WOAM (1350 AM) is a radio station in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

, that broadcasts an

adult standards/MOR Middle of the road (also known by its acronym MOR) is a commercial radio format. Music associated with this term is strongly melodic and uses techniques of vocal harmony and light orchestral arrangements. The format was similar to soft adult contem ...

format.

History

The station signed on as WEEK April 27, 1947. Peoria's TV channel 25 was started by the owners of 1350, and to this day channel 25 retains the callsign

WEEK-TV WEEK-TV (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Peoria, Illinois, United States, affiliated with NBC, American Broadcasting Company, ABC, MyNetworkTV, and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Media alongside Roar (TV network), Roar affiliat ...

, but 1350 itself has since switched callsigns several times. Other call letters have included WAAP, WXCL (still retained by a former sister station), and WTAZ. The station was most successful as WXCL with a

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 ...

format adopted in 1965. Eventually WXCL was simulcast on 104.9, a

Pekin, Illinois Pekin ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is the largest city of Tazewell County and the second most populous municipality of the Peoria metropolitan area ...

station that changed its callsign to

WXCL-FM WXCL (104.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pekin, Illinois and serving the Peoria metropolitan area. It broadcasts a country radio format and is owned by Midwest Communications, Inc. WXCL is one of two outlets in Peoria pla ...

. Personalities when the station was country music station WXCL included Don Elliot, Lee Ranson, Chuck Urban, Bill Bro, Paul Jackson, (Part Timer Arlen Horn), and Jim Crowley, Steve Young, Doug Adams, Tweed Scott, and Dave Hinkley. Bob Kelly bought the station in 1986. In 1994 the simulcast was dropped, with WXCL-FM 104.9 keeping the callsign and country format, and 1350 becoming WOAM with the

Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and Ca ...

format. Veteran Peoria native/broadcaster Cliff Shell hosted a highly rated morning drive show for its first two years. WOAM also became the highest rated AM station in Peoria during its second year on the air. In 1999 the station flipped to talk as (then) sister station WTAZ in

Morton, Illinois Morton is a village in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,117 at the 2020 census. The community holds a yearly Morton Pumpkin Festival for four days every September, and claims that "99 percent of the world's canne ...

) was moved from 102.3 FM to 1350 AM. In September 2001 the WTAZ call letters and format were dropped and WOAM returned using the Timeless Classics syndicated adult standards format. In 2007 WOAM switched to

Dial Global Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The c ...

Adult Standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

syndicated format. By the time WOAM first went dark, its only local show was

morning show Breakfast television (Europe and Australia) or morning show (Canada and the United States) is a type of news broadcasting, news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts Live television, live in the morning (typically broadcast pro ...

''Breakfast with Royce and Roger''. On October 2, 2008, WOAM, along 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 ...

94.3

WPMJ WPMJ (94.3 MHz FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station licensed for Chillicothe, Illinois in the Peoria, Illinois, area. The station is owned by the Covenant Network and has broadcast a Catholic radio format since September 2009. Although t ...

Chillicothe, Illinois Chillicothe () is a city on the Illinois River in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,097 at the 2010 census. Chillicothe is just north of the city of Peoria and is part of the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area. G ...

, went

dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

. Company owner Bob Kelly said he was still seeking funding and expects the stations to be off the air for "probably" 6 to 12 months, but that he did not intend to declare bankruptcy. WOAM resumed operations in September 2009, but was approved to go silent again in January 2010. After briefly returning to the air in early 2011 with automated broadcasts, it was purchased by Nelson Broadcasting, Inc. With the transfer of ownership, WOAM returned to the air in late July 2011, with the morning ''Breakfast with Royce and Roger'' returning in early August 2011. Staffing cuts ended ''Breakfast with Royce and Roger'' again at the end of September 2012. WOAM's license was assigned to American Education Foundation, Inc. effective January 1, 2013, for no consideration.

References

External links

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FCC History Cards for WOAM
{{Peoria Radio OAM Adult standards radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Illinois