WLFZ (101.9 FM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 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 ...

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

, and serving

Central Illinois Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central third of the state, divided from north to south. Also known as the ''Heart of Illinois'', it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agri ...

. It is owned by Saga Communications and has 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, ...

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, ...

. The

radio studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

s and offices are on East Sangamon Avenue in Springfield. WLFZ has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

(ERP) of 50,000

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, the current maximum for most FM stations in Illinois. The

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 on Canadian Cross Road in Springfield, near Exit 90 of

Interstate 55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

.Radio-Locator.com/WLFZ
/ref>

History

On , the station 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. Its original

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

was WVEM and it broadcast a middle of the road music format that was mostly

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

. In 1993, it was purchased by Saga Communications, which switched the call letters to WQQL. It aired an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format as "Cool 101.9". It continued with its oldies sound for the next two decades. Saga Communications changed the format to

and the call letters to WLFZ on October 2, 2013. The 101.9 frequency's WQQL call letters were moved to 93.9 and the format was, in the process, changed to

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

as "Cool 93.9". Concurrently, the adult hits format of the 93.9 signal, "93.9 ABE FM", was moved to translator 101.1 FM (W266BZ-FM at 250 Watts), which is now known as

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 ...

"101.1 The Outlaw." It also broadcasts on

WDBR WDBR (103.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Springfield, Illinois, and serving Central Illinois. It is owned by Saga Communications and broadcasts a Top 40 (CHR) radio format. WDBR has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 50,000 ...

-HD2 featuring the same format and branding. WLFZ's has one country competitor in the Springfield market, 104.5

WFMB-FM WFMB-FM (104.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Springfield, Illinois. It broadcasts a country music radio format and is owned by Neuhoff Corp., through licensee Neuhoff Media Springfield, LLC. WFMB-FM has an effective radiat ...

, owned by Neuhoff Media.

References

External links

*
Saga Communications Website
Sangamon County, Illinois LFZ {{Illinois-radio-station-stub