This is station history post #14 and this next post is the history of 1580, a station that carried a religious format as WSKT-AM.
1580 History
On May 21, 1961, 1580 signed on as WSKT-AM with studios located in Colonial Village with studios located at the Knoxville Hyatt lobby. The station carried a religious format that lasted very well into the late 1980s.
In the late 1980s, the station was leased to a couple of local radio groups and was transformed to a screaming top 40 station as WMRE-AM. In the late 1980s, they were a nostalgia station known as "AM 1580 WMRE, The Memory Channel". The station was sold to black out-of-town preachers and was renamed WDMF. The station then left the air for a few years.
On May 11, 1998, 1580 signed back on as WAHI-AM and carried a gospel format. On November 28, 2003, WAHI-AM changed calls to WNPZ-AM and kept the gospel music format. The station goes by “1580 The Light” and has been gospel ever since.
4 comments:
Correction.
In the late 1980's, WMRE-AM 1580 had a "Adult Standards/Big Band" format.
It was called, "AM-1580 WMRE The Memory Channel".
Thank you very much. I will add that on there. If you have anymore information on Knoxville radio stations and airchecks, send me an email at KnoxvilleTV@yahoo.com because I would love to hear some airchecks.
I have an aircheck of 1580 WSKT from 1980/1981. It's an early-morning check and the announcer was Edwin B. Hunter. It's on reel-to-reel and I have to find it but I'll get it to you when I can locate it.
As I remember 1580 when it signed on in the early 60’s, it advertised all girl forget and I listened to them most every day.
The female DJs that they had went on to other stations in Knoxville, mainly doing news. Harry Morgan put this station on the air and worked as the morning DJ for quite awhile mainly when he switched formats to “The Music of Your Life.’ Sunday afternoons they had a gospel music program on hosted by Harry’s son-in-law whose last name was Hunter. That is after they went from 250 watts to 5,000 watts. Believe or not, Bobby Denton, later of WIVK-FM fame, got his start there as a DJ. Another DJ there when Denton was there was a guy called Max the Player. WSKT had many different formats before airing religious programs.
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