A YouTube video is drawing attention this month of what looks to be a rotting, forgotten AM transmitter site in Illinois. The troubled station is, in fact, still licensed, though listed as silent.
Ken Heron, who has 462,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, posted a video Sept. 3 detailing his visit to the transmitter site of 1490 WKRO(AM) in Cairo, Ill. Its transmitter and adjacent tower is right along the Ohio River north of the city of Cairo, the southernmost point in the state.
The station has been listed back and forth as silent with the Federal Communications Commission since 2023. A video shared on Facebook the same day Heron made his visit to Cairo reveals the 1490 AM signal being on the air, with a legal ID as part of its simulcast with sister station WJLI(FM) in Paducah, Ky. It’s unclear where WKRO might be transmitting from.
Heron billed WKRO’s licensed site as abandoned. The video shows the exterior of the building in a state of disrepair. You can watch it below.
Heron’s drone captured aerial footage of WKRO’s adjacent tower. We wrote about that tower this past May. The commission issued a violation notice for faded paint and a lack of lighting, according to its own account. The tower was also not registered with the commission. WKRO was required to do so due to its proximity to Cairo Regional Airport.
Later in the video, Heron enters the facility, revealing leftover tape carts, rotary phones, programming logs and vinyl records. However, no transmitting equipment is shown in the building.
Despite the condition of the facility, the station remains licensed by the FCC. Owner Benjamin Stratemeyer originally filed for silent special temporary authority with the commission in October 2023, citing technical problems.
In September 2024, the station notified the commission that it had resumed normal operations.
WKRO subsequently requested another silent STA in February, citing technical difficulties resulting from a winter storm, and asked to remain silent through August.
The FCC issued an operational status inquiry to the station in April. An Enforcement Bureau representative had conducted an inspection in February and found the station non-operational, noting overgrown vegetation, no power source and no broadcast equipment inside the building.
The bureau’s account seems to align with what Heron saw a couple weekends ago.
“Based on the vegetative growth and the extent of disrepair the Enforcement Bureau observed, it appears the station had not been on the air with its licensed facilities prior to the Feb. 9 date listed in the STA request,” the commission wrote.
According to the FCC’s account, Stratemeyer told the commission he brought a portable transmitter and generator to the site, connecting it to the tower to avoid license termination. However, he could not provide a specific date when the station last operated.
The commission gave Stratemeyer 45 days from its April inquiry to provide evidence proving the station operated between September 2024 and April, warning that failure to do so would result in license cancellation. It is currently unknown whether Stratemeyer submitted a response.
Radio World reached out to Jason Crockett, listed as WKRO’s station manager, for comment.
According to FCC history records, WKRO was first licensed in February 1942. Most recently, it has simulcasted classic rock-formatted WJLI, also owned by Stratemeyer Media.
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