WIRO (107.1 FM) is a station covering the

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

area. 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 ...

outlet broadcasts at 107.1 MHz with an ERP of 3.1 kW, is licensed to Ironton, Ohio and is currently branded as an

Air1 Air1 is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), it primarily broadcasts contemporary worship music, and is a sister to the EMF's K-Love network. History In 1986, KLRD began broadcasting Christia ...

affiliate playing

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are fr ...

History

WIRO, which originally signed on the air in 1973 as WITO, would later go through format and call sign changes as WMLV (1985–97) and WFXN (1997–2002) before

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 ...

transformed them into a local version of the KISS-FM brand under the WBKS call sign. But unlike the traditional

mainstream top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

format that was used at their sister stations, this version focused on rhythmic hits and did not use the trademarked blue ball. The reason for this was due to having a sister station in

WKEE WKEE-FM (100.3 MHz) is a contemporary hit radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Huntington, West Virginia, serving Huntington, West Virginia, Ashland, Kentucky, and Ironton, Ohio. WKEE-FM is owned and operated by iHeartMedia iHe ...

, which is the market's top 40 outlet. On or before December 31, 2009, WBKS underwent a format change, becoming a simulcast of

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

station WAMX. On January 19, the station changed its call sign from WBKS to WLRX. On October 30, 2012, the station underwent another format change, joining

24/7 Comedy 24/7 Comedy was a 24-hour live, commercial-free radio format produced by iHeartMedia's Premiere Networks in the United States and by Bell Media in Canada.It showcased the stand-up comedy routines of established and emerging comedians in a rapid-f ...

. On June 2, 2014, WLRX flipped to classic country as ''107.1 The Bear''. On March 3, 2019, iHeartMedia announced it would sell four stations in its Aloha Station Trust, including WLRX, to the Educational Media Foundation in exchange for six translators already operated by iHeartMedia. The station was expected to flip to one of EMF's national networks ( K-Love,

, or K-Love Classics) upon the sale's closure. On May 31, 2019, the sale to Educational Media Foundation was closed and WLRX began operating under the ''Air1'' branding. The station changed its call sign to WAWT. The station changed its call sign to WIRO on November 9, 2022.

Former logo

References

External links

* * {{Huntington WV Radio Ironton, Ohio IRO Radio stations established in 1973 1973 establishments in Ohio Air1 radio stations Educational Media Foundation radio stations IRO