WIL-FM (92.3 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and serving Greater St. Louis. It airs a country music format and is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. The studios are on Olive Boulevard, near Interstate 270 in Creve Coeur (with a St. Louis address).
The transmitter is located at 5489 Butler Hill Road in St. Louis.FCC.gov/WIL-FM WIL-FM uses HD Radio technology. Its HD2 subchannel plays Americana music known as "Second Fiddle." The HD3 subchannel plays oldies and feeds FM translator W232CR at 94.3 MHz.
History WIL-FM signed on the air on July 15, 1962, as the FM sister station to WIL (1430 AM).Broadcasting Yearbook 1965 page B-91. Retrieved June 2, 2024. In its first decade, it mostly simulcast the AM station, which aired a Top 40 format, and were owned by WIL, Inc., a subsidiary of Balaban Stations. At the time, their studios were in Broadcasting House in St. Louis. WIL-FM was only powered at 30,000 watts, a fraction of its current output.
WIL-FM took the call sign KFMS on March 30, 1973. After a year, it returned to WIL-FM, effective September 1, 1974.FCC’s history cards for WIL-FM; retrieved April 28, 2021. In the 1970s, WIL had switched to a personality country format, while the FM aired a more music-intensive country format, with less chatter and fewer commercials.Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-124. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
Over time, as more people tuned to the FM band for music listening, WIL-FM became the dominant station. Eventually, the AM station changed its call letters to KZQZ and is now dark. WIL-FM was later acquired by Salt Lake City-based Bonneville International.
Bonneville announced its sale of WIL-FM (and 16 other stations) to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.
On January 30, 2017, WIL-FM re-branded as "New Country 92.3".WIL Rebrands as New Country 92.3 Radioinsight - January 30, 2017 On October 6, 2020, the station dropped the "New Country 92.3" branding and returned to using its call letters in its branding as "92.3 WIL".WIL Rebrands Back To Its Call Letters Radioinsight - October 6, 2020
HD Radio Starting in 2012, WIL-FM's HD2 digital subchannel began airing Americana music, calling itself "Second Fiddle". Previously, WIL-FM-HD2 was branded as "Kerosene Country", and largely had the same playlist as WIL-FM.
On February 18, 2020, WIL-FM signed on a third subchannel, and began airing an oldies format, branded as "My Mix 94.3." The subchannel feeds FM translator W232CR at 94.3 MHz in Alton, Illinois. See also List of three-letter broadcast call signs in the United States
References
External links
WIL Radio Collection finding aid at the St. Louis Public Library
STLRadio.com - Historic information about St. Louis radio broadcasting