WKSL

Infobox Radio station
name = WKSL


city = Cary, North Carolina
area = Fayetteville, Raleigh-Durham
slogan = "Feel Good Music"
branding = "93.9 Kiss FM"
frequency = 93.9 MHz
repeater =
airdate =
share = 2.4
share as of = Sp'08 P2
share source = R&Rcite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Raleigh-Durham Market Ratings | date= | url=http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/DefaultSearch.aspx?MarketName=Raleigh-Durham&MarketRank=%20 | work =Radio & Records | pages = | date = | language = ]
format = Rhythmic AC
power =
erp = 100,000 watts
haat = 453.0 meters
class = C
facility_id = 53596
coordinates = coord|35|42|50.00|N| 78|49|4.00|W|region:US_type:city
callsign_meaning = W KiSs L
former_callsigns = WBAG-FM (1978-1983)
WBAG (1983-1984)
WZZU (1984-1996)
WRSN (1996-2006)
owner = Clear Channel Communications
licensee = Capstar TX
sister_stations = WDCG, WRDU, WRVA
webcast = [http://www.939kissfm.com listen live]
website = [http://www.939kissfm.com 939kissfm.com]
affiliations =

WKSL, known as "93.9 KISS-FM", (formerly WRSN-FM) is a Rhythmic AC radio station that serves the Raleigh-Durham market of North Carolina. It is owned and operated by Clear Channel Worldwide, whose sister stations include G105, 106.1 the Rooster, and 100.7 the River. The station was formerly licensed to Burlington, North Carolina, which is part of the Piedmont Triad market. However, it's now licensed to Cary, North Carolina. Its studios are located at Clear Channel's Triangle facility in Raleigh.

WKSL changed its city of license from Burlington to Cary after moving its transmitter from Terrell's Mountain in Chatham County to the WLFL-TV tower in Apex, along with G105 in the spring of 2008.

History

WFNS 1150 and WFNS-FM 93.9 simultaneously signed on from Burlington in early 1947. The stations were owned by the Burlington-Graham Broadcasting Company.

Prior to its move in to the Triangle market, the station was based in Burlington, North Carolina and went by the call letters WBAG-FM. It was originally a sister station to its AM counterpart at 1150 AM. It was also the place that John Isley of John-Boy and Billy fame got his start in the radio business in the mid-1970s.

In 1984, WBAG-FM successfully completed its move and changed its call letters to WZZU-FM, It went by the handle "94Z" and carried a Top 40 format to compete with future sister station G105. At the time, WZZU was owned by Chapel Hill-based The Village Companies (now VilCom), who also owned WCHL at the time. 94Z was credited with pioneering the "Morning zoo" concept in the Triangle area, which featured mostly on-air banter amongst the personalities and numerous comedic bits. In 1989, the station changed formats from Top 40 to rock and branded itself "U93.9", tcompeting with WRDU-FM. This attempt did not go as wellfact|date=May 2008, so a switch was made to classic rock and a new handle, this time it would be "Classic Rock 93.9". During this time that the station picked up the syndicated John Boy and Billy show to fill its morning spot. The following year, WZZU-FM was initially paired with WDCG-FM as both stations were bought out by Arizona-based Prism Radio. Prism radio was purchased by SFX in 1996, placing WTRG (now WRVA-FM) and WRDU in the same stable.

SFX did not want WZZU and WRDU to compete against each other, the station would change formats once again. This time, the call letters were changed to WRSN-FM, the format to soft rock, and its nickname to "Sunny 93.9" all in an attempt to go after the well-established WRAL-FM. It was also during that time that the JB&B show got bumped from 93.9, only to be picked up by WRDU a month later. Through a number of ownership changes over time, WRSN ended up being owned by Clear Channel since 2000. It was during that time that Sunny 93.9 began broadcasting an all-Christmas music format on an annual basis, usually beginning the week prior to Thanksgiving, like a number of other CC properties that broadcast similar formats in markets all over the country. Sunny 93.9 even had a morning show hosted by Madison Lane from 2004 to 2006, after serving as co-host of sister station G105's Bob and the Showgram for a number of years. However, this was one of many missteps made by Clear Channel since taking over that eventually led to Sunny's demise.

WRSN finally pulled the plug on Sunny 93.9 on Christmas 2006, even though its last song was the original version of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" by Elton John in a nod to its soon-to-be-departed moniker.fact|date=May 2008 The station then changed its format to Rhythmic AC and KISS-FM branding, the first Rhythmic AC to adopt the KISS-FM branding.fact|date=May 2008

References

External links

*FM station data|WKSL
* [http://www.geocities.com/rdurw/wrsn.html WRSN history on RDU Radio Waves]