WBRT (1320 AM) is a

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, ...

– formatted

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 and serving

Bardstown Bardstown is a home rule-class city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 11,700 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Nelson County. Bardstown is named for the pioneering Bard brothers. David Bard obtained a l ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The station is currently owned by Bardstown Radio Team as part of a

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...

with

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

–licensed

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

station WOKH (102.7 FM). Both stations share studios on South Third Street in downtown Bardstown, while WBRT's transmitter facilities are located off Sunset Drive in the northwest part of town.

History

What became WBRT was first a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

for an AM station licensed to

Springfield, Kentucky Springfield is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in and county seat of Washington County, Kentucky, Washington County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,846 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Spring ...

, allocated to a movie theater chain owner Andy Anderson. Anderson later had the

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

moved to

and the station took to the air on January 5, 1955. After just two years, WBRT would be sold to Lawrence Adams before being sold to a group of investors under the name Nelson County Broadcasters in 1966. By 1979, the station would come to be principally owned by long-time staff member Tom Isaac, who would lead WBRT to launch a companion station on the FM band as WOKH (96.7 FM; now Lebanon Junction–licensed WLEZ 99.3). In 1997, WBRT and WOKH were sold to Glasgow, Kentucky–based Commonwealth Broadcasting. Commonwealth would later sell the station to current owners Bardstown Radio Team in 2009. The new group would later purchase the new WOKH (102.7 FM) of

from Choice Radio in 2017.

Programming

In addition to its

, WBRT also carries

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

races from the

Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

and Xfinity Series through the sport's two syndicated radio networks– Motor Racing Network and

Performance Racing Network The Performance Racing Network (PRN) is a radio syndication network controlled by Speedway Motorsports (SMI) founded in 1981. PRN airs NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series events held at Speedway Motorsports and Penske Corporation-owned and manag ...

Translators

In addition to the main station, WBRT is relayed by two additional translators to widen its broadcast area:

References

External links

;FM translators BRT Bardstown, Kentucky Country radio stations in the United States 1955 establishments in Kentucky Radio stations established in 1955 {{Kentucky-radio-station-stub