WBNL

The year was 1950. Jack Sanders and Norman Hall built a small radio station about one mile north of Boonville. They installed a 250 Watt Gates Transmitter and a 195 foot tower. The frequency was 1540 AM and the Call Letters were WBNL. In the late 1950's, Norman Hall petitioned the Chicago Cubs to become an affiliate. He presented the ball club with thousands of signatures from our area, proving that we would be a successful affiliate, thus making us the first Indiana Affiliate, and one of the first affiliates nationwide. In the late 1960's Hall and Sanders added an FM station at the frequency of 107.1, with a power of 3,000 watts. In 2000, John Patrick Englebrect bought both WBNL AM and WBNL FM. By 2001, Ralph Turpen of Evansville, purchased the AM side, and since then, upgraded not only WBNL's music and programming, but the equipment and digital sound quality. Today, after over 50 years of service, WBNL continues to be active in the community, broadcasting frequently from