WJLT is a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 licensed to broadcast at 105.3 on the FM

FM broadcasting

FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...

 in Evansville, Indiana

Evansville, Indiana

Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...

.

History

The station started as WVHI-FM, a religious station.

In 1982, the owners decided to compete with WBKR and changed to a country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 format. The station became WYNG

WYNG

WYNG is a radio station licensed to Mount Carmel, Illinois and serving the Evansville, IN market at 94.9 FM. The current format is Adult Contemporary.- History :...

 (Wing 105).

WYNG was successful through the 1980s, but then things began to sour. The first blow came when WBKR started to target Evansville, IN a little more (it was primarily targeting Owensboro, Kentucky

Owensboro, Kentucky

Owensboro is the fourth largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about southeast of Evansville, Indiana, and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's...

, but had a 100 kW signal that was received in Evansville). The second blow came in 1992 when WKDQ dumped its Adult Contemporary/Oldies

Oldies

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

 hybrid format in favor of country, immediately taking numbers from WYNG. A third blow came when, in a desperate move, WYNG dumped its Wing 105 moniker and started calling itself Y105 and trying to target younger listeners.

WYNG was later acquired by Cumulus Media

Cumulus Media

Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...

 (along with WGBF-FM/AM, WDKS, and WTRI) and later spun to Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

, which finally sold the stations to Regent Communications (now Townsquare Media). Clear Channel elected to move WYNG to the 94.9 frequency which was a 50 kW facility, but the transmitter was further north in Mount Carmel, Illinois

Mount Carmel, Illinois

Mount Carmel is a city in and the county seat of Wabash County, Illinois, United States. At the time of the 2000 census, the population was 7,982, while the next largest town in Wabash County is Allendale, population 528. Located at the confluence of the Wabash, Patoka, and White Rivers, Mount...

. and ratings plummented. Eventually the 94.9 frequency was sold to W. Russ Withers, Jr..

Meanwhile, Clear Channel decided to compete with Evansville's adult contemporary powerhouse and consistent ratings leader WIKY-FM. With a callsign change to WJLT, Lite 105.3 took to the air, but the ratings plummeted for 105.3 in the new AC format. When Clear Channel spun off its Evansville cluster to Regent Communications (now Townsquare Media), Regent flipped WJLT to oldies

Oldies

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

.

WJLT has seen much success with that format, with respectable ratings among the top five or six stations in Evansville.

A large part of that success can be credited to the fact that Regent was able to lure Joe Blair, a popular local morning DJ who had previously built up a loyal audience at WIKY and later at WJPS-FM (now WLFW, to take on the station's morning show.

WJLT brands itself as "Superhits 105.3" and airs numerous television commercials. The station simulcasts audio of local television station WEHT

WEHT

WEHT is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Indiana, Northwestern Kentucky and Southeastern Illinois; it is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group under a shared services agreement with independent station WTVW...

when severe weather is in the area and when WEHT is covering the weather wall-to-wall.

WJLT call letters

In the mid-1980s, the WJLT calls were assigned to a station in Crozet-Charlottesville, VA on 102.3 FM. The station was known as Light 102.3 FM and featured an AC satellite format. The station was co-owned with WPED-AM (810 on the dial), which had a contemporary country format. Both were owned at the time by Elting Enterprises. The stations were later sold.