KWFC

KWFC (89.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Southern Gospel format. Licensed to Springfield, Missouri, USA, the station serves the Springfield MO area. The station was previously owned by Baptist Bible College, Inc., and used to broadcast from a facility on the college campus, with its transmitter and tower located in the nearby Fordland area, until the Baptist Bible College sold the radio station to the Radio Training Network, Inc. in January 2015.

History

KWFC began broadcasting on April 17, 1969 at 97.3-FM in Springfield. At the time, the commercial station operated for most of the day, but would shut down for the night. Those early days saw a programming mix of teaching, preaching and music. The musical format was not strictly southern gospel as it is today, primarily because the genre didn't have that designation nationally.

Instead, according to a 1970 Billboard magazine article, the station aired a mix of gospel, contemporary and easy listening Christian music. That musical format would stay with the station until the 1980s when the Christian music genre diverged into better defined subgenres (southern gospel, inspirational, contemporary Christian). At that time, KWFC became primarily southern gospel.