WKHL

WKHL (106.7 FM, "K-LOVE 106.7") is a radio station licensed to West Lafayette, Indiana, United States. WKHL broadcasts at an effective radiated power of 6,000 watts with a tower located in rural northwestern Tippecanoe County.

The WGLM commercial radio years (1992-2008)

WKHL began broadcasting at 7am on June 15, 1992 as WGLM. The station was founded by KVB Broadcasting under Kelly Vaughan Busch. Initially, WGLM went on the air with a full-service adult contemporary format focusing on music, hourly news updates, sports, weather, and other community updates throughout the day. It would become the first station in nearly a decade to be added to the Lafayette radio spectrum.

Original staff members included Busch, Ron Schuessler, Dan McKay (from KLIT/Los Angeles), Paul Poteet (from WEZV/Lafayette) and Collin Stewart (from/WHZR, WLHM, WZWZ and http://www.thatguysvoice.com/)

WGLM was very successful throughout the 1990s. The station constantly rated very highly with females 25-54, their primary demo at the time, and continued to focus on their "Community Radio" mission. WASK-AM eventually bowed out of the AC/MOR race with their parent company purchased the defunct WIIZ in 1994 to simulcast news/talk programming.

WGLM ran unopposed more or less for a couple years and did very well which lead the market's heritage top 40 station, WAZY, to flip to hot adult contemporary, a more upbeat version of the format WGLM was running. Ratings for all persons 12+ for WGLM took a hit from WAZY's new format; however, they still remained strong with 25-54 women, according to Arbitron. Despite this, competition between WAZY-FM and WGLM became very hot, and in 2000, WGLM dropped the "Community Radio" moniker in favor of "The Best Mix of Music," brought new imaging to the station, and segued to a 'brighter' adult contemporary format to go head-to-head against WAZY-FM. By the time the fall Arbitron period rolled around, WGLM began adding rhythmic crossover records to its evening and overnight programming, but the station remained "at-work friendly" during the primetime 6am-7pm hours.

2001 was a year of major changes in Lafayette radio and for WGLM. Long time competitor WAZY, which flipped to adult contemporary the previous fall and returned to Top 40 in March 2001. In addition, RadioWorks' newly acquired oldies station, WNJY Delphi, moved their tower into rural northeastern Tippecanoe County and flipped to Top 40 as WXXB, The New B 102.9. This made three top 40 or top 40-leaning stations in the market. As a result of this and a very poor rating period, WGLM decided to return to their adult contemporary roots. Soft Rock 106.7 signed on the air in February 2002. Jones Radio Networks syndicated night show, Delilah, returned to nights and the theme weekends, which had been a staple on the station from the beginning, were dropped. The second attempt at mainstream adult contemporary wasn't quite as popular as before and ratings continued to slide. The plug was pulled on Soft Rock 106.7 in late September 2004 and with that the entire air staff, with the exception of Rick Mummey.

WGLM flipped to Hot adult contemporary on September 25, 2004 at 8pm as The Mix 106.7. Programming consisted of Rick Mummey in the morning with the rest of the day supplied by Westwood One's Bright AC 24/7 format. Since the station wasn't oversaw by a program director, the station's focus wasn't fine-tuned and ratings slid even more so.

In mid-2007, The Mix 106.7 underwent a reimage that included a new interactive website, new jingles, liners, and a programming restructure under the supervision of Operations Manager, Ken Stapleton. Programming from Dial Global's Bright AC remained. As a result, WGLM saw substantial gains with Women 18-34 and 25-34, according to Arbitron's Fall 2007 ratings, pulling in the #1 spot in both categories.

The flip to non-commercial

On February 13, 2008, KVB Broadcasting managing partner, Kelly Busch, announced the sale of WGLM to Educational Media Foundation, which would replace the hot adult contemporary format with Contemporary Christian music. The Mix 106.7 signed off at 12:01am on February 29, 2008 ending nearly 16 years of adult contemporary programming. Educational Media Foundation, under a network affiliation agreement with KVB, signed on with their K-LOVE format at 4am that day.

The former WGLM calls have been requested for the AM 1380 and FM 106.3 radio stations in Greenville, Michigan (currently WSCG) as part of the stations' sale to new owners.

WKHL (2008- )

EMF changed the station's call letters to WKHL to better reflect the station's on-air identity on August 15, 2008. WKHL now airs EMF's K-LOVE Christian adult contemporary format. The station airs local programming targeted to West Lafayette on its Closer Look program which airs on select Sunday nights.

Where are They Now

Former Station Manager/General Sales Manager, Ron Schuessler, is now a sales representative at WLFI.

Former Program Director, Dan McKay, now operates 479XX.com, a Lafayette community-focused web radio station.

Former Director of Operations, Ken Stapleton, now works for the Midwest Operations Hub at LIN Media.

Former weekender/Production Director, Bryan McGarvey, is now the program director at cross-town oldies station WASK-FM.

Trivia

The first song played on WGLM in 1992 was "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak.

The last song played on WGLM as a commercial station in 2008 was the album version of "Closing Time" by Semisonic.

External links

• K-Love Website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WKHL
• Radio-Locator information on WKHL
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WKHL

Coordinates: 40°31′19″N 86°58′59″W / 40.522°N 86.983°W / 40.522; -86.983