WJLX-AM
WJLX-AM, marketed as WJLX 101.5 FM The Sound of Walker County and Oldies 101.5, is an Oldies-format radio station licensed to Jasper and owned by Don Earley.
The station's studios are located above the Plum Pretty Salon at 310 Alabama State Route 195. It broadcasts at AM 1240 with a 1-kilowatt day and night signal. WJLX-AM's programming is also broadcast at FM 101.5 via a translator with the call sign W268BM-FM.
Joy Christian Communications of Quitman, Mississippi previously broadcast a non-commercial Religious and Southern Gospel format at AM 1240 as WLYJ-AM, and then briefly as WZTQ-AM before moving that station to MA 1560 in Centre. It changed the Jasper station's call letters to WJLX-AM in January 2008 before it up for sale.
Wal-Win Radio LLC, a company formed by Brett Elmore with William and Margaret Neeck, acquired the station in April of that year for $300,000, and changed over to an Oldies format featuring Scott Shannon's "True Oldies Channel" distributed through ABC Radio Networks. In 2009 it added the W268BM transmitter, acquired from Edgewater Broadcasting. It later picked up Paul Finebaum's sports call-in show, which it followed with the Mike Harvey Show in the evenings. The station also aired Jasper Vikings high school football games, called by Elmore's father, Johnny.
In April 2011 a tornado spawned by a massive tornado outbreak across Alabama damaged the station's AM transmitter. Am broadcasts since then have been intermittent.
In 2016 the station and the W268BM transmitter were acquired by the Hattie Reese Trust of Danville, Kentucky for $150,000 and $10, respectively. In November 2017 that trust assigned ownership to John Burdette. Burdette sold the station to Don Earley of the Alabama Cable Network in May 2018 for $115,000. Elmore was kept on as general manager through those ownership changes.
In 2023 Elmore recruited Jim Battan to return to radio as host of Coyote J's Sunday Night Cemetery Of Rock. In February 2024 the station's AM transmitter and tower were stolen from their site on Town Creek, behind the Jasper Street Department facility off the end of 1st Avenue Jasper. Several days later, iHeartMedia executive John Zellner contacted Elmore and arranged for WJLX to make use its 102.5 HD3 band from Birmingham.
| Preceded by: WZTQ-AM |
AM 1240 2008– |
Succeeded by: current |
References
- "WJLX" (September 5, 2023) Wikipedia - accessed November 6, 2023
- Taylor, Drew (November 1, 2023) "Birmingham’s Coyote J. Calhoun on being back in radio after a decade away and the truth behind that infamous on-air ‘firing’." CBS42.com
- Robinson, Carol (February 6, 2024) "Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says." AL.com
- Stuart, Shauna (February 18, 2024) "Stolen 200-foot tower doesn’t keep Alabama radio station off the air, thanks to help from friends." AL.com