WMRO

WMRO (1560 AM, "Magic 1560") was a radio station licensed to and serving Gallatin, Tennessee. The station was locally owned by Scott, Leslie, and Sandra Bailey of Classic Broadcasting, Inc.[2] The station's studios and transmitter facilities were located a half–mile north of downtown Gallatin.

WMRO
CityGallatin, Tennessee
Frequency1560 kHz
BrandingMagic 1560
SloganToday's Best Hits!
Programming
FormatDefunct (formerly Adult contemporary)
Ownership
OwnerClassic Broadcasting, Inc.
History
First air dateApril 1, 1963
Last air dateAugust 31, 2019
Former call signsWSTH (1962, CP)
WLVN (1962–1964)
WWGM (1964–1993)[1]
Technical information
Facility ID11749
ClassD
Power1,000 watts (day)
3 watts (night)
Transmitter coordinates36°24′03″N 86°27′03″W

Programming

The station was last branded as "Magic 1560" and aired the satellite-fed adult contemporary music format from Cumulus Media. On Sundays, church services, religious, and local programming focusing on Gallatin area were aired. On September 12, 2014, the station changed its format from hot adult contemporary to a mainstream adult contemporary format.

History

The Second Thursday Corporation received the construction permit for a new AM radio station in Nashville in 1962. Originally assigned the call letters WSTH, WLVN signed on April 1, 1963 as "The Nashville Sound", focusing entirely on recordings made in the city.[3] WLVN relaunched as full-service WWGM on September 25, 1964.[4] The station broadcast with 10,000 watts during the daytime only.

After nearly four years of operation as WWGM, the station filed for bankruptcy in 1968.[5] Crawford Broadcasting bought the station at auction for $105,000 later that year—though it did not become the licensee until 1970—and said that if the equipment manufacturers that WWGM owed money would not make arrangements with it, the group would build a new facility.[6] Second Thursday also held a construction permit for an FM station on 92.9 MHz, sold separately,[6] that was finally built in 1976 as WZEZ.

According to FCC records, in 1974, Faye B. Lindsey began to work at the station, eventually working her way up to a management position; by 1981, she was the station's general manager. In September 1986, Dean A. Crawford Broadcasting Co. reached an agreement to sell WWGM to Lindsey Christian Broadcasting Company, consisting of Faye and her husband Rudy Lindsey.[7] The deal was approved by the FCC on November 25, 1986, and the transaction was consummated on December 16, 1986.[7] Throughout this era, the station was identified as a religious-oriented radio station, playing "traditional Christian music."[8] In April 1993, Lindsey Christian Broadcasting Company reached an agreement to sell WWGM to Classic Broadcasting, Inc.[9] The deal was approved by the FCC on October 25, 1993, and the transaction was consummated on October 28, 1993.[9] The new owners, William E. "Bill", Sandra, and Scott Bailey had the FCC change the call letters to WMRO on November 9, 1993[1] and relocated the station to Gallatin. The call letters had previously belonged to a station in Aurora, Illinois, for the previous 30 years (see below).[10]

On February 19, 1994, with its new call sign of WMRO, the station began playing an oldies music format.

On April 1, 2006, the station flipped to a hot adult contemporary music format because of the area's changing demographics as a Nashville bedroom community and another station in the county switching to an oldies format. In December 2006, majority control of Classic Broadcasting was transferred from William E. "Bill" Bailey to Timothy Scott Bailey.[11]

In 2007, WMRO-AM also aired a weekly program called "Music Business Radio", produced at the studios of WRLT-FM (Lightning 100) in Nashville, that promotes local bands, artist and writers.

On September 12, 2014, the station changed format from hot adult contemporary to mainstream AC.

Before buying WMRO, Scott Bailey was an air personality known as "Scott the Rock" at Nashville's WVOL (1470 AM) and WQQK (92.1 FM)[2] known as 92Q.

WMRO's last days of operation

In the fall of 2018, the land on which WMRO's tower was located was sold, so WMRO applied for special temporary authority to operate at 200 watts as a daytime–only station with a long wire antenna from Scott and Leslie Bailey's home. In a letter dated August 31, 2019, WMRO returned its license to the FCC; the FCC cancelled the station's license on August 28, 2019.[12] The last song played on WMRO according to Scott Bailey was "Slow Ride" by Foghat.

Previous callsign use

The WMRO call letters were originally assigned to Aurora, Illinois. WMRO existed from 1938 until 1989 (now WBIG). Sister WMRO-FM signed on in 1965 (now WLEY-FM).

References
  1. "Call Sign History". CDBS Public Access Database. FCC Media Bureau. November 9, 1993. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  2. "Hall of Fame". Vol State College Radio. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  3. "WLVN To Open With 'Town and Country' Format". March 24, 1963. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  4. "New Radio Station, WWGM, To Debut". The Tennessean. September 20, 1964. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  5. "WWGM Files In Bankruptcy; Receiver Set". The Tennessean. April 18, 1968. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  6. "WWGM May Build New Unit". The Tennessean. July 6, 1968. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  7. "Application Search Details (BAL-19860916FV)". FCC Media Bureau. December 16, 1986. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  8. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1662/m1/90/
  9. "Application Search Details (BAPL-19930422EB)". FCC Media Bureau. October 28, 1993. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  10. Young, Linda (December 24, 1989). "Aurora Mourns Loss of WMRO". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
  11. "Application Search Details (BTC-20061016ADZ)". FCC Media Bureau. December 28, 2006. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  12. WMRO’s CDBS entry; retrieved September 4, 2019.
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