| Broadcast area | Greater St. Louis |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 920kHz |
| Branding | K-Wulf |
| Programming | |
| Format | Americana |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KRTE-FM,KRTK,KVMO,KWUL-FM,KXEN | |
| History | |
First air date | December 1, 1961; 63 years ago (1961-12-01) |
Former call signs | WGNU (1961–2023) |
Call sign meaning | "K-Wulf" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 49042 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 450watts day 500 watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°45′33.2″N90°3′0.4″W / 38.759222°N 90.050111°W /38.759222; -90.050111 (KWUL (center of 4 tower array)) (NAD 83) |
| Translator(s) | 101.5 K268CT (St. Louis) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | kwulf.com |
KWUL (920kHz) is acommercialAMradio stationlicensed toSt. Louis, Missouri, and serving theGreater St. Louismedia market. The station is owned by Louis Eckelkamp, through licensee East Central Broadcasting, LLC. KWUL 920 airs anAmericanaradio format. The studios and offices are on Hampton Avenue in St. Louis.
KWUL is aClass B station. It transmits with 450watts by day and 500 watts at night. Itstransmitter is near theInterstate 255/Illinois Route 255/Interstate 270 interchange, off Chain of Rocks Road inEdwardsville, Illinois.[2] Programming is also heard onFM translatorK268CT, 101.5MHz in St. Louis.
The station firstsigned on the air on December 1, 1961. Its originalcall sign was WGNU and itscity of license wasGranite City, Illinois.[3] Founded by Chuck Norman and owned by him for the rest of his life, it was held in trust after his 2004 death. Under Norman's ownership, the station featured a wide-ranging localtalk radio format. Norman also signed onFMsister station WGNU-FM (now 106.5WARH) on November 24, 1965.
For a time, WGNU had aTop 40 format, then changed tocountry music. It later triedtalk shows aimed at theAfrican-American community.[4][5]
WGNU was sold to Radio Property Ventures, owners ofKXEN, on September 26, 2007. WGNU switched to anurban gospel format.[6][4]
FormerKFNS host Tim McKernan and his company, InsideSTL Enterprises, bought the weekday air time on WGNU, and the station switched its weekday programming tosports radio talk on August 1, 2013. The weekday schedule consisted of 11 hours of local shows, as well as programming fromCBS Sports Radio. The Urban Talk format continued to air on weekends.[7] This lease agreement ended in September 2016, when insideSTL Enterprises took over the operations of KFNS and moved its programming onto that station.
The station briefly made national headlines. FormerSt. Louis Cardinals playerJack Clark, who cohosted "The King and the Ripper" with longtime St. Louis radio personality Kevin "the King" Slaten, claimedLos Angeles Angels sluggerAlbert Pujols had usedperformance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) while Pujols was with the Cardinals. Clark had been the Cardinals' hitting coach during the early part of Pujols' 12-year tenure in St. Louis. Clark had said that he talked to Pujols' former personal trainer and said that "I know for a fact he was" using PEDs.[8]
Pujols responded by threatening Clark and WGNU with adefamation lawsuit, and vehemently denied that he had ever used PEDs. The trainer added that he hadn't even talked to Clark in over ten years. InsideSTL cut ties with Clark and Slaten after only seven shows.[8][9][10] It also issued an apology to Pujols.[11]
In 2018, the station'scommunity of license was changed from Granite City to St. Louis, Missouri.[12]
On October 12, 2021, WGNU changed its format frombrokered programming tosports gambling, branded as "The Game". It used programming from theVSiN Sports Betting Network, based inLas Vegas.[13]
In early 2023, it switched to asimulcast ofsister station 101.7KWUL-FM inElsberry, Missouri. The stations are running a mix of Southern-influencedclassic rock andAmericana music.
On March 27, 2023, the station changed its call sign to KWUL. Effective May 8, 2023, Radio Property Ventures sold KWUL, KXEN, and translator K264CY to Louis Eckelkamp's East Central Broadcasting for $210,000.
