WFLI Radio Station to Go Dark After Over 50 Years of Broadcasting

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- If you’re a true Chattanoogan you’ve probably heard of the radio station Jet Fli WFLI, but one week from today, that same station will be going off the air for good.

Announcer: “Greater Chattanooga’s most powerful radio voice Jet Fli WFLI… Lookout Mountain Tennessee now on we go with the musical show on down beat beat beat beat.”

Former WFLI radio personality Tommy Jett says he still reminisces on the good times the station has given him right from the very beginning.

“I hadn’t though of Jet Fli going dark on the air you know,” said Tommy Jett.

Ben Cagle says, “When that station went on the air in Feburary of 1961 it was like turning on a light switch.”

A switch that former audio engineer Ben Cagle says lit the Tennessee Valley with beats and the latest jams of its times.

Magic is the best way to describe it, as WFLI gained popularity that lasted for decades.

Even when it switched from soul and rock n’ roll to gospel, Cagle says if you knew Chattanooga in the sixties, you had a fondness for this station.

“This local attorney made the comment and he says you know I haven’t listened to the station in years. It’s gospel now but I remember the good ole days, but even though I haven’t listened to it years the knowledge… the mere knowledge that that station will be a thing of the past is disheartening to me,” said Ben Cagle.

Besides the jams and the tunes WFLI had something very unique about it that can only be seen right here at Lookout Mountain.

“Right here in this one little spot he figured one spot that would work for what he thought would would be eventually a 50-thousand watt radio station. It’s the only place it would work… if you move that tower to the left, to the right. If you move those towers forward, backwards it’s out of that window,” said Cagle.

That window was the only place in Chattanooga WFLI had enough frequency to function as a radio station and deliver its content.”

Announcer: “For news.. that’s news and not history stay tuned to WFLI for 24-hour mobile news coverage.”

“It’s just a unique, a unique piece of history that’ll never be changed, it’ll never be repeated,” said Cagle.

WFLI’s final broadcast will be March 31st and a special event will take place in commemoration.