1580 History

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.