WHSL

WHSL (107.7 FM, "Hot 107.7") is a radio station licensed to Lisman, Alabama, and serving the Butler radio market. Owned by Augustus Foundation, Inc., WHSL has a transmitter at its studios on Pushmataha Road in Butler.

WHSL
CityLisman, Alabama
Broadcast areaLisman/Butler, Alabama/Meridian, Mississippi
Frequency107.7 MHz
BrandingHot 107.7
Programming
FormatUrban AC
Ownership
OwnerAugustus Foundation Inc.
History
First air date
1997 (as WPRN-FM)
Former call signs
WPRN-FM (1997-2012)
Call sign meaning
WHiStLe (previous format)
Technical information
Facility ID82197
ClassA
ERP6,000 watts
HAAT100 meters (328 feet)
Transmitter coordinates
32°05′27″N 88°13′57″W

When on the air, WHSL broadcasts an urban adult contemporary music format to the greater Meridian, Mississippi area. It is the only locally programmed radio station in the area.

History

K. Darryl Jackson received the original construction permit for a new FM station from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 5, 1997.[1] The new station was assigned the call letters WPRN-FM by the FCC on June 9, 1997.[2] WPRN-FM received its license to cover from the FCC on January 9, 2003.[3]

In August 1999, K. Darryl Jackson applied to the FCC to transfer the broadcast license for WPRN-FM to Butler Broadcasting Corporation. The deal was approved by the FCC on November 5, 1999, and the transaction was consummated on November 30, 1999.[4] Butler Broadcasting Corporation is 100%-owned by Darryl Jackson. WPRN previously broadcast the Christian-oriented God's Country Radio Network as "God's Country 107" prior to the network's closure in November 2010. On February 27, 2012, the station changed its call sign to WHSL.

The station was donated to Joshua Coyle's Leap of Faith, LLC effective August 3, 2012.

On an unknown date, the station went silent.

WHSL returned to the air as of June 3, 2014. Effective December 15, 2014, Leap of Faith sold WHSL to WHSL, LLC, at a purchase price of $10,000.

In the spring of 2017, WHSL changed their format from country to urban adult contemporary, branded as "Hot 107.7".

Effective July 2, 2019, WHSL, LLC donated the station's license to Augustus Foundation Inc. in a transaction valued at $42,000.

Former on-air staff

Myrtle Todd, grandmother of country music recording artist Ty Herndon, hosted a radio show on WPRN-FM and the now-defunct AM sister station WPRN (1330 AM, Butler, Alabama) for more than 40 years.[5] She played mostly Gospel music and discussed community events.[6] Herndon's mother, Peggy, also once hosted a show along with his aunts Lilly and Benny as "The Todd Sisters".[7] Herndon was born in Meridian, Mississippi, but grew just across the state line in Butler, Alabama, where the AM station was licensed.[8] The AM sister station's license was officially cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission on October 6, 2003.[9] The FM station, established in 1997, carried Myrtle Todd's show through at least late-2006.[5]

References
  1. "Application Search Details (BPH-19960606MD)". FCC Media Bureau. March 5, 1997.
  2. "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
  3. "Application Search Details (BLH-19971029KB)". FCC Media Bureau. January 9, 2003.
  4. "Application Search Details (BAPH-19990830GU)". FCC Media Bureau. November 30, 1999.
  5. "When Worst Is Best". Lancaster Sunday News. April 7, 2006. Nashville recording artist Ty Herndon learned about addictions the hard way. [...] His grandmother Myrtle Todd is 82 and still going strong with her own radio program on WPRN in Butler, Ala
  6. "Country singer on comeback from personal problems". Augusta Chronicle. October 5, 2006. She had a radio show for 40-something years on WPRN in Butler. It was gospel music, and she talked about what was going on in the community.
  7. Tarradell, Mario (April 19, 1995). "That Texas Touch: Country singer Ty Herndon has what it takes to make it, but he had to come to Dallas to do it". Dallas Morning News. I remember my aunts Benny and Lilly and mother Peggy, who used to do their own radio show as the Todd Sisters.
  8. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Ty Herndon biography". Allmusic. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
  9. "Station Search Details". FCC Media Bureau. October 6, 2003.
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