WLIL

WLIL "The Legendary AM 730" is a radio station broadcasting "East Tennessee's Country Classics." Licensed to Lenoir City, Tennessee, it serves the Knoxville, Tennessee area.

History

WLIL has been "serving east Tennessee since 1950." Arthur Wilkerson, who worked in construction, traveled a lot. One day, he was working in Louisville, Kentucky and could see inside a radio station from where he was working. Finding that interesting, he went to the station after work and sat in the audience of live broadcasts. Wilkerson pondered whether his home town of Lenoir City, Tennessee could support a radio station. In 1949, he applied for a license, and WLIL-AM went on the air at 730, a clear channel, on May 27, 1950, with 1000 watts during the day.

Although few people had FM radios, Wilkerson also applied for an FM station at 100.3. In 1956, WSM in Nashville, Tennessee closed its FM station, and Wilkerson did the same, believing that if such a big station couldn't succeed, he had no chance.

Knoxville got its first FM station in 1966, and Wilkerson realized he may have made a mistake. WLIL-FM signed on at 93.5 in 1967.