WENS

Infobox Radio station
name = WENS


city = Wadesville, Indiana
area =
slogan =
branding = "Where Jesus Comes First"
frequency = 90.1 MHz
repeater =
airdate =
share =
share as of =
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format = Contemporary Christian
power =
erp = 6,000 watts
haat = 0.0 meters
class = A
facility_id = 122333
coordinates = coord|37|56|3.00|N| 87|55|35.00|W|region:US_type:city
callsign_meaning = We're Entertainment News Sports, [ cite web|url=http://www.oldradio.com/archives/nelson/origins.call-list.html |title=Call Letter Origins |work=Radio History on the Web ]
former_callsigns = WXTZ (2002-2003)
WRFM (2003-2003)
WXYR (2003-2003)
WRFM (2003-2003)
WXIR (2004-2003)
WRFM (2003-2003)
owner = Indiana Community Radio Corporation
licensee =
sister_stations =
webcast =
website = [http://www.wjcfradio.com wjcfradio.com]
affiliations =

WENS is a radio station in Wadesville Indiana broadcasting on 90.1 fm. The station is operated by Indiana Community Radio Corporation and is part of a state wide network of stations.

WENS features Chuck Larson, on the original staff of WENS 97.1. Station number is 317 927-9523.

WENS was a radio station that broadcast in Indianapolis, Indiana on the frequency 97.1 MHz. Jeff Smulyan's Emmis Communications launched WENS on 1981-07-04. WENS was known as the "Flagship Station of Emmis Communications" according to its station identification statements.

The station programmed an adult contemporary format that was an immediate success in the Indianapolis radio market. The first disk jockey was Tim McKee. With a 1200 song playlist, WENS used the slogan "we let our music do the talking" and positioned itself as the station with "no gimmicks, games, or contests - just great music." It became something of a precursor to the current Jack FM fad radio format. Indy radio personalities such as Bernie Eagan, Ann Craig and John Cinnamon, Eric Garnes, Jerry Curtis, Don Carson, Scott Fisher, Joel Grey, Alan Cook, James Shaw and many others populated the 80's and 90's airwaves on Lite Rock 97. Garnes hosted "Nightlite Love Songs" program for many years...a local show similar to Delilah Rene's program. Towards the last days of the original 97-1 branding, the station aired the "Friday Night Retro Show" hosted by Bernie Eagan. Eagan had been a consistent voice at 97-1 since the beginning of WENS. He and Garnes can now be heard on Emmis' B-105.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Sometime in the 90's, the station became 97-1 WENS, the "Best Mix of the 70's, 80's, and the 90's." After Y2K, the station's positioning statement became "the Best Mix of the 80's, 90's, and Today."

In March 2005, the station changed format and call letters. It had been broadcasting under the nickname "real 97.1 - real life. real music." when the management of the station made the decision to switch to a Country Music format, in an attempt to compete with rival 95.5, WFMS. The new format, dubbed "Hank FM", accompanied the station's new call letters, WLHK, and its new slogan " [We/He] Plays Anything Country." The local morning show Wank and O'Brien was the only element of the old format to remain after the change.

Trivia

*The first song played on WENS 90.1 was "The anchor holds by Ray Boltz.

* The first song played on WENS 97.1 was James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight."

References

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050304044732/http://www.real971.com/ Archived copy of the real 97.1 website] , shortly before the switch to WLHK.