WCBL (1290 AM) is an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

-formatted

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) 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 part ...

to Benton.

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and serving the broader

Jackson Purchase The Jackson Purchase, also known as the Purchase Region or simply the Purchase, is a region in the U.S. state of Kentucky bounded by the Mississippi River to the west, the Ohio River to the north, and the Tennessee River to the east. Jackson's P ...

region of western Kentucky, including

Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in the Upland South, and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located in the Southeastern United States at the confluence ...

. The station is owned by Jim Freeland in conjunction with

Calvert City, Kentucky Calvert City is a home rule-class city in Marshall County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,514 at the 2020 census. History Calvert City was named for Potilla Willis Calvert. He built his home, Oak Hill, in 1860 and around a de ...

–licensed classic country station

WCCK WCCK (95.7 FM, "K95.7") is a classic country– formatted radio station licensed to Calvert City, Kentucky, United States. The station is owned by Jim Freeland along with oldies stations Benton–licensed WCBL (1290 AM) and Grand Rivers� ...

(95.7 FM) The station's

studios A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to Wiktionary:study, study or zeal. Types Art The studio o ...

and

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

are located on Eggner's Ferry Road in Benton.WCBL-FM 99.1 MHz - Grand Rivers, KY
/ref> In addition to its primary AM signal, WCBL is also

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

on full-power station WCBL-FM (99.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

). Licensed to Grand Rivers, it broadcasts from a transmitter in rural southern Livingston County southeast of Smithland.

History

The station began broadcasting on December 13, 1954. It was originally owned by local politician James Shelby McCallum, who also owned a theater in the town of Benton and a few other towns. He also started WCBL-FM (broadcasting at 102.3 MHz at the time) when it was launched in 1966. McCallum once persuaded then-future

Kentucky governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have bee ...

Edward T. Breathitt to go into politics at a Hopkinsville-based theater he owned at that time. McCallum was also involved in civic matters locally in Marshall County, where Benton is located, and also served as part-owner of Benton's

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

system. McCallum owned the station under licensee Purchase Broadcasting until his 1987 death. Afterwards, owner Jim Freeland, who became general manager of the station seven years before, bought the stations; he remains owner and president of Freeland Broadcasting. WCBL mostly played

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

for much of its first three decades on the air until 2000, when that format was moved to

. WCBL-AM now simulcasts the oldies format with WCBL-FM.

In popular culture

In 1980, WCBL's name and likeness as well as local restaurant Hutchen's Bar-B-Que was used in the filming of a scene in the

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...

biography movie, '' Coal Miner's Daughter''. The filming, however, did not take place in the actual WCBL studios. One of that movie's writers was from the area.

References

External links

* ( Guide to reading History Cards) * ( Guide to reading History Cards) CBL-AM Radio stations established in 1954 Oldies radio stations in the United States {{Kentucky-radio-station-stub