WCLU 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 ...

broadcasting an Oldies format at a frequency of 1490

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 ...

. It is licensed to

Glasgow, Kentucky Glasgow is a home rule-class city in Barren County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. Glasgow is the principal city of the Glasgow micropolitan area, which comprises Barren and Metcalfe counties. The population was 14,028 ...

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 ...

, and serving Glasgow,

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

, and the Caveland area of south-central

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 ...

, the station is owned by Royse Radio, Incorporated."WCLU Call Sign History"
''United States

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 ...

, audio division''

History

The station has an estimated sign on date of September 23, 1946 as WKAY, the first of two radio stations originally owned by Glasgow Broadcasting, Inc., along with

WGGC WGGC (95.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. It is licensed to Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States, and serves the Bowling Green area of south-central and west-central Kentucky. The station is currently owned by Heri ...

-FM when it signed on in 1961. As one of the first new radio stations to sign on after the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, WCLU's original studios were located at 510 Happy Valley Road in Glasgow, which was demolished in November 2014 to make room for a new drug store. The station's original transmitting tower was made entirely of worth of cast iron oil well casing, due to the unavailability of

structural steel Structural steel is a category of steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section. Structural steel shapes, sizes, ...

during World War II and its immediate aftermath; a real tower wasn't erected until 1963. After completing that tower in 1963, the station increased their broadcast power to 1,000 watts by day, and 250 watts by night. In 1971, both WKAY and WGGC went under ownership of the Sadler family, which were involved in operating the station since 1948. Shortly before this happened, WKAY switched to a middle-of-the-road format. In 1988, the AM station was purchased by its current owner, Royse Radio, presided by former

WCDS WCDS (1230 AM and 104.7 FM) is a radio station that broadcasts a sports radio format. The station is licensed to Glasgow, Kentucky, and serves the Glasgow/Bowling Green radio market, including the Cave region of west-central Kentucky.

employee Henry Royse, who changed the station's call letters to the current WCLU afterwards. In 1991, WCLU moved into a new facility on West Main Street in downtown Glasgow, with the AM station's transmission tower and WGGC studios remaining at the old studios; WGGC would relocate its studios and broadcasting

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

in 2002. Sometime in the mid 2010s, the station launched a low-powered FM translator, W276DO, to make the station's programming available to FM listeners.

Programming format

The station's current oldies format is also accompanied with local talk radio programming, including local newscasts, and local sports coverage. Top-of-hour national newscasts alternate between affiliations with

CBS Radio News CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

and ABC News Radio. News updates from the Kentucky News Network are also provided by the station.

Sports programming

WCLU is also home to sports games of the Glasgow High School football and basketball teams. In the 1960s and parts of the 1970s, the station also aired radio coverage of football and basketball games of the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

and the WKU Hilltoppers, as well select games of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

, which were shared with WGGC.WKAY Glasgow KY Sales Brochure
" ''WorldRadioHistory.com''. Retrieved April 18, 2022.

References

External links

{{Glasgow, Kentucky Radio stations established in 1946 CLU (AM) Glasgow, Kentucky