WSOY is one of the oldest radio stations in
Central Illinois. Both
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records, and station tradition, This station was randomly assigned the call letters WBAO, which came from a sequential roster of available call signs. In 1924 WBAO was reassigned to 1090 kHz, moved the next year to 1110 kHz, and was reassigned on June 15, 1927 to 1120 kHz. The station maintained a limited schedule of university broadcasts. On September 1, 1928, the FRC listed "Stations WJBL and WBAO" as one of the "consolidations which have been approved by the commission, or imposed on the stations by the commission". WBAO was formally deleted on October 1, 1928, and it was announced that programs previously broadcast by that station would now be heard over WJBL.
WJBL / WSOY On September 23, 1925, a license was issued to the William Gushard Dry Goods Company for a new broadcasting station, with studios and transmitter at the Gushard Building at 301 North Water Street, operating on 1110 kHz. The station's call letters, WJBL, were also randomly assigned from the sequential roster of available call signs. During this era dry goods and variety stores commonly sold radio receivers, and sometimes operated radio stations in order to give buyers something to listen to. WJBL moved to 1410 kHz in mid-1927. This was followed by the announcement of WJBL's consolidation with WBAO, with the FRC noting that "In this case WJBL has been reduced from its present assignment of 250 to 100 watts during the hours of 6 o'clock p.m. to 6 o'clock a.m., in order to eliminate interference by that station in regions beyond the service area which it is reasonably entitled to serve." In 1929, Commodore Broadcasting was formed and took ownership of WJBL, and the station's studios were moved to the Hotel Orlando, although in 1934 they returned to the Gushard Building. In 1962, WSOY's daytime power was increased to 1,000 watts, In 1992, the station adopted a news talk format. The station was purchased by
NextMedia Group in 2000, by Archway Broadcasting in 2006, by Tom Joyner in 2007, and by Neuhoff Communications in 2008. In 2017, WSOY's programming began to be rebroadcast on an FM translator at 103.3 MHz. On February 1, 2024, Neuhoff Media sold its radio stations in
Danville and Decatur to Champaign Multimedia Group for $2 million; the sale closed in May 2024. ==See also==