WYLR is a radio station in the

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

market. Licensed to

Hubbard Hubbard may refer to: Places Canada *Hubbard, Saskatchewan *Hubbards, Nova Scotia Canada/United States * Mount Hubbard, a mountain on the Alaska/Yukon border *Hubbard Glacier, a large freshwater glacier in Alaska and Yukon Greenland *Hubbard Gla ...

, the station broadcasts a contemporary Christian music ( CCM) format on 101.9 FM from the

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...

24-hour national feed ( K-LOVE). The station signed on as a result of a construction permit issued on January 31, 1992 by Columbus atty. Percey Squire and local broadcaster Mr. Frankie 'Lucky" Halfacre who was the first African-American DJ in the greater Youngstown area who got his start on WNIO-1540 in the 1960s. From 1998 until 2001, the station was operated by

Jacor Communications Jacor Communications was a media corporation, existing between 1987 and 1999, which owned many radio stations in the United States. In 1998, Jacor was purchased by Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia, for $2.8 billion. Jacor Communicat ...

and successor

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 ...

via an LMA, making it a part of their extensive

/ New Castle cluster of stations. The call letters were WBTJ, and sported a

rhythmic top 40 The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...

format as "101.9 The Beat." Then-owner Stop 26/Riverbend took Clear Channel to court, complaining to the FCC that Clear Channel refused to preempt any of their programming upon Stop 26's request. After settling in court, where Clear Channel paid a $25,000 fine to Stop 26 for unauthorized transfer of control of WBTJ, the "Beat" format was moved to the Sharpsville, PA-licensed 95.9 facility (where it became "

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WAKZ WAKZ (95.9 FM, "Real 95.9") is a radio station licensed to Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, and serving Youngstown, Ohio. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station airs a mainstream urban radio format. Prior to July 2, 2020, WAKZ broadcas ...

), and

WNIO WNIO (1390 AM - branded 1390 The Gambler) — is an American radio station in Youngstown, Ohio with a sports talk radio format, serving as the Youngstown affiliate for Fox Sports Radio and VSiN Radio. WNIO also carries Ohio State University ...

's adult standards programming was briefly simulcast until Stop 26 could re-assume control of the station. When that happened, the WRBP call letters, which were used prior to Jacor/Clear Channel's LMA, were revived. Stop 26/Riverbend declared bankruptcy in 2006, and Bernard Radio purchased almost all of their stations, including WRBP, WASN and

WGFT WGFT (1330 AM) – branded ''Star 94.7'' – is a commercial daytime-only urban adult contemporary radio station licensed to Campbell, Ohio. Owned by Helen Bednarczyk through licensee Y-Town Radio Broadcasting, LLC, the station serves the Young ...

The sale of Jamz 101.9

On June 13, 2012, it was announced by radioinsight that EMF Broadcasting will soon expand its Christian AC “K-Love” to 101.9. The company has acquired WRBP Hubbard from Bernard Radio for $500,000. It was confirmed by the FCC on the same day. The FCC link is below. The last day for the urban format was December 31, 2012, at which time the station began to feature the K-LOVE contemporary Christian format. As a result of the sale, the station became a non-commercial license. On January 24, 2013, the call letters were changed to WYLR.

External links

K-Love websiteValley 24.com Jamz 101.9 sold; to get Christian format

FCC filing of WRBP purchase
{{K-LOVE YLR K-Love radio stations Radio stations established in 1994 1994 establishments in Ohio Educational Media Foundation radio stations YLR