WYBL (98.3 FM) 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 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, ...

format. Licensed to

Ashtabula, Ohio Ashtabula ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, and the center of the United States micropolitan area, Ashtabula micropolitan area. It is located at the mouth of the Ashtabula River on Lake Erie, nort ...

, United States. The studios are located in Ashtabula 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 Benetka Rd and Plymouth Ridge Rd south of

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

. It is one of five stations in Media One Radio Group's

Ashtabula Ashtabula ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, and the center of the Ashtabula micropolitan area. It is located at the mouth of the Ashtabula River on Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city ha ...

cluster, the others being

WFUN (AM) WFUN (970 AM) – branded as ESPN 970 WFUN – is a commercial sports radio station in Ashtabula, Ohio. Owned by Media One Radio Group, it serves Ashtabula County, Ohio and parts of the Erie, Pennsylvania region. It is one of five stations in M ...

WFXJ-FM WFXJ-FM (107.5 MHz) — branded 107.5 The Fox — is a commercial classic rock radio station licensed to North Kingsville, Ohio. Owned by Media One Radio Group, the station serves the Northeast Ohio county of Ashtabula, and is the lo ...

, WQGR (FM),

WREO-FM WREO-FM (97.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a soft adult contemporary format licensed to Ashtabula, Ohio. It is one of five stations in Media One Radio Group's Ashtabula cluster, the others being WFUN (AM), WFXJ-FM, WQGR (FM), WYBL (FM ...

, and

WZOO-FM WZOO-FM is an FM radio station in Edgewood, Ohio, United States, broadcasting at 102.5 MHz with a classic hits radio format. It is one of five stations in Media One Radio Group's Ashtabula cluster, the others being WFUN (AM), WFXJ-FM, WQ ...

History

WYBL signed on in August 2005. The 98.3 FM frequency had belonged to then-owner

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 ...

(now known as

iHeartMedia 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 ...

) for a number of years. 98.3 FM and

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 ...

107.5 FM were purchased at auction at the same time. 107.5 FM was focused on and developed first as a

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

station. 98.3 FM "The Bull" came years later. Before becoming the country station that it would become, the signal of 98.3 was used for some time to run oldies (presumable to test the frequency and market for popularity). Soon after, The Bull came to air. In the Fall of 2007,

sold WYBL to Media One Radio Group along with its sister stations

(

News/Talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

at the time),

(

Hot AC 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, quiet s ...

at the time),

(

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 ...

at the time).

Original Lineup

6am-10am - McCoy in the Morning with Roger McCoy and Dave Hatfield (Scony was a later addition, however Hatfield left the show to pursue his own show on the station. Scony left the station in 2011 to move to Nashville to pursue a career in the record industry while Roger left in June 2013 to become the assistant program and music director for Clear Channel of Asheville, North Carolina at WKSF-FM ) 10am-3pm - Jake Andrews (left the station in April 2008 to pursue his

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

business) 3pm-7pm - Kristi Lee (left the station after only a few months to start her family) 7p-Midnight - Paul West (in 2006 Paul pursued a career with Clear Channel in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

)

External links

* * * {{Ashtabula Radio YBL-FM Ashtabula, Ohio