WSTO
WSTO (96.1 FM, "Hot 96") is a radio station that serves the Evansville, Indiana, Owensboro, Kentucky, and Henderson, Kentucky markets with a contemporary hit radio format. It is licensed to Owensboro and broadcasts from a 1,000-foot tower strategically located midway between these cities in the Kentucky town of Hebbardsville. WSTO's studio is located at the Midwest Communications offices on Mount Auburn Road in Evansville, Indiana, near the studios of WFIE-TV. History The Federal Communications Commission granted an application by AM radio station WVJS for a new FM radio station in Owensboro on March 24, 1947. The frequency of 96.1 MHz was assigned, and Owensboro got its first FM station on June 2, 1948, originally operating more than 18 hours a day and duplicating the AM station's output. Aside from occasional splits for specific programs, WVJS-FM continued in this role until the end of 1962, when the call letters were changed to WSTO on December 14; the station went off for equipment changes and returned on March 1, 1963, with stereo broadcasts. In September 1964, a fire tore through the portion of the WVJS-WSTO building housing all of the newly added stereo equipment; WSTO was out of service for two and