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WCLB
WCLB (950 AM) is a radio station in Sheboygan, Wisconsin which airs a hybrid classic country/rock format simulcast from WGXI (1420) in Plymouth. WCLB's license is owned by Mountain Dog Media, a company owned by former State Senator Randy Hopper, with WGXI's owner, Galaxie Broadcasting, providing its programming from its studio facility on WI 57 in Plymouth.
The station is also translated via FM on W297CK (107.3), also licensed to Sheboygan. The station's AM transmitter is located in Sheboygan Falls, with W297CK's transmitter located behind the Sheboygan County Detention Center on Sheboygan's south side.
The station came on the air in 1956 as WSHE. They would soon ask for a call change to WKTL to stand for the Kettle Moraine range west of Sheboygan, but WHBL filed an objection to the calls, asserting the new calls sounded too alike and would cause issues with ratings diaries and branding. The station then chose the less-confusing WKTS calls in response. They would carry a general MOR format mixed with local talk, along with being a part of the Chicago Cubs Radio Network for several years.
Launching from a former gas station building in Sheboygan Falls, the station eventually moved its studios located to the second floor above a local office supply store in downtown Sheboygan, then the Walgreens building nearby. The station was a daytime-only operation until being authorized for night service by the FCC in 1987. WKTS moved to the corner of Union Avenue and South 12th Street in the early 1980s. The station stayed on the air as WKTS until 1991, when the ownership group was foreclosed by a local bank and the station was forced to go dark. An attempt by WKTS to acquire the open 93.7 FM allotment which eventually went to WBFM the next year had also failed to rescue the station.
Early owners included David A. Bensman, a prominent Sheboygan business man with interests in Two Rivers' The Free Press, the B&B Sound System, Radio and Record Center store, and Polkaland Records. Upon Bensman's death, the station was sold to Richard McKee and then later to long-time owners R. Karl Baker and his wife Jane, later sold to First Concord of Minnesota, headed by Steven T. Moravec for a short time, next to Sheboygan Broadcasting, headed by long-time Sheboygan announcer, Julian Jetzer.
The station's license was next picked up by Don Jones' Star Cablevision (unrelated to the larger Cablevision corporation), the city's cable provider and a precursor company to Charter Communications. The station came back on the air on June 11, 1993 as WCNZ, airing an audio simulcast of CNN Headline News and local news updates during the network's local affiliate update time (:25/:55 after the hour), along with broadcasts of Sheboygan A's semi-pro baseball games and some high school sports, with coverage usually provided via simulcasts from Star Cablevision (later Marcus Cable)'s WSCS TV8 public access station. For a short time, WHBL's news director Jerry Bader moved to WCNZ as its news director and main on-air personality before being lured back to WHBL with a new contract which expanded his role with the station (and eventually springboarded him into a local daily talk show that eventually saw him moved to sister station WTAQ in Green Bay). Star had also purchased KFIZ AM/KFIZ-FM in Fond du Lac around the same time.
In 1997, WCNZ and the KFIZ stations were sold to Mountain Dog Media, the owners of WXER (104.5), upon the merger of Marcus Cable (which purchased Star Cablevision in 1994) into Charter Communications, which had no interest whatsoever in maintaining radio stations. Studios were merged with WXER's Falls Plaza facilities, and the station ended the Headline News simulcast by flipping back to its former MOR format.
On May 4, 2000, WCNZ changed their calls to WCLB, and then switched to an adult standards format as 950 The Club. Later, the station changed to oldies as "Cool 950". The station would remain so until January 3, 2004, when WCLB took an affiliation with ESPN Radio.
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WCLB
WCLB (950 AM) is a radio station in Sheboygan, Wisconsin which airs a hybrid classic country/rock format simulcast from WGXI (1420) in Plymouth. WCLB's license is owned by Mountain Dog Media, a company owned by former State Senator Randy Hopper, with WGXI's owner, Galaxie Broadcasting, providing its programming from its studio facility on WI 57 in Plymouth.
The station is also translated via FM on W297CK (107.3), also licensed to Sheboygan. The station's AM transmitter is located in Sheboygan Falls, with W297CK's transmitter located behind the Sheboygan County Detention Center on Sheboygan's south side.
The station came on the air in 1956 as WSHE. They would soon ask for a call change to WKTL to stand for the Kettle Moraine range west of Sheboygan, but WHBL filed an objection to the calls, asserting the new calls sounded too alike and would cause issues with ratings diaries and branding. The station then chose the less-confusing WKTS calls in response. They would carry a general MOR format mixed with local talk, along with being a part of the Chicago Cubs Radio Network for several years.
Launching from a former gas station building in Sheboygan Falls, the station eventually moved its studios located to the second floor above a local office supply store in downtown Sheboygan, then the Walgreens building nearby. The station was a daytime-only operation until being authorized for night service by the FCC in 1987. WKTS moved to the corner of Union Avenue and South 12th Street in the early 1980s. The station stayed on the air as WKTS until 1991, when the ownership group was foreclosed by a local bank and the station was forced to go dark. An attempt by WKTS to acquire the open 93.7 FM allotment which eventually went to WBFM the next year had also failed to rescue the station.
Early owners included David A. Bensman, a prominent Sheboygan business man with interests in Two Rivers' The Free Press, the B&B Sound System, Radio and Record Center store, and Polkaland Records. Upon Bensman's death, the station was sold to Richard McKee and then later to long-time owners R. Karl Baker and his wife Jane, later sold to First Concord of Minnesota, headed by Steven T. Moravec for a short time, next to Sheboygan Broadcasting, headed by long-time Sheboygan announcer, Julian Jetzer.
The station's license was next picked up by Don Jones' Star Cablevision (unrelated to the larger Cablevision corporation), the city's cable provider and a precursor company to Charter Communications. The station came back on the air on June 11, 1993 as WCNZ, airing an audio simulcast of CNN Headline News and local news updates during the network's local affiliate update time (:25/:55 after the hour), along with broadcasts of Sheboygan A's semi-pro baseball games and some high school sports, with coverage usually provided via simulcasts from Star Cablevision (later Marcus Cable)'s WSCS TV8 public access station. For a short time, WHBL's news director Jerry Bader moved to WCNZ as its news director and main on-air personality before being lured back to WHBL with a new contract which expanded his role with the station (and eventually springboarded him into a local daily talk show that eventually saw him moved to sister station WTAQ in Green Bay). Star had also purchased KFIZ AM/KFIZ-FM in Fond du Lac around the same time.
In 1997, WCNZ and the KFIZ stations were sold to Mountain Dog Media, the owners of WXER (104.5), upon the merger of Marcus Cable (which purchased Star Cablevision in 1994) into Charter Communications, which had no interest whatsoever in maintaining radio stations. Studios were merged with WXER's Falls Plaza facilities, and the station ended the Headline News simulcast by flipping back to its former MOR format.
On May 4, 2000, WCNZ changed their calls to WCLB, and then switched to an adult standards format as 950 The Club. Later, the station changed to oldies as "Cool 950". The station would remain so until January 3, 2004, when WCLB took an affiliation with ESPN Radio.