City Middlesboro, Kentucky Frequency 1490 kHz Format Classic Hits | Branding Foxy 1490 First air date 1969 Power 1,000 watts unlimited | |
WFXY (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format to the Middlesboro, Kentucky, USA area. The station is currently owned by Country Wide Broadcasters, Inc. and features programing from Fox News Radio.
History
WFXY signed on in 1969, with the call letters WAFI at 1560 kHz. Programming included a full-service format with pop and country music. In the late 1970s, the station moved to a full-time Top 40 format and changed to the current frequency in order to add nighttime service. Currently, WFXY broadcasts from a tower site on Bloomsbury Avenue in Middlesboro, 24 hours per day. The 1490 kHz frequency was originally occupied by station WMIK in Middlesboro from its sign-on date in 1948. WMIK, now a Southern Gospel station, moved to its present frequency at 560 kHz after the station's owners purchased Middlesboro station WCPM in May 1950. When WMIK changed frequencies, the 1490 kHz frequency remained unused until 1977. During that year, the stations frequency and call letters were changed; WAFI at 1560 kHz became WFXY at 1490 kHz. A few months later, WFXY moved its tower and transmitter from a location off US-25E to its present location.
In late 2005, WFXY and its parent company, Countrywide Broadcasters, Inc., were acquired by Joshua Wilkey, a North Carolina businessman who moved to Middlesboro to run WFXY and sister station WANO. The station has since dropped the satellite format it was airing (Westwood One/Dial Global's "Bright AC") in favor of local DJs and automation.
On June 1, 2013 WFXY changed their format from country (simulcasting WANO 1230 AM) to classic hits, branded as "Foxy 1490".