WLCL (93.9 FM "93.9 The Ville") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 to

Sellersburg, Indiana Sellersburg is a town located within Silver Creek and Carr Townships, Clark County, Indiana, United States. It had a population of 9,310 at the time of the 2020 census. Sellersburg is located along Interstate 65, about 15 minutes north of Loui ...

, and serving the

Louisville metropolitan area The Louisville metropolitan area is the 43rd largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States. It had a population of 1,395,855 in 2020 according to the latest official census, and its principal city is Louisville, Kentucky. T ...

. The station is owned by Union Broadcasting (UB Louisville, LLC) and airs a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

format. On weekdays, WLCL has a schedule of local sports hosts, with live sporting events in the evening and

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

heard late nights and weekends. Some programming is shared with

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s WHBE

680 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 680 kHz: 680 AM is a North American clear-channel frequency. KNBR and KBRW share Class A status on 680 kHz. WRKO, WPTF, CJOB and CFTR also broadcast on 680 kHz, with 50,00 ...

and WHBE-FM 105.7. WLCL is a Class A station. It has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 2,650

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. The

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 ...

is on South 5th Street at Main Street in

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

History

Early years

The station was first licensed as WZZB on . On May 24, 1991, the station's license was deleted (DWZZB) but it was later relicensed as WQKC. WQKC had a

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

format. But it switched to classic hits on November 20, 2008, after changing its

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

to WLCL, which stood for "Louisville's Classic Hits." It was owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

. On August 2, 2010, WLCL went silent after Cumulus decided to cease operations in the Louisville market. The station had not given any indication on the air that it was about to go off the air.

Way-FM

In 2011, the station returned to the air. It was now WAYI, carrying a

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

format originating with the

WAY-FM Network The WayFM Network is a national, non-profit radio broadcasting network in the United States, primarily playing Christian adult contemporary music. While WayFM is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, it operates stations in 12 states (), with co ...

. WAY-FM ran the station but it was still under the ownership of Cumulus Media, in a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

(LMA). On April 1, 2014, WAY-FM programming was removed from WAYI. The station again went silent on April 25, 2014, and returned to previous call letters WLCL on May 1, 2014.

Return to Sports

In late 2014, Union Broadcasting, which also owns sports radio stations WHBE 680 AM and WHBE-FM 105.7 in the Louisville

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

, announced that it would purchase WLCL from Cumulus Media. WLCL resumed operations on January 14, 2015, broadcasting

full-time. The purchase by Union Broadcasting closed on January 21, 2015, at a price of $3.138 million. The station became an

affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...

of the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

Radio Network beginning with the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

. That allowed

Louisville Cardinals football The Louisville Cardinals football team represents the University of Louisville in the sport of American football. The Cardinals compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and compete i ...

fans to follow the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

exploits of

Lamar Jackson Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. (born January 7, 1997) is an American professional football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals, winning the Heisman T ...

Louisville Cardinals

On February 17, 2022, it was announced that Louisville First Media Group, a partnership between the operators of WLCL and Word Media Group's WGTK, had struck a broadcast rights deal. WHAS 840 AM and WKRD 790 AM, owned by iHeartMedia, would be replaced as the official home for

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

Cardinals athletics. WLCL and WGTK will carry all of the university's football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball games in addition to seasonal football and basketball coaches shows. "Cardinal Insider", a weekday show checking in on news from the teams, which had been heard from 6-7pm weekdays on WKRD, would also move to WLCL, WGTK and Word Media Group's WXVW/W241CK in the nearby Indiana town of Jeffersonville. The change came, despite a decades-long partnership with WHAS, as a result of the university becoming upset with iHeartMedia frequently preempting Cardinals athletics broadcasts in favor of in-state rivals, the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Since the launch of the sports format on WLCL, the station had frequently played up its local connection to the school, including using the university's

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

in the station's

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

References

External links

* {{Sports Radio Stations in Indiana Radio stations established in 1990 LCL LCL Sports radio stations in the United States