WENO
WENO is an AM radio station operating in the Nashville, Tennessee market on the frequency of 760 kHz. It is currently programmed with a Gospel music and Ministry format and has a power of 1,000 watts; operation is limited to daytime hours to prevent interference to WJR, Detroit, Michigan.
| City | Nashville, Tennessee |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nashville |
| Frequency | 760 kHz |
| Branding | Gospel |
| Slogan | Nashville Total Gospel Station |
| Programming | |
| Format | Black Gospel |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Terrell Broady (Broady Media Group, LLC) |
| History | |
| Former call signs | WJRR (1987–1988) |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 71507 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 1,000 watts day only |
| Transmitter coordinates | 36°8′28.00″N 86°45′23.00″W |
| Links | |
| Website | WENO website |
History on 1430 kHz
The historic WENO broadcast on the frequency of 1430 kHz currently assigned to WPLN (AM). It was the only Nashville-area station in the early post-World War II era to program country music as its major format; even WSM, known in the public mind as the most influential station in the genre's development, at this time broadcast country music only during selected parts of the day (mainly at night, when the clear-channel signal penetrated deeply elsewhere in the country). The bulk of WSM's programming actually consisted of popular music, judged by its owners to be more "mainstream" and, hence, more attractive to the majority of listeners, particularly those affluent listeners most attractive to advertisers. WSM did not adopt country full-time until 1979.
The unwillingness of most broadcasters in the Nashville market to allow country music prominent airplay meant that WENO became very influential in the country music industry in the 1950s and 1960s, especially for what was then a 5,000-watt station; as the main country music station in what had become the recording capital of country music, it provided recording executives with immediate input as to what country audiences, at least those in the Nashville area, desired. Disc jockey Bob Jennings, a one-time WLAC employee, was probably the most influential on-air personality at the station during this period.
WENO was licensed to the Nashville suburb of Madison, Tennessee, then on the edge of a rural area; the station's five-acre (two-hectare) campus was promoted to listeners on air as the "WENO Radio Ranch". WENO began to decline as other, more-powerful stations switched to a country format, and as AM listeners in general, especially among the young, affluent consumers coveted by advertisers, switched increasingly to FM stations. By the 1980s, the station had gone silent; the callsign was used for a period by a gospel music station in Chattahoochee, Florida prior to being returned to Nashville for its current usage.
See also
- List of Nashville media
External links
- WENO in the FCC's AM station database
- WENO on Radio-Locator
- WENO in Nielsen Audio's AM station database