WZLF (107.1 FM, "95.3 and 107.1 The Wolf") 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 ...

licensed to serve

Bellows Falls, Vermont Bellows Falls is an incorporated village located in the town of Rockingham in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,747 at the 2020 census. Bellows Falls is home to the Green Mountain Railroad, a heritage railroad; the ...

transmitting from

Alstead, New Hampshire Alstead () is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,864 at the 2020 census. Alstead is home to Feuer State Forest. History The town was chartered by Massachusetts Governor Jonathan Belcher in 1735 as one ...

. The station is owned by Binnie Media. It airs 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, simulcast with

WXLF WXLF (95.3 FM, "95.3 and 107.1 The Wolf") is a radio station licensed to serve Hartford, Vermont. The station is owned by Binnie Media. It airs a country music format. The station is simulcast on WZLF (107.1 FM) in Bellows Falls, Vermont. The s ...

(95.3 FM) in

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. The station has been assigned these call letters by the

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 ...

since March 1, 2005.

History

The station signed on in 1981 as WTIJ, a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

station owned by Brian Dodge. WTIJ was sold in 1983 to local residents Brad and Evelyn Weeks, who flipped it to country as WBFL. Dodge's mother Etta, owned WBFL's

translator station A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

Keene, New Hampshire Keene is a city in, and the County seat, seat of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 23,047 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 23,409 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Keene is ho ...

, W288AM (105.5 FM). On January 1, 1990, WBFL flipped again to

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 ...

as "B-107". That format, despite ratings success, was not profitable and ended two years later, and signaled the end of locally originated programming on 107.1. The station struggled into the mid 1990s with an

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

format, then a simulcast of

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Marl ...

station WSSH as WZSH until 1996 under new owner Dynacom. That was followed by country simulcasting under Dynacom and Vox, then

Nassau Broadcasting Partners Nassau Broadcasting Partners LP was a company based in Princeton, New Jersey that owned radio stations in New England and the Mid-Atlantic United States. Nassau's stations, which included both AM and FM frequencies, were located in Maryland, New J ...

. WZLF, along with 16 other Nassau stations in northern New England, was purchased at bankruptcy auction by WBIN Media Company, a company controlled by

Bill Binnie William Harrison "Bill" Binnie is an American industrialist, investment banker, and philanthropist, who is currently president of the Carlisle Capital Corporation,http://www.manta.com/company/mm42n0p president of the media company New Hampshire 1 ...

, on May 22, 2012. Binnie already owned WBIN-TV in

Derry, New Hampshire Derry is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 34,317 at the 2020 census. Although it is a town and not a city, Derry is the most populous community in Rockingham County and the fourth most populous in the ...

. The deal was completed on November 30, 2012.

References

External links

* ZLF Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1981 {{Vermont-radio-station-stub