KHIL (1250 AM, "Classic Country") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed to serve Willcox, Arizona, United States. The station is owned by John Oberreuter and Mark Lucke, through licensee Willcox Radio, LLC. It airs a

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

music format using a transmitter with an output of 5,000 watts (day), and 196 watts (night). The station's programming is also simulcast on repeater station K251CG (98.1 FM) in Willcox. The station was founded in 1958 by Rex Allen. It was assigned its KHIL call letters by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

. In 2007, KHIL applied to relocate to

Kearny, Arizona Kearny is a town in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The town was named after General Stephen Watts Kearny, who passed through the area on November 7, 1846, while leading 100 dragoons to California. According to the 2010 census, the popul ...

, with a change in frequency to 1260 kHz and a power upgrade 10,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s. This application was dismissed by the FCC on April 21, 2008, and KHIL remains in Willcox with a daytime power of 5,000 watts. At that time, Lucke had become the only paid employee (down from a staff of 10 in 2003). KHIL was featured in a December 2018 in a documentary published by ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''Lonesome Willcox''. A June 2019 report in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' portrayed the station as being at the risk of closure, with Lucke keeping operations up without pay.

Ownership

In April 2002, Lakeshore Media LLC completed its purchase of KHIL and

KWCX-FM KWCX-FM (104.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to Tanque Verde, Arizona, United States. The station is owned by KZLZ, LLC. KWCX-FM had been granted a U.S. Federal Communications Commission construction permit to move to a new transmitter sit ...

from Cathy Ann Enterprises LLC. The sale price was reported to be $1.1 million. In March 2003,

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

reached a deal to acquire KHIL and KWCX-FM from Lakeshore Media LLC for $2.5 million, but that deal was contingent on the relocation of KWCX-FM to the Tucson area. The FCC denied the move and the deal fell through. In July 2007, KZLZ LLC reached an agreement to acquire KHIL and KWCX-FM from Lakeshore Media LLC for a reported sale price of $900,000. Effective November 22, 2017, KZLZ LLC sold KHIL to Willcox Radio, LLC for $150,000.

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* * * * {{FMXL, K251CG HIL Mass media in Cochise County, Arizona Classic country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Arizona