FM Technical Profile: WKLS

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Station Name:
Rock 105.9

Frequency:
105.9

Format:
Rock

Transmitter Location:
[map] Southwest of Rainbow City, east of US-411 (Rainbow Drive) at the end Amy Lane.

Power (ERP):
630 watts

Antenna:
Omnidirectional

Antenna HAAT:
643 feet

Other Information:
60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.

HD logo
HD-2: Sports Talk
"WKLS Sports"

:PS-[?] Time-[?] Text-[?] PTY-[?] PI-WKLS-FM

More Information:
[FCC]
[RECnet]
[Radio-Locator]
[Wikipedia]

[Facebook] For Rock 105.9
[Facebook] For WKLS Sports

Owner:
Hometown Radio, LLC

History:
This station dates back to an original construction permit issued to Cherokee Broadcasting Corporation for a new Class A FM (as WKYD) signal on 105.9 MHz.  It signed on in 1993 from a site off AL-68, northwest of Centre in Cherokee County, as WRHY.  The format was Country as "Y-106".

Williams Communications, Inc. bought the station in 1999.

In March 2008, the format flipped to Rock as WFXO, simulcasting Ashland-licensed WTXO. 

The calls changed to WKLS in October 2012.  Those calls had previously been on a big Atlanta rock station.  That same year, the station began trying to move to the Gadsden market, first by getting a permit to transmit from a taller antenna site south of Centre, then later by getting a permit to broadcast from the site they use today, south of Rainbow City in Etowah County.  That facility signed on in the summer of 2013, and was re-licensed to the community of Southside.

After moving to the Gadsden area, the station eventually added HD, launching a Sports Talk format on the HD-2 subchannel, which feeds a translator on 97.5 MHz in Gadsden.  ESPN was eventually dropped for a temporary simulcast of their sister station WHMA-FM in the Anniston area.  That gave way to a revamped Sports Talk format on the HD2 as "WKLS Sports".

The translator was purchased by Williams from Shelby Broadcast Associates in the summer of 2019 for $40,000.  At some point in 2020 it appears the Sports Talk was dropped and WHMA was heard on the translator again, but it either didn't last or the sports was put back on after a short time.

In mid-October 2023 it was announced that Williams Communications was selling all their stations for $250,000 to Hometown Radio, LLC. Hometown radio is led by broadcasting services company MaxxConnect's CEO, Josh Bohn.
The FCC dismissed the application in late November 2023 for failure to pay a filing fee.

In July 2024 the Williams Communications stations once again applied to transfer the license to Hometown Radio, LLC.