WLBJ (FM)

WLBJ
Broadcast area
Meridian, Mississippi
Frequency93.5 MHz
BrandingK-Love
Programming
FormatChristian adult contemporary
AffiliationsK-Love
Ownership
OwnerEducational Media Foundation
History
First air date
1978 (1978)
Former call signs
  • WQGL (1978)
  • WQGL-FM (1978–1982)
  • WQGL (1982–1997)
  • WKZB (1997–2005)
  • WMLV (2005–2015)
  • WMLG (2015–2017)
  • WCLR (2017–2018)
  • WMKQ (2018–2019)[1]
  • WKLV-FM (2019–2025)
  • WFHM-FM (2025)
Call sign meaning
"L.B. Jenkins" (formerly used on WLBJ in Bowling Green, Kentucky)
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
7903
ClassC2
ERP32,000 watts
HAAT186 meters (610 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
32°9′26″N 88°29′17″W / 32.15722°N 88.48806°W / 32.15722; -88.48806
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.klove.com

WLBJ (93.5 FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Butler, Alabama, United States. The station is owned by Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and airs the contemporary Christian music-formatted K-Love network.

Programming

The station is broadcasting a contemporary Christian music format to the Meridian, Mississippi, area.[3]

History

Butler Broadcasting Corporation received the original construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1978 for a new FM station broadcasting with 3,000 watts of effective radiated power on 93.5 MHz.[4] The new station was assigned the call letters WQGL by the FCC.[1] On September 11, 1978, the same day the station applied to the FCC for its license to cover, the owners received new call letters WQGL-FM.[1] WQGL-FM received its license to cover from the FCC on July 30, 1979.[5] On April 8, 1992, the station returned to the unadorned WQGL callsign.[1]

On May 4, 1995, the FCC granted this station a construction permit to move their transmitter site, raise their antenna, and upgrade their broadcast power to 25,000 watts.[6] These upgrades were completed in May 1997[7] and the station changed call letters to WKZB on June 9, 1997.[1]

In June 2002, Butler Broadcasting Corporation (Darryl Jackson, president) reached an agreement to sell this station to East Mississippi Broadcasters, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Holladay Broadcasting (Bob Holladay, president), for a reported sale price of $771,500.[8] The deal was approved by the FCC on August 16, 2002, and the transaction was consummated on October 30, 2002.[9] At the time of the sale, WKZB broadcast a classic rock music format.

This change would prove short-lived as in early December 2003, Holladay Broadcasting' East Mississippi Broadcasters, Inc., agreed to transfer the broadcast license for this station to Holladay Broadcasting-owned Mississippi Broadcasters LLC. The deal was approved by the FCC on December 10, 2003, and the transaction was consummated on January 1, 2004.[10] Under the new ownership, the station again changed callsigns, this time to WMLV, on July 1, 2005.[1]

In September 2011, WMLV was sold to Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and went temporarily silent.[11] On October 4, 2011, WMLV returned to the air with EMF's K-Love contemporary Christian format.

The station changed its call sign to WMLG on July 17, 2015, as the WMLV call sign was moved to a station EMF had just acquired in Miami, Florida.[12] The station changed its call sign again on June 2, 2017, to WCLR. On November 30, 2018, the station's call sign was changed to WMKQ. On July 11, 2019,[1] WMKQ swapped call signs with WKLV-FM in Port Chester, New York.[13] On February 1, 2025, the station swapped call signs with WFHM-FM in Cleveland, Ohio.[14] Soon after, on April 22, 2025, the call sign was changed to WLBJ.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WLBJ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ↑ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  4. ↑ "Application Search Details (BPH-9387)". FCC Media Bureau. September 11, 1978.
  5. ↑ "Application Search Details (BLH-19780911AA)". FCC Media Bureau. July 30, 1979.
  6. ↑ "Application Search Details (BPH-19941005IE)". FCC Media Bureau. May 4, 1995.
  7. ↑ "Application Search Details (BLH-19970602KH)". FCC Media Bureau. January 9, 2002.
  8. ↑ "Changing Hands - 7-15-2002". Broadcasting & Cable. July 15, 2002.
  9. ↑ "Application Search Details (BALH-20020628ABY)". FCC Media Bureau.
  10. ↑ "Application Search Details (BALH-20031203AFD)". FCC Media Bureau. January 1, 2004.
  11. ↑ "Format Musical Chairs in Meridian, MS".
  12. ↑ Venta, Lance (July 17, 2015). "Classical South Florida Flips To K-Love; WPBI News To Continue For Now". RadioInsight. Retrieved August 18, 2026.
  13. ↑ Venta, Lance (July 19, 2026). "Air 1 Debuts in New York". RadioInsight. Retrieved August 18, 2026.
  14. ↑ Santrella, David P (January 22, 2025). "Form 380 - Exchange Request". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  15. ↑ Reynolds, Matt (April 10, 2025). "Form 380 - Change Request". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
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