WSMJ (AM)

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

WSMJ
Broadcast areaGlasgow, Kentucky
Mammoth Cave area
Frequency800 kHz[1]
Programming
FormatDefunct (was Adult contemporary[1])
Ownership
OwnerTwin City Broadcasting (1974-1981)
Rick Dubrose (1981-1984)
Newberry Broadcasting (1984-1988)
Murray Communications, Inc. (1988-199?) (final)
History
First air date
May 23, 1975 (1975-05-23) [2]
Last air date
1991
Former call signs
WKVE (1974-1984)
Technical information
Power500 W[3]

History

The first application with the FCC by Twin City Broadcasting was filed in December 1974.[4] The station began broadcasting as WKVE on May 23, 1975, under Twin City ownership.[5][6] The station originally transmitted from a tower on the southern outskirts of Cave City along U.S. Route 31W.[6] Evidence from old radio-and-TV-hobbyist publications dating from the 1970s to 1984 show that WKVE broadcast a Top-40 format.[7][1] Throughout its life, the station also utilized some programming from ABC Radio.[2] It was originally a daytime-only station that broadcast at a power of 250 watts.[6]

The station was sold to Rick Dubrose in 1981.[8] Three years later, its final owner, Newberry Broadcasting, purchased the station.[9][10] In 1984, the station switched to an Adult contemporary format, and change the station's call letters to WSMJ.[10]

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.[11]

On August 26, 1986, the station was briefly knocked off the air by a severe storm. Some minimal damage to the studio's occurred due to high winds.[12]

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, which Newberry built in 1988, 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 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, Munfordville-based WLOC, and most full-power FM stations from Bowling Green and Nashville.

On-air personalities
  • Rick Dubrose - a former owner of the station [13]

References
  1. Broadcasting Publications (1989). Across the Dial, page 63.
  2. 1979 Broadcasting Yearbook, page C-86
  3. "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. Miller, Roger (February 12, 1975). "New radio station to serve Mammoth Cave area planned". Park City Daily News. p. 4 – via Google Books.
  7. Broadcasting Publications (1983). Across the Dial, page 44.
  8. "FCC approves station sale". Park City Daily News. June 25, 1981. p. 3A.
  9. "Steve Newberry: 'We've Learned How to Deal in the New Normal'". RadioWorld.com (September 14, 2011). Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  10. Nash, Francis M. (1995). Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State. HOST Communications. p. 148.
  11. "For the Record" -- "Ownership Changes." Broadcasting, November 2, 1987, page 69.
  12. "Three struck by a lightning storm". Park City Daily News. August 27, 1986. p. 1A, 18A.
  13. "TALK OF THE TOWN: Q&A with Rick Dubrose". Bowling Green Daily News, November 2, 2015, page 1-A.
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