WMAY-FM
| Broadcast area | Springfield, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 92.7 MHz |
| Branding | US 92.7 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Country |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WQLZ, WMAY, WNNS | |
| History | |
First air date | April 16, 1993 (as WQLZ) 1967 (as WTIM-FM) |
Former call signs | WTIM-FM (1967–1975) WEEE (1975–1983) WTJY (1983–1993) WQLZ (1993-2015) |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 38346 |
| Class | B1 |
| ERP | 11,500 watts |
| HAAT | 147 meters (482 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°38′38″N 89°30′51″W / 39.64389°N 89.51417°W |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | us927.com |
WUSW-FM (92.7 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the city of Taylorville, Illinois. Its effective radiated power is 11,500 watts.
History
The station went on the air in 1967 as 3,000-watt WTIM-FM, playing beautiful music and featuring local high school sports events as an extension of WTIM (AM 1410, now WIHM) which was a daytimer. From 1975 to 1983, the station was WEEE (known as "Triple E" and later "W-3-E") with a variety of contemporary music formats, starting as adult contemporary then changing to "Rock 'n' Gold" (an AC/oldies hybrid) and then to album oriented rock. As an AOR station, the station first began to attract an audience in the Springfield market and was drawing much of its advertising revenue from there.
WEEE was sold in 1984 and the new owners changed the format to country music as WTJY. The station was sold again two years later and the format became satellite-fed AC. In 1990, WTJY took on a dayparted format with AAA/Rock mix during the day and a hard-rock/Heavy Metal mix in the evenings. The station also featured the "Todd & Joe morning show" with Todd Ellis and Joe Swank, both of whom went on to work at WKCM/WLME in Hawesville, KY/Tell City, Indiana after the station sale in 1992. The station also featured Rick Elliott music director and afternoon host, later left to become Operations Manager of WJVO/WJIL in Jacksonville, IL, Shawn Balint who went by the handle of "Doc Rock".
Ownership of WTIM and WTJY was separated in 1992 (thanks to deregulation making it possible for Springfield "clusters" to add a station, with WTJY going to Mid-West Family Broadcast Group to become part of the company's Springfield station cluster as WQLZ. The station also was granted a power increase to 11,500 watts and a tower relocation into Sangamon County to get city-grade coverage of Springfield without relinquishing city-grade coverage of Taylorville. Ellis went to the new WQLZ for a time and Balint remained with WTIM. Meanwhile, WTIM later gained a new FM sister to serve Taylorville in 94.3 WMKR, and moved to its current frequency of 97.3 in the late 1990s while a Catholic religious broadcaster took over the AM 1410 signal. In the 1990s, WQLZ was a radio station for the central Illinois area with live DJs 24 hours a day, and featuring "Ray Lytle's Morning Disaster" hosted by Ray Lytle with his brother Bodine, Jim the photographer, Mikey, Shawn Balint resurfaced on the 92.7 frequency, Rocky, Mychelle the Weather Babe, Brando and Rich, and featuring, Marvin, Larz, and others. In 2006, Balint went on to the St. Louis market, Mikey left radio, and in November 2007, Jim the Photographer died in his home.[1] WQLZ is owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting in Spaulding, Illinois.
On August 24, 2015, WQLZ began temporarily simulcasting on WLCE, which became the new home for WQLZ on September 4th. On that date, 92.7 began stunting with TV theme songs as "TV 93" and changed its call sign to WUSW-FM. On Tuesday, 92.7 flipped to country as "92.7 US Country". The callsign WUSW has been moved to 1670 AM in Madison, WI for likely use on 92.7.[2]
References
External links
- Facility details for Facility ID WUSW ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
- History of 1410 AM and 92.7 FM in Taylorville