WFRL (1570
AM; is a radio station licensed to
Freeport, Illinois
Freeport is the county seat and largest city of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,973 at the 2020 census, and the mayor of Freeport is Jodi Miller, elected in 2017. Freeport is known for hosting the second Linc ...
. WFRL airs a
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 inn ...
format and is owned by Big Radio. Its studios and transmitter are at 834 North Tower Road, northeast of Freeport.
The station features local news, plus farm and local high school sports programming. WFRL operates 24 hours a day, but at one time was licensed as a daytime only station. WFRL is also rebroadcast on translator station W282CT 104.3 FM in Freeport. WFRL was granted a modification in August 2022 to change their signal from directional to non-directional and reduce power to 1000 watts daytime and 210 watts nighttime. This change is still pending.
History
WFRL began broadcasting October 28, 1947, on 1570 kHz, running 1,000 during daytime hours only.
[History Cards for WFRL](_blank)
fcc.gov. Retrieved September 14, 2018. The station was licensed to Freeport Broadcasting Company, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Vincent S. Barker.
[Ghrist, John R. (1996). ''Valley Voices: A Radio History''. Crossroads Communications. p. 493-494.] Barker built the station's transmitter in his basement during
World War II
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
In 1959, the station was sold to Triad Television Corp for $275,000.
In 1964, the station's power was increased to 5,000 watts.
On April 11, 1965, its sister station, WFRL-FM, began broadcasting on 98.5.
WFRL-FM is now
WXXQ.
The station aired a country music format until June 1977 and flipped to a
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 "cont ...
format with the change of ownership.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1978
', Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...
. 1978. p. C-65. Retrieved September 14, 2018. In 1977, the station was sold to Bradford-Ross Associates, along with WFRL-FM, for $475,000.
In 1980, the station was sold to Illinois Broadcasting, along with WXXQ, for $975,000.
In 1980, the station had adopted 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.
Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1983
', Broadcasting/Cablecasting. 1983. p. B-73. Retrieved September 14, 2018. In 1983, the station was sold to a partnership of C.R. Griggs, James D. McQuality and Larry S. Ward. In 1985, the station was sold to Freeport Radio Associates, along with WXXQ, for $1 million.
By 1989, the station had adopted an
adult contemporary
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, quie ...
format, and the station had begun nighttime operations, running 500 watts.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1989
', Broadcasting & Cable
''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadcas ...
. 1989. p. B-92. Retrieved September 14, 2018. In 1991, the station was sold to Stateline Broadcasting, along with WXXQ, for $900,000. In 1993, the station added talk programming. In 1995, the station was sold to Connoisseur Communications, along with WXXQ, for $2.3 million. By 1996, talk programming had replaced all music on the station.
[Format Changes]
, ''The M-Street Journal''. Vol. 13, No. 21. May 22, 1996. p. 1. Retrieved September 15, 2018. In 1996, the station was sold to Eveningstar Media Group for $245,000. The station temporarily simulcast 1440
WROK while the sale was pending.
In 1998, the station adopted an
adult standards format. In 2005, the station was sold to Maverick Media. In 2006, the station was sold to Green County Broadcasting, along with 92.1
WFPS, for $1,475,000. In 2010, the station was an affiliate of the short lived "Hit Parade Radio"
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 w ...
network, which featured DJs
Larry Lujack
Larry Lujack (born Larry Lee Blankenburg; June 6, 1940 – December 18, 2013), also called Superjock, Lawrence of Chicago, Uncle Lar, and King of the Corn Belt, was a Top 40 music radio disc jockey who was well known for his world-weary sarcastic ...
and
Wink Martindale
Winston Conrad "Wink" Martindale (born December 4, 1933) is an American disc jockey, radio personality, game show host, and television producer. In his six-decade career, he is best known for hosting '' Gambit'' from 1972 to 1976 (and again fro ...
.
[Broadcasting News-June 2010]
, Upper Midwest Broadcasting. June 7, 2010. Retrieved September 15, 2018.Hit Parade Radio's Parade Is Over
, ''Chicagoland Radio and Media''. June 4, 2010. Retrieved September 15, 2018. After the network's shutdown, WFRL retained the oldies format with local personalities.
References
External links
*
{{Country Radio Stations in Illinois
Classic country radio stations in the United States
FRL
Radio stations established in 1947
1947 establishments in Illinois