WILI-FM
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| City | Willimantic, Connecticut |
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| Broadcast area | Eastern Connecticut |
| Branding | Hit Music i-98.3 |
| Slogan | "All The Hits" |
| Frequency | 98.3 MHz |
| Format | Top 40 (CHR) |
| ERP | 1,050 Watts |
| HAAT | 160 meters |
| Class | A |
| Owner | Hall Communications |
| Sister stations | WILI (AM) |
| Webcast | Listen Live! |
| Website | http://www.hitmusici983.com/ |
WILI-FM (98.3 FM, "Hit Music i-98.3") is a radio station broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format. Licensed to the village of Willimantic, Connecticut, it serves eastern Connecticut. Willimantic is a village within the town of Windham, Connecticut. It is the sister station to WILI/1400. The station is currently owned by Hall Communications. The studios are on Main Street in Willimantic, near the Willimantic Footbridge.
The history of 98.3 FM in Willimantic began in 1971, with two competing proposals for the allocation of 98.3 in Connecticut: A proposal for the allocation to go to Willimantic submitted by Colin K. Rice and his family’s Nutmeg Broadcasting, and a competing proposal from a group headed by Randal Mayer of WWUH and WHCN-FM and Kenneth N. Dawson of WKND to allocate the frequency to Enfield. In early 1972, the FCC allocated the frequency to Willimantic, making 98.3 the only FM in Windham County.
By December 1972, Nutmeg Broadcasting and the newly formed Windham Broadcast Group were competing for the 98.3 license in Willimantic. The Windham Broadcast Group was also backed by Mayer and Dawson, the petitioners to have the frequency allocated to Enfield. Also in 1972, Nutmeg Broadcasting received approval to build an FM tower on Gates Road at the site of two microwave towers owned by Southern New England Telephone, but allowed the permit to expire.
The FCC decided in favor of The Windham Broadcast Group in February 1975. The station was assigned the call letters WXLS, and went on the air featuring a beautiful music format in June 1975 with studios at 1491 West Main Street, Willimantic (Across from Capitol Chrysler Dodge Jeep, currently a drug treatment facility) and with transmitting facilities on Hosmer Mountain, off Route 289 in Willimantic. The station broadcast with 3,000 watts from a single bay circularly polarized antenna, powered by a Rockwell-Collins 831F-2 Generation 4 transmitter that could put out 12,000 watts. Several engineers in the area reported “stronger than usual” power output from the site. Immediately residents complained of severe interference to television reception caused by WXLS. General Manager Peter Aucion met with the town’s Common Council four weeks after the station took to the air and agreed to provide $5,000.00 in rebates to residents to purchase antenna filters to block out 98.3. In 1975 WXLS applied to build a tower on Gates Hill in Lebanon, however were denied a permit by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
In August 1978 it was announced that Nutmeg Broadcasting had filed to purchase WXLS from the XLS Broadcasting Corp. Also in 1978, Nutmeg applied to build a 300-foot tower off route 87 in Columbia to improve the signal to the west. Fierce resident opposition to the tower led to the Planning and Zoning commission denying the application for the tower in November 1978. WILI re-applied for an FM tower permit on Gates Hill in Lebanon, and were once again approved. By 1979 a $10,000 attachment had been filed against WXLS for unpaid bills for syndicated programming provided by Peter Productions of San Diego, CA.
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