WAAJ (90.5 FM) is a Southern Gospel– 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 greater

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 ...

area 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 currently owned by Pennyrile Christian Community, Inc. as part of a triopoly with

Christian radio Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

station

WTRT WTRT (88.1 FM) is a Christian radio– formatted radio station licensed to Benton, Kentucky, United States, and serving the Jackson Purchase area of western Kentucky, including Paducah. WTRT is owned by Pennyrile Christian Community, Inc. as pa ...

(88.1 FM) and

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

station WVHM (89.7 FM). All three stations share

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 ...

on College Street in downtown

Hardin, Kentucky Hardin is a home rule-class city in Marshall County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 580 at the 2020 census. History The Paducah, Tennessee and Alabama Railroad reached the area in 1890. A community grew up around the depot, ere ...

, while its transmitter facilities are off Dowdy Cemetery Road south of Benton. In order to broaden its broadcast and listening area, WAAJ operates an

FM translator 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 tr ...

on 89.1 FM (W206BB) in

Madisonville, Kentucky Madisonville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States, located along Interstate 69 in the state's Western Coal Fields region. The population was 19,591 at the 2010 census. Madisonville is a ...

. That station's transmitter is located on the campus of the North Campus of the

Madisonville Community College Madisonville Community College (MCC) is a public community college in Madisonville, Kentucky. It is one of 16 two-year, open-admissions colleges of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). MCC was originally established as a ...

History

WAAJ was launched as WVHM, a local

outlet for western Kentucky on June 30, 1989. In the 1990s, the station aired programming from the

Moody Radio Moody Radio is one of the largest Christian radio networks in the United States. Located in downtown Chicago, Moody Radio has 71 owned and operated stations

network.

Translators

In addition to the main station, WAAJ is relayed by an additional

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) ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

to widen its broadcast area.

References

External links

WAAJ's official website
* * Southern Gospel radio stations in the United States AAJ 1990 establishments in Kentucky Radio stations established in 1990 Marshall County, Kentucky {{Kentucky-radio-station-stub