WLCO-AM 1240
Eustis
Original Call Letters: WLCO |
Originally Licensed: Jun 1955 |
Original City of License: Eustis |
Original Frequency: 1240 |
Origin of Call Letters: |
Original Power: 250 watts |
Original Location: 1057 N. Palm Circle |
Original Format: Variety |
Network Affiliation(s): |
Associated Press Radio |
| ABC |
|
Owner(s): |
1955-Lake County Broadcasting Company |
| 1956-Floyd W. Hess | |
| 1964-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. | |
| 1978-C-S Broadcasting Corp. | |
| 1983-Lake Media | |
| 1995-Christianson Broadcasting Inc | |
| 1998-McKenzie Broadcast Associates, Inc. ($210,000) | |
| 2003-Gateway Broadcasting and Internet, Inc | |
| 2003-McKenzie Broadcast Associates, Inc. | |
| 2004-Rama Communications ($180,000) with WQBQ-AM 1410 |
History Of Call Letters and Formats: |
WLCO-1955- |
| WLCO-1965-Variety "Radio Wilco!" | |
| WLCO-1973-Variety | |
| WLCO-1977-Rock and Roll | |
| WLCO-1979-Country Western | |
| WEUS-1981 | |
| WLCF-1987-Country | |
| WWLB-1989 | |
| WKIQ-1989-Country "Classic Hit Country" | |
| WKIQ- -Adult Standards | |
| WKIQ-1993-News/Talk | |
| WKIQ-1998-Classic Country | |
| WKIQ-2004-Silent | |
| WKIQ-2004-Urban AC | |
| WKIQ-2004-Classic Country | |
| WKIQ-2005-Spanish | |
| WKIQ-2006-Black Gospel |
|
|
|
|
|
|
WLCO Personalities |
| Phil Conant-1955-Promotions Manager/News Director-Lake County Broadcasting Company |
| Nancy Cox-1955-Women's Director-Lake County Broadcasting Company |
| Don Tucker-1956-Program Director/News Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Barbara Ridlebaugh-1956-Women's Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Herbert Babb, Jr.1958-Program Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| A.M. Cleary-1958-Farm News Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Earl Hagaer-1959-News Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Richard Smith-1960-Commercial Manager/Program Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Wayne Moody-1960-News Director/Chief Engineer-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Don Tucker-1965-Program Director/News Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Keith Deister-1966-News Director-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
| John Fuller-1965-1966-Program Director/News Director-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. Biography |
| Charles "Charlie" Northrup-1968-Program Director-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
| Wiley Carpenter-1969-Program Director/Promotions Manager/-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
| Dennis Snyder-1973-1974- Biography-Dennis gives us a bit of history and reminds us of some of the folks that passed through WLCO. In an email from Dennis; "...Now that was a real fun adventure for me. And I even got paid a whopping $1.60 an hour. Occasionally I'd work my regular 9 hour shift at WLOQ(-FM 103.1) then dash the 50 miles to Eustis for 6 till midnight, then back in the next morning at WLOQ at 6AM. During that time the station was 1,000 watts daytime and 250 at night. Although authorized for 24 hours, the station signed off at midnight. The music format was somewhat of a variety with country music in the morning and pop music at other times. Like many stations Sunday mornings often had some pre-recorded public service programs as well as religious programming and included a live feed of one of the local church services. |
| Lee Williams-1973-Program Director-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
| John Asp-1973-Music Director-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
| C.W. Larsen-1973-Music Director-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
![]() Mark Logas-1977-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. Biography |
| Mike Holmes-1979-Program Director/Music Director/News Director-C-S Broadcasting Corp. |
Bob Andrews Biography |
Rob Newton-General ManagerJohn Wilson Ralph Ricks Stan Rearden Bruce Wayne Bill Waller Sam Sawyer Ralph Ricks at the mic in 1966 at WLCO Tony Phillips (Jeff D'Aurora) photo courtesy of John Fuller Harold McWhorter-hosted a 15-minute motivational series called "So You're Here Today" |
|
Other Names in WLCO History |
| Reggie Martin-1955-President/General Manager/Commercial Manager-Lake County Broadcasting Company |
| W.R. Miller-1955-Chief Engineer-Lake County Broadcasting Company |
| Art Raynor-1955-Program Director/Farm News Director-Lake County Broadcasting Company |
| Floyd William ''Bill'' Hess-1956-Owner/General Manager In Memory |
| Morton Cook-1956-Station Manager/Commercial Manager-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Robert Donald Blynn-1956-Chief Engineer-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Lawrence Lyons-1956-Commercial Manager-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Thomas Ward-1958-Promotions Manager/1959-Program Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Duane Baker-1958-Chief Engineer-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Robert Hollenbeck-1958-Technical Director-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| James Wall-1959-Chief Engineer-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| D.A. Newberry-1964-Chief Engineer-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| John Nixon-1964-Chief Engineer-Floyd W. Hess Ownership |
| Artimisa Barringer-1964-President/1973-Secretary/Treasurer-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
|
Carroll Barringer-1964-General Manager/Commercial Manager/Promotions
Manager/Chief Engineer-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
| Davis
Barringer-1964-General
Manager/Chief Engineer/1974-President/General
Manager/Chief Engineer-Barringer Broadcasting Corp./1978-Vice President-C-S Broadcasting Corp. |
| Charles Robinson-1964-Commercial Manager-Barringer Broadcasting Corp. |
| Peter Clark-1978-President-C-S Broadcasting Corp. |
| Jack Rankin-1978-General Manager/Commercial Manager-C-S Broadcasting Corp. |
| Bruce Cox-1998-President-McKenzie Broadcast Associates, Inc. |
| Jan Hall-1998-General Manager-McKenzie Broadcast Associates, Inc. |
| Bruce Welker-1998-Operations Director/Operations Manager-McKenzie Broadcast Associates, Inc. |
| Sabatta Persaud-2004-President-Rama Communications, Inc. |
| George Tanner-Program Director |
| Peggy Beasley-Secretary |
| Dave Ward-Sales |
John
Fuller
supplies some photos of WLCO/WKIQ
studios. John writes; "...(I) drove up to Eustis (Oct 2, 2004)
. . ."and
tracked down WKIQ (ex-WLCO) at 1057 N. Palm
Circle, in a residential neighborhood, still in the same little building I
remembered from 1966. Alas, it was off the air. Peeking through the
windows it appeared most of the equipment had been removed, and the place
abandoned. Weeds had taken over the property, even the parking spaces. The new
owners apparently have put the station's revival on hold.
Click images to enlarge

Exterior Photos courtesy of
John Fuller
Thanks to Dennis
Snyder for these photos from WLCO in 1973

Bill Waller at the WLCO mic
Collins board at WLCO

WLCO Production room
Collins 1000 watt transmitter
| This group of photos courtesy of Mark Logas |
![]() |
![]() |
|
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
|
|