WPFC (1550 AM) is a

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 ...

broadcasting an urban gospel/ talk format licensed to operate in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

, United States. The station is currently owned by pastor Ralph Moore.

History

James A. Noe obtained the construction permit for 1550, originally WUNE and WYNE, in 1961. In 1963, the station was sold to KCIL, Inc., which built it and gave it the callsign it used when it signed on, WLUX. The station was a 5,000-watt

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

. In 1971, Capital City Communications, which had bought WLUX in 1967, went bankrupt. The station's license had been filed for renewal in 1970, but the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

designated it for hearing because of a litany of issues, namely allegations of an unauthorized transfer of control, inaccurate ownership reports and improper operation of the radio station. With the station in receivership, a sale was attempted to United Broadcast Industries, Inc. The FCC denied the renewal of the license and canceled the sale, saying that renewing WLUX's license to operate would allow the owners of Capital City, described as having "utter disregard" for FCC rules, to benefit. However, WLUX was eventually spared. Edwin A. LaRose, the receiver, challenged the FCC's denial in the appeals court and won, with the appeals court finding that LaRose was acting within his bounds as a receiver and that the FCC committed an "abuse of discretion" in refusing to consider a license renewal for the station. LaRose had found another buyer, a local television preacher named

Jimmy Swaggart Jimmy Lee Swaggart (; born March 15, 1935) is an American Pentecostal televangelist and gospel artist. Swaggart is one of the most well-known televangelists in America. During the 1980s, Swaggart's crusades were a major part of his ministry� ...

. The FCC approved the sale of WLUX to Swaggart, and the renewal of the license, on December 18, 1974, noting that Swaggart was not connected in any way with the wrongdoing committed by Capital City that prompted the license revocation. The 1973 license renewal was then approved in 1977. For the next 18 years, Swaggart owned and operated WLUX. In 1994, Swaggart's ministry built an FM station, WJFM 88.5, and moved his religious programming there. Swaggart then sold the station to Victory & Power Ministries, headed by the pastor Ralph Moore. The station primarily broadcasts religious programming from a variety of local Christian ministries.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WPFC
Radio stations in Louisiana Radio stations established in 1963 Gospel radio stations in the United States Mass media in Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1963 establishments in Louisiana {{Louisiana-radio-station-stub