WELY
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox radio station dual
| name1 = WELY
| name2 = WELY-FM
| above = Currently silent
| logo =
| logo_size = 240px
| image = Northern MN - 020.jpg
| caption = WELY studios
| city = Ely, Minnesota | country = US
| area = {{ubl|Boundary Waters Canoe Area|Arrowhead Region}}
| branding = "End of the Road Radio"
| frequency1 = {{Frequency|1450|kHz}}
| frequency2 = {{Frequency|94.5|MHz}}
| repeater =
| airdate1 = October 2, 1954[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1994/B-Radio-AL-MT-BC-YB-1994-B&W.pdf WELY sign-on history from the Broadcasting Yearbook, 1994 edition, p. B-195. Retrieved from americanradiohistory.com on January 9, 2019.]
| airdate2 = July 25, 1992[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1994/B-Radio-AL-MT-BC-YB-1994-B&W.pdf WELY-FM history from the Broadcasting Yearbook, 1994 edition, p. B-195. Retrieved from americanradiohistory.com on January 9, 2019.]
| format =
| power1 = 770 watts
| erp2 = 6,000 watts
| haat2 = {{convert|100|m|ft|sp=us}}
| class1 = C
| class2 = A
| facility_id1 = 5386
| facility_id2 = 5385
| coordinates1 = {{coord|47|53|39.7|N|91|51|50.5|W|type:landmark_region:US-MN|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates2 = {{coord|47|53|39.7|N|91|51|50.5|W|type:landmark_region:US-MN}}
| callsign_meaning = Ely, Minnesota
| former_callsigns2 = KQEK (January 17-June 5, 1992)[https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=5385&Callsign=WELY-FM5385 Callsign history for WELY-FM; retrieved January 9, 2019.]
| former_frequencies2 = 92.1 MHz[https://web.archive.org/web/20190109205911/http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=136554 Original construction permit for KQEK (later WELY-FM), granted by the FCC on November 6, 1991; retrieved January 9, 2019.]
| former_callsigns =
| affiliations = Minnesota Twins Radio Network[https://www.mlb.com/twins/fans/treasure-island-baseball-network Minnesota Twins Radio Network, retrieved January 9, 2019.]
| owner = Zoe Communications, Inc.
| sister_stations =
| webcast = {{listenlive|http://www.wely.com/listen-live}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.wely.com}}
| licensing_authority= FCC
}}
WELY (1450 AM) and WELY-FM (94.5 FM) are a pair of simulcast radio stations based in the small tourist destination town of Ely, Minnesota, United States. WELY serves the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and surrounding towns and areas of northeastern Minnesota. The stations are owned by Zoe Communications; a sale to Civic Media is pending.
WELY (AM) was founded in 1954; WELY-FM was added in 1992. The "front porch" studio is downtown, on E. Chapman Street. Both stations share a transmitter site south of town.
History
=WELY (AM)=
WELY signed on the air on October 2, 1954. Its first owner was Charles B. Persons, a Minnesota engineer who also constructed the station. Persons sold the station to WELY Corporation in 1959, and it would be operated as a side business by Vincent T. Hallett for the next 17 years.{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Will|title="News from home is WELY specialty"|newspaper=Minneapolis Tribune|date=19 August 1976|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59445070/article-about-wely-radio-in-ely-mn/}} WELY changed hands again in 1963 when WELY Corporation sold the station to North Central Video, which sold the station to Northern Lakes Corporation in 1967. WELY's next owner would come in 1976, when the Northern Lakes Corporation sold it to BJL Broadcasting Corporation.[https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=51987 WELY's FCC history card, p. 2; retrieved January 9, 2019.] In 1987, WELY suspended operations for a time due to financial difficulty, which was featured as a news story on KSTP-TV.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bkMCBM7Gto Recording of KSTP-TV's story on WELY's closure in 1987; retrieved January 9, 2019.]
=WELY-FM=
WELY-FM signed on the air on July 25, 1992. The original callsign was KQEK, as issued on January 17, 1992, but was changed to WELY-FM on June 5, 1992.
=As a pair=
WELY was owned by retired CBS broadcaster Charles Kuralt from 1995 until his death on July 4, 1997.[http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/comment.pl?Application_id=252879&File_number=BTC-19970908GJ Transfer of control filing BTC-19970908GJ; retrieved January 9, 2019.] In 1999, WELY-AM-FM transferred from the estate of Suzanna Baird Kuralt to her estate's executors, Susan Bowers and Lisa Bowers White, who sold the stations to Alice L. Hill and Janice Nagel Erickson, a Twin Cities transplant.[http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/comment.pl?Application_id=423203&File_number=BTC-19991124AAC Transfer of control filing BTC-19991124AAC; retrieved January 9, 2019.][http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/comment.pl?Application_id=286865&File_number=BTC-19990708GG Transfer of control filing BTC-19970708GG, retrieved January 9, 2019.] In 2005, it was purchased by the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.{{cite news |author=Bob Kelleher |title=A new life for radio at the end of the road |url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/02/21_kelleherb_welysold/ |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |date=February 20, 2005 |accessdate=2008-02-21}}
The stations went silent on December 1, 2022, as the transition began to the new owner Zoe Communications, Inc. of Shell Lake, Wisconsin; the $130,000 sale did not include the studios in downtown Ely, which the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa retained.{{cite news |last1=Ellis |first1=Jon |title=Ely’s WELY Finds Buyer But Will Temporarily Go Silent |url=https://northpine.com/2022/11/29/elys-wely-finds-buyer-but-will-temporarily-go-silent/ |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=NorthPine: Upper Midwest Broadcasting |date=November 29, 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Venta |first1=Lance |title=After Planned Shutdown Buyer Found For WELY |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/245590/after-planned-shutdown-buyer-found-for-wely/ |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=RadioInsight |date=November 29, 2022}} The sale was consummated on April 20, 2023.
The WELY stations continued to operate intermittently under Zoe, in part due to two managerial deaths. In February 2025, Zoe filed to sell the stations to Civic Media, marking that company's first acquisition outside of Wisconsin, for $70,000.{{cite news |last1=Ellis |first1=Jon |title=Civic Media to Buy First Station Outside Wisconsin: WELY |url=https://northpine.com/2025/02/18/civic-media-to-buy-first-station-outside-wisconsin-wely/ |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=NorthPine: Upper Midwest Broadcasting |date=February 19, 2025}} The stations returned to the air with test programming in March 2025, during which WELY-FM experienced transmitter problems; a full relaunch is planned for late spring or early summer.{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Catie |title=New WELY owners outline plans for the station |url=https://www.timberjay.com/stories/new-wely-owners-outline-plans-for-the-station,22724 |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=The Timberjay |date=March 6, 2025 |language=en}} The stations will be programmed with music formats,{{cite news |last1=Coombe |first1=Tom |title=Sold again, WELY to return |url=https://www.elyecho.com/article/2727,sold-again-wely-to-return |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=The Ely Echo |date=February 28, 2025 |language=en}} with some programming simulcast on AM and FM, and will maintain their longtime carriage of Minnesota Twins baseball; the center-left political programming that Civic Media airs on some of its Wisconsin stations will not be part of the WELY lineup.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.wely.com}}
{{AM station data|5386|WELY}}
{{FM station data|5385|WELY}}
{{Iron Range radio}}
Category:Community radio stations in the United States
Category:Radio stations in Minnesota