Known as WRIB from 1947 to July 7, 2006, the station changed its call sign to WSTL on July 7, 2006.[1]
History
The station was started in 1947 as a 250-watt daytimer, WRIB with studios at the old Narragansett Hotel.[3] In 1952, WRIB increased its daytime power to the current 1 kilowatt.
For many years, WRIB had aired mostly brokered programming, serving as an outlet for primarily ethnic broadcasters. Faith Christian Center, an evangelical megachurch in nearby Seekonk, Massachusetts, bought WRIB in 2005. While the station's time brokers had expected to be forced to find new homes for their programming, Faith Christian took WRIB off the air at 12:30 on July 7, 2006, with no advance warning, angering many of WRIB's former time brokers. The church only gave the time brokers a few hours to get their equipment out of the studios or face charges for trespassing.[4][5] Some shows continue on other stations (e.g.: the Armenian Radio Hour is now on WARA) but others disappeared.
On the morning of Friday, June 23, 2017, the station reported to be going off the air soon; it then went silent.[6][7][8][9] On November 29, 2017, WSTL returned to the air with Spanish tropical, branded as "Mega 94.9" (simulcast on FM translator W235CN 94.9 FM Providence).[10]
