WIL Calls/Country format return to 1430AM

Bonneville has pulled the plug on the standards format on 1430 WRTH, and has flipped the format to Classic Country, using the station's heratige WIL calls. Johnny Rabbit moves to 10-3PM, and Paul Jeffries from 3-7PM. Music the rest of the time comes from local automation.

"Country Legends 1430" sounds great! I have really missed this music on the radio in St. Louis since 550 flipped from KUSA in the early 90s.

Hopefully, this format will stick around awhile; Real Oldies didn't last long there, nor did their return to Nostalgia. Its great to see a three letter call return to its rightful home on the dial.

You are right, Mike, this is a good radio station, and they do a service to the rest of the Classic Country Listening world by streaming online.

I like the music mix on this station. It's like they pick up the music that their sister station, WIL FM just won't play anymore and goes back to the 60's as well. I would like to hear more Webb Pierce and Hank Sr., but they at least play Ray Price, George Jones, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn. Beggars cannot be choosers, this is one great station. I think they should take two hours of programming per week and do an oldies show that reaches back to the 40's and 50's.

It's nice to hear Country music again in St. Louis, since it left St. Louis radio 12-years ago. After KUSA, it seemed that if a song sounded at all Country, it was sure not to be played on the St. Louis "Country" stations.

Sounds pretty good listening here on the net in Pa. Sounds like the music on WIL I remember on a trip West in 1975 listening to Davie Lee & Jim Young. WIL then was a real top-40 sounding AM country station, lots of jingles & fast-paced jocks. This will be a great addition to the classic country stations on the internet and for classic country fans in the market. And nice to see the wIL calls back on AM again, too!

Looks like Red is our only standards station. Will it be a flippin' attempt for KSD-FM (The Bull)?

> Looks like Red is our only standards station. Will it be a
> flippin' attempt for KSD-FM (The Bull)?
>


Yes. We just had a meeting about how great Red's ratings are and that we'd be insane to not try to take a piece of that pie.

To bad less than 2% of any market is into "old (50's-70's) country." I like it, and I grew up with it, don't get me wrong, and I've listened to WIL-AM online and it sounds lgood, but less than 2%...I gues the WWII vets that are at the core of the Nastalgia format are really dying off quick. No disrespect. I just didn't think it was that bad. Bye-bye Frankie, Dino and Sammy on regular radio.


> > Looks like Red is our only standards station. Will it be
> a
> > flippin' attempt for KSD-FM (The Bull)?
> >
>
>
> Yes. We just had a meeting about how great Red's ratings
> are and that we'd be insane to not try to take a piece of
> that pie.
>

But if any AM station outside of KMOX and KTRS can actually get 2% of the market, then that is not too bad.

WIL-AM is obviously voice-tracked and I guess the operative question about classic country is "Why not ?" or "What else will actually work?" Lord knows we don't need any more sports talk, and Gospel is covered.

What else coulda been on 1430, except staying with standards?

I like the mix of Country music. 50's - 70's is not accurate. It sounds like the station cuts off just beofore Garth, Clint Black, and Alan Jackson. But there is plenty of George Strait, Reba, Judd's, Patty Loveless, and Holly Dunn as well as the "old songs". I personally listen to the stream, and it sounds a little different than the on-air product, but the sound quality has been excellent!

I hope this format is a keeper for a while.

Can anyone tell me exactly when WIL-FM began branding itself as a "today's" country music station? My memories of WIL-FM during the 80's involved hearing current hits, followed by an equal number of songs from the 70's and 80's and maybe once an hour, there'd be a country song from the 50's or 60's. (The music rotation was a little different in the mornings, as they were then simulcasting their morning show with WIL-AM, which at that time played mostly 50's and 60's country classics.) In 1989, I had moved away from St. Louis to pursue radio jobs in other parts of Missouri. By the time I had moved back home in 1994, they had cut out all the older music of that era and were playing almost exclusively current and re-current hits from the early 90's. (Their AM station, by that time, had switched to an MOR/Standards format.) What year did they begin doing this? 1992? 1993?

The "Today's" WIL came in about the same time Cornbread did which was probably 6 or 7 years ago by now when the station was under Bonneville's ownership. I never remember it being specifically branded as "Today's" but they went to a Hot Country approach in 1992, pretty much right after KIX did, but they would always play at least some selected songs from the 80s up until about the time David Craig departed the station and was replaced by Cornbread.

This is a very old thread; 1430 AM was sold to Bob Romanik several years ago now and has been Oldies station KZQZ probably 5 years at least by now.

mbatchelor said:

1430 AM was sold to Bob Romanik several years ago now and has been Oldies station KZQZ probably 5 years at least by now.

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I need to send my application over th them one day