A week after signing back on the air playing the same hits from the 1960s and '70s that it played when the songs first came out, WFLI-AM 1070 announced Monday that it would begin airing local news, talk and weather as well as syndicated conservative talk shows hosted by Laura Ingraham, Dave Ramsey, Rick and Bubba, Eric Metaxas and Todd Starnes.
It also will include some oldies as well as a local outdoors show hosted by Pat Rose. New co-owners Evan Stone and Marshall Bandy also announced plans to convert the station, which signed on the air in 1961, into a national Top 40 radio museum.
Stone said at a news conference attended by a half dozen of the disc jockeys that once spun records on air at the station that a board would be formed to lead the formation of the museum.
In its heyday and with its 50,000 watts, WFLI was the top-rated station for new music for almost two decades. It also is the only station in town for which a building (on O'Grady Drive in Lookout Valley) was specifically built. Most stations are located in repurposed spaces. It also is the only station in town that still uses its original call letters and Bandy and Stone are only the second owners, having purchased it from Ying Hua Benns, widow of Billy Benns, its original owner.
"I think the museum is as exciting to me as the relaunching of the station," Bandy said. "This was constructed as a radio station. It is the only one in town that was built for that purpose."
Weekday mornings under the new format will feature local news, weather and talk. Afternoons will feature the syndicated shows. One hour every day will be dedicated to local news updates and some of the oldies that helped make the station what it was. Stone said both he and Bandy grew up listening to WFLI and they have been overwhelmed by emails and phone calls from people thanking them for bringing the oldies hits back.
Nighttime programming on the weekends will include oldies shows created by Dick Clark and Casey Kasem.
"We can never forget the history of this radio station," Stone said.
The new programming begins today.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.