WSON

Last updated
WSON
WSON 860am-96.5fm logo.png
Broadcast area Evansville, Indiana
Frequency 860 kHz
Branding860-AM & 96.5-FM, WSON
Programming
Format Classic hits
Affiliations NBC Radio News
Tennessee Titans Radio Network
Westwood One Sports
Ownership
Owner
  • Henson Media/Ed Henson
  • (Henson Media of Henderson County)
History
First air date
December 17, 1941;82 years ago (1941-12-17) [1]
Call sign meaning
W HenderSON [2]
Technical information
Facility ID 26946
Class B
Power 500 watts
Transmitter coordinates
 37°51′11″N87°32′12″W / 37.85306°N 87.53667°W / 37.85306; -87.53667
Translator(s) 96.5 W243CU (Sebree)
107.9 W300ED (Henderson)
Links
Webcast Listen Live
Website wsonradio.com

WSON (860 AM) is a radio station in Henderson, Kentucky broadcasting a classic hits format. The station is currently owned by Henson Media and features news, sports, weather and music features programming from NBC Radio News and Westwood One, as well as locally produced programming. [3] The station can be heard during daylight hours in neighboring Evansville, Indiana and Owensboro, Kentucky.

Contents

History

The station's construction permit was issued by the FCC to Paducah Broadcasters, Inc., the station's first owner, in June 1941. [4] On December 17, 1941, ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, WSON first signed on the air under direction by Henderson businessman Hecht Lackey, who previously launched and managed WPAD in Paducah and WHOP in Hopkinsville. [1] : 36  The station originally broadcast from studios on Zion Road. For most of its first four decades on the air, WSON was a 250 watt daytime-only station, signing off at sunset in order to protect Radio-Canada flagship station CJBC in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, a treaty between the United States and Canada signed in the mid-1980s allowed WSON and other daytimers that went off the air to protect Canadian clear-channel stations, to begin nighttime operations as well. WSON must use a directional antenna from sunset to sunrise, with the signal oriented to the southwest; this protects the skywave signal of CJBC as 860 AM is a Canadian clear-channel frequency.

In 1943, the station was sold to Henderson Broadcasting Co., Inc. [4] The next year, the station affiliated with the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS) and doubled its transmitter power to 500 watts. [1] : 36  In 1947, the station's FM companion station was launched as WSON-FM (now WKDQ); it began simulcasting its AM programming until sometime in 1971, [4] at which point the FM station became a separate entity. [1] : 92 

The station relocated to new studios on North Main Street in 1955; the station would return to its original facility in 1967. The following year, the station disaffiliated with MBS to become independent once again. The station picked up an affiliation with ABC Radio in 1961, but switched to CBS Radio two years afterwards. [1] : 92 

WSON would eventually become affiliated with NBC Radio.

Recent developments

In July 2010, owner Henry Lackey, the son of station founder Hecht Lackey, announced that he had agreed to sell WSON to Ed Henson, which owns WMSK-AM-FM in Morganfield and Sturgis, Kentucky. The deal received FCC approval and was consummated soon thereafter. [4] [5]

In September 2011, WSON began simulcasting on an FM translator, W243CU (96.5 FM), which is licensed to Sebree, Kentucky. W243CU, which has an effective radiated power of 250 watts, can be heard up to 30 miles in any direction from its transmitter site in the Wolf Hills north of Henderson. It allows listeners in Evansville and surrounding communities to listen to WSON's programming after nightfall, when the AM station has to adjust its coverage.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nash, Francis M. (1995). Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State (PDF). HOST Communications. ISBN   9781879688933 – via World Radio History.
  2. ↑ "Call Letter Origins". Radio History on the Web.
  3. ↑ "WSON Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Boyett, Frank (December 14, 2016). "WSON Radio celebrating 75 years on the air". Henderson Gleaner . Henderson, Kentucky. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  5. ↑ Stinnett, Chuck (July 12, 2010). "WSON sale planned to Union County station owner". Henderson Gleaner. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
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