| Broadcast area | Lexington Metro Area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1110 kHz |
| Branding | Christian Broadcast Radio |
| Programming | |
| Format | Religious |
| Affiliations | Townhall |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | W.C.B.R. Radio, Inc. |
| History | |
First air date | March 7, 1970 |
Call sign meaning | Original owner traded as "Christian Broadcasters" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 70617 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 250 watts (daytime only) |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°44′9″N 84°16′5″W / 37.73583°N 84.26806°W |
| Translator(s) | W229CP (93.7 MHz) Richmond |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wcbrradio |
WCBR (1110 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a religious format. It is licensed to Richmond, Kentucky, United States, and serves the Lexington Metro Area. The station is owned by W.C.B.R. Radio, Inc.[2]
1110 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency, on which WBT and KFAB share Class A status. WCBR must leave the air from sunset to sunrise to protect the nighttime signals of the Class A stations.
The owner, a minister, would ask each week [if] I needed my check or if I wanted to give it to the Lord. And I’d say, "I think I need the check more than the Lord does."
Gerry House, on working at WCBR[3]
On October 7, 1969, the Federal Communications Commission granted a construction permit to Lewis P. Young, trading as Christian Broadcasters, for a new daytime-only radio station in Richmond;[4] Young was a pastor at Richmond's Gardenside Christian Church.[5] From studios at Second Street and Irvine, WCBR began broadcasting on March 7, 1970; despite the licensee name, the station was secular and an ABC network affiliate.[6] In late 1971, Young sold half of the station to J. T. Parker Jr., owner of station WGOC in Kingsport, Tennessee.[5] Parker also obtained a construction permit for an FM station in Richmond, which signed on May 12, 1972, as WCBR-FM 101.7, a full-time simulcaster of the AM station, airing country music.[7] Gerry House, who later went on to radio and a songwriting career in Nashville, worked at the station as his second radio job, moving to Richmond to be with his girlfriend.[3]
Parker bought out the remaining 50 percent in WCBR in 1975[4] and then sold some interest in the WCBR stations to three local investors, including the station manager, George W. Robbins.[8] Four years later, Parker sold his remaining 50 percent in the station and the sister FM, which became a separately programmed operation as WBZF in 1976,[9] to David Lee Humes and Mark Anthony Cole, the pair's engineer and advertising consultant, for $271,000.[10] WCBR maintained a country format for most of the 1970s and early 1980s, but by the late 1980s, it had shifted to adult contemporary using programming from Satellite Music Networks,[11] and in the early 1990s, the station was a full-service adult standards outlet.[12]
WCBR adopted its present format of Southern gospel music as well as Christian teaching programs in September 1994, after two months of simulcasting the oldies on the FM frequency.[13] Humes would become the sole owner in 2008, after Robbins died.[14] WCBR itself would return to FM in 2016 when Humes bought a translator, then located in Morill to move it to Richmond to be paired with the AM station.[15]