FM station's airtime to the Educational Media Foundation, which began programming Air 1.[16] The local programming that had been airing on both frequencies migrated exclusively to 1520 AM.[17]

Move to Corbin

In 2004, land adjacent to the station was sold for the construction of a Walmart Supercenter; as construction proceeded on the new retail development, WRSL went off the air in late November after crews inadvertently cut underground utility cables to the station. The station property, also up for sale, was sold, and it was announced that the radio station was moving from Stanford to Corbin.[17] Lincoln County was left without local radio until WPBK signed on in 2006.[18] (Lincoln-Garrard currently has operational control of WPBK.) A local street in Stanford near the former Frontier Dinner Theatre is also still known as WRSL Road.[19]

While in Corbin, WRSL operated at 1600 kHz. From 2008 to 2011, the station bore the call letters WKFO and broadcast a talk format as "Information 1600"; it was in common operation with new station WKFC (101.9 FM).[20]

WRSL ceased operation in late 2017, and on December 15, Lincoln-Garrard Broadcasting Company surrendered the license to the Federal Communications Commission.[21]

References
  1. "WRSL Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. "Manager Tells Rotarians WRSL To Go On Air Nov. 1". Interior Journal. October 19, 1961. p. 1. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  3. FCC History Cards for WRSL
  4. "WRSL radio station sold to owner's son, changes already taking place". Interior Journal. September 15, 1994. p. 1. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  5. WRSL-AM and WRSL-FM. 2002. pp. 94, 95. ISBN 9781563117893. Retrieved January 3, 2020. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. Vaught, Larry (July 26, 2005). "Garrard fans weigh in on radio-less season". Advocate-Messenger. pp. B1, B3. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  7. "Construction Has Begun..." Interior Journal. December 7, 1972. p. 1. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  8. "Stanford Couple To Launch Dinner Theatre On Aug. 20". Kentucky Advocate Magazine. August 12, 1973. pp. 8, 9. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  9. "Auction: Mr. and Mrs. Calvin C. Smith's Restaurant Equipment, Frontier Dinner Theatre, Stanford, Ky". Kentucky Advocate. April 25, 1976. p. 23. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  10. "Frontier Theatre To Reopen Today". Danville Advocate-Messenger. July 2, 1976. p. 7. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  11. "Double Header Auction". Kentucky Advocate. September 2, 1979. p. 32. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  12. "Calvin C. Smith, owner of WRSL radio". Advocate-Messenger. November 16, 1987. p. 2. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  13. "Abortion opponents in Lincoln County organize protest". January 20, 1995. p. A3. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  14. "Christian music now broadcast". Advocate-Messenger. August 11, 1995. p. A2. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  15. "Stanford goes regional". Advocate-Messenger. August 30, 2001. p. A8. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  16. "Stanford radio station now airing Christian pop music". Advocate-Messenger. June 21, 2002. p. A4. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  17. "Stanford loses radio station". Interior Journal. December 2, 2004. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  18. Schell, Stephanie (September 27, 2006). "On Air: Lincoln radio station coming back". Advocate-Messenger. p. A10. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  19. Leedy, Nancy (January 31, 2019). "DEAD END: Proposed road closure dies in fiscal court". Interior Journal. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  20. Mills, Carol (September 2, 2008). "New radio station hits the airwaves". Sentinel Echo. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  21. WRSL surrender of license
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