Technical Profile: WLWE

AM Technical Profile: WLWE

Frequency:: 1360
Format:: Sports Talk
Transmitter Location:: [map] Near Crystal Lake, northwest of town on US-431.
Power (ERP):: Day: 1 kW; Night: 54 watts
Antenna:: Day: 1 tower
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files

[FCC]
[FCCdata.org]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]

[Facebook] Page for main station WLAG / Eagle Sports; [Article] News story on the demolition of WELR's old tower, which was brought down to make way for a bypass around town.; // W245AW La Grange, GA; // WLAG La Grange, GA
History:: This station dates back to an original application filed in 1948 by the Roanoke Broadcasting Company (E. L. Roberts and J. W. Buttram) for a station on 930 kHz with 100 watts full time. That was amended to upgrade power to 250 watts but as a daytime only operator. The application was amended again before the FCC approved it, this time for 1 kW on 1360 kHz but still as a daytime only operation, using a Gates BC-1E transmitter located next to the studio at 801 East Main Street. The engineer's name appearing on the paperwork was Julius Vessels of WGAD in Gadsden. Before signing on the station switched to a Western Electric 443-A-1 transmitter; they filed a licensed to cover in late 1949, which was granted by the FCC in 1950. E. L. Roberts appears to have sold his share of the company in 1952.

J. W. Buttram would lead the company until his death in 1964. After that, the station was sold to Earl E. Manning, Jr. in November of 1964. The station spawned an FM companion, WELR-FM, in 1969, which mostly simulcast the AM.

By the mid 70's, the station was known to have a Country music format according to the Broadcasting Yearbook.

Eagle's Nest, Inc. acquired the station in October 1988, and it appears that around this time the format for the AM flipped the Southern Gospel while the FM retained the long-running Country format. It retained that format until the mid-90's when it transitioned to a News/Talk format.

In the mid-2000's the station flipped to Sports Talk with ESPN affiliation. That lasted until January 2013 when the dropped ESPN for the upstart CBS Sports Radio network. In July 2013, the station received a permit to relocate to the WELR-FM studios on US-431 near Crystal Lake north of town. It appears the move had been in the work for over a decade; a permit issued in 2000 would have relocated the AM tower to a site a few thousand feet west of the current licensed location but that never materialized. The reason for the eventual move was supposed to be an extension of AL-22 would come through the original tower property site to create a truck route bypass of Roanoke, however as of April 2024 that road work has not been started. A license to cover for the move to the current tower site was granted in August 2013. In September 2013, the call sign changed from WELR to WLWE.

CBS Sports Radio rebranded to Infinity Sports Network on 15 April 2023.