KWUL (920

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is a commercial AM

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

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, and serving the

Greater St. Louis Greater St. Louis is a bi-state metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the independent city of St. Louis, the principal city. It includes parts of both Missouri and Illinois. The city core is on the Mississippi Riverfront on t ...

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

. The station is owned by Louis Eckelkamp, through licensee East Central Broadcasting, LLC, and broadcasts an Americana

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. KWUL's studios and offices are located on Hampton Avenue in

, while its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is located near the Interstate 255/ Illinois Route 255/ Interstate 270 interchange, off Chain of Rocks Road in

Edwardsville, Illinois Edwardsville is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Illinois, and is a suburb of St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri ...

History

On December 1, 1961, KWUL first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

the air from Granite City, Illinois as WGNU. Founded by Chuck Norman and owned by him for the rest of his life, it was held in trust after his 2004 death. Under Norman's ownership, the station featured a wide-ranging local talk format. Norman also signed on FM

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WGNU-FM (now

WARH WARH (106.5 Hertz, MHz "106.5 The Arch") is a commercial FM broadcasting, FM radio station city of license, licensed to Granite City, Illinois and serving Greater St. Louis including sections of Illinois and Missouri. WARH is owned by Hubbard Br ...

) on November 24, 1965. WGNU was sold to Radio Property Ventures, owners of KXEN, on September 26, 2007, and switched to a

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

format. Initially, WGNU was a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

station, then changed to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

and eventually

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

, primarily aimed at the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

community. Former KFNS host Tim McKernan and his company, InsideSTL Enterprises, bought the weekday air time on WGNU, and the station switched its weekday programming to sports talk on August 1, 2013. The weekday schedule consisted of 11 hours of local shows, as well as programming from

CBS Sports Radio CBS Sports Radio is a sports radio network that debuted with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013. CBS Sports Radio is owned by Paramount Global and distributed by Westwood One. Programmin ...

. The Urban Talk format continued to air on weekends. This lease agreement ended in September 2016, when insideSTL Enterprises took over the operations of KFNS and moved its programming onto that station. The station briefly made national headlines when former St. Louis Cardinals player Jack Clark, who cohosted "The King and the Ripper" with longtime St. Louis radio personality Kevin "the King" Slaten, claimed Los Angeles Angels slugger

Albert Pujols José Alberto Pujols Alcántara () (); born January 16, 1980) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball first baseman, designated hitter and third baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "The Machine", ...

had performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) while Pujols was with the Cardinals. Clark had been the Cardinals' hitting coach during the early part of Pujols' 12-year tenure in St. Louis. Clark had said that he talked to Pujols' former personal trainer and said that "I know for a fact he was" using PEDs. Pujols responded by threatening Clark and WGNU with a

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

lawsuit, and vehemently denied that he had ever used PEDs. The trainer added that he hadn't even talked to Clark in over ten years. InsideSTL cut ties with Clark and Slaten after only seven shows. It also issued an apology to Pujols. In 2018, the station's community of license was changed from Granite City to St. Louis, Missouri. On October 12, 2021, WGNU changed its format from brokered programming to sports gambling, branded as "The Game", with programming from the VSIN Sports Betting Network.Sports Betting The Game Debuts In St. Louis
Radioinsight - October 12, 2021 This station is currently running programming from a local station in Ellsberry, MissourI called

KWUL-FM KWUL-FM (101.7 MHz) is a radio station licensed to Elsberry, Missouri, serving a wide area of the Metro West suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. The station plays a format that is a mixture of Rock and Americana music dubbed "Rock 'N Americana," ...

. It currently running rock and Americana type music. On March 27, 2023, the station changed its call sign to KWUL. Effective May 8, 2023, Radio Property Ventures sold KWUL, KXEN, and translator K264CY to Louis Eckelkamp's East Central Broadcasting for $210,000.

Previous logo

References

External links

* * {{St. Louis Radio WUL (AM) Madison County, Illinois Radio stations established in 1962 1962 establishments in Illinois Americana radio stations