WXCL (104.9 FM) 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

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 ...

and serving the Peoria metropolitan area. It broadcasts a

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radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

and is owned by Midwest Communications, Inc. WXCL is one of two outlets in Peoria playing Country music, along with 97.3

WFYR WFYR (97.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format and licensed for Elmwood, Illinois, United States, in the Peoria area. The station is owned by Cumulus Media, which purchased the station from Townsquare Media. History Ev ...

History

104.9

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air in 1973 as WZRO with an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

format. This format was not successful and the station later adopted an

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

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 from

Drake-Chenault Drake-Chenault Enterprises (originally American Independent Radio Inc.) was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake ...

called "Great American Country." During the summer of 1980, for several days WZRO went off the air for repairs and a format switch. When it returned it became WKQA with a format of

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

. At this time it was owned by a company called Manship Corp. out of

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, Louisiana, co-owned with sister station WFMF. Then, during March 1982 it changed its moniker to Q-104 WKQA, and competed directly against AM station WIRL with an adult contemporary format. It used the monikers "Q-104" and WKQA interchangeably until early 1987. Then it became known as "Q-105" programming a hot adult contemporary format. Meanwhile, WXCL was formerly on AM 1350. In October 1989 WKQA changed its format and this station on 104.9 FM became known as WXCL-FM. WXCL simulcast on AM and FM for several years in the 1990s as WXCL (AM) and WXCL-FM. WXCL was later replaced on AM by

WOAM WOAM (1350 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station in Peoria, Illinois, that broadcasts an adult standards/MOR 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 ...

, leaving WXCL only on FM. WXCL was sold by Kelly Communications the AAA Entertainment in 2002, and sold again by AAA Entertainment to Triad Broadcasting in 2006. Since being bought by Triad, WXCL has used the on-air nickname 104.9 The Wolf. Effective May 1, 2013, L&L Broadcasting purchased WXCL and 29 other stations from Triad Broadcasting (JMP Media) at a purchase price of $21 million. On February 4, 2019, Alpha Media announced that it would sell its Peoria cluster to

Midwest Communications Midwest Communications, Inc. is a Wausau, Wisconsin–based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Il ...

for $21.6 million. The sale closed on April 30, 2019.

Personalities

Notable former air talent on WXCL: Dan Dermody, Bob Grayson, Dale Van Horn, Kimber Bennett, Sue Parker, Joe Calgaro, Dave Murphy, Joe Bob Cameron, Buck Stevens, Jack Shell, BJ Stone, Jerry Barr, Nancy Shelton, Doc Watson, Jamie Markley, Brad Bensman, Jeanie Plackett, Steve Young, Paul Jackson, Tweed Scott, Bob Look, Marty Roberts, Rick McKay, Michael Cruise, Mario Impemba, Joe Jackson, Robb Rose, Carolyn Mungo, Jim Crowley, Don Elliot, Marc Truelove, Denise Henley, PJ McKay, Maria Gilmore, Jay Curtis, Mort Cantor, Lee Malcolm, Chuck Collins (currently with

WMBD-TV WMBD-TV (channel 31) is a television station in Peoria, Illinois, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Bloomington-licensed Fox affiliate WYZZ-TV (channel 43) under a local ...

), Mike Pesto, "Danger" Dan Belk, Bob "The Bullet" Davis, Brett Erickson, Cody West, Loren Wassell, Chuck Urban, Lee Ranson, Cindy Austin, Andy Corbin, and Bill Bro. WXCL News personnel included Bill Marlowe (News Director), Ernie Slottag, Alan Friedman. Leon Thomas, Crystal Bostian, Steve Fiorina, Ron Howard, and Clark Smith (former WHOI-TV).

References

External links

* * {{Midwest Communications Country radio stations in the United States XCL Tazewell County, Illinois Radio stations established in 1970 1970 establishments in Illinois Midwest Communications radio stations