WHBL was first licensed on March 5, 1925 to seventeen-year-old James H. Slusser in Logansport, Indiana. WHBL was an upgrade to Slusser's amateur radio station, 9EM, and he paid for the equipment with earnings from delivering newspapers. The call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs, and Slusser adopted "We Heartily Boost Logansport" as the station's slogan. The station was soon configured as a
portable broadcasting station. Portable stations could be transported from place-to-place on movable platforms such as trucks. They were commonly hired out for a few weeks at a time to theaters located in small towns that didn't have their own radio stations, to be used for special programs broadcast to the local community. In early 1926 ownership was transferred to
C. L. Carrell of Chicago, Illinois, joining a roster of what would ultimately become seven portable stations operated by Carrell. Starting on July 1, 1927, the station was reported to be operating from a Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railcar, on a wave length of 205 meters [1470 kHz]. File:1925 advertisement for WHBL broadcasts from Luna Theatre in Logansport, Indiana.gif|May 1925 advertisement promoting WHBL's theater broadcasts at Logansport, Indiana File:1926 advertisement for WHBL broadcasts from Majestic Theatre in La Crosse, Wisconsin.gif|May 1926 advertisement promoting WHBL's theater broadcasts at La Crosse, Wisconsin File:WHBL (1927).jpg|Beginning on July 1, 1927, WHBL was placed on a train railcar. In early 1928
the Sheboygan Press made arrangements to have WHBL permanently moved to Sheboygan. WHBL was the third Carrell station sponsored by the
Press to broadcast in Sheboygan. In April 1926, the newspaper arranged for station WIBJ to operate from the Van Der Vaart theater for a two week run, from the 5th until the 17th. Eighteen months later, in October 1927, the
Press arranged for a second Carrell station, WHBM, to broadcast from the Eagles auditorium beginning on October 24, as part of the newspaper's "Radio Show and Home Exposition". This apparently was planned to be a more permanent endeavor, and WHBM continued to operate under the auspices of the newspaper following the close of the exposition. However, an unresolved financial dispute with the local musicians union resulted in the station being withdrawn at the end of the year. Two months later, after reaching a settlement with the musicians, the
Press brought in WHBL to restart operations. The debut broadcast took place at 7:30 p.m. on February 23, 1928, and editor
Charles E. Broughton's opening statement summarized the events of the preceding months: WHBL was now jointly owned by the Press Publishing Co. and
C. L. Carrell. Two years later the publishing company assumed full ownership.
Jerry Bader controversy (2018) Talk show host Jerry Bader was let go from Midwest Communications after his February 8, 2018 program, and he claimed his "
never Trump" political stance had caused friction with station management, which ended his run on WHBL. WTAQ's John Muir was named the new mid-morning host by April 2018. Bader had been with WHBL in some form since the 1980s, at first as the station's news director through the 1980s and most of the '90s (outside of a year with
WCNZ) until the 2000 purchase of WHBL by Midwest. Under new management, WHBL went from a full-service format to matching that of WTAQ, and Bader was groomed into a political talk show host. WHBL continued to carry the WTAQ version of the show live after he moved there in 2004, along with
WSAU in
Wausau, and Bader also had the title of program director for WTAQ. Bader has since left the broadcasting industry, attempting a new career as a Green Bay based religious leader. ==References==