WLBJ (defunct)
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| Broadcast area | Bowling Green, Kentucky |
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| Slogan | "Your Place in the Country" & "Kentucky's Kountry King" |
| Frequency | 1410 kHz |
| First air date | June, 1940 |
| Format | Country |
| ERP | 5,000 watts (daytime)/1,000 watts directional (nighttime) |
| Owner | Bahakel Communications |
WLBJ was the first commercial radio station in Bowling Green, Kentucky, signing-on in June, 1940. The station operated at 1410 kilohertz for much of its existence. Among the more significant local programs it produced were the 4 O'Clock Special, hosted by disc jockeys G. W. Boyum in 1947 and Brad Taylor in 1950, The Smilemaker, a morning and afternoon drive program featuring cuts from comedy albums by popular comedians, and Opinion Line, an Associated Press award-winning local public affairs program hosted by newscaster Mike Green in the 1980s.
In its early days, the station's studios were located in downtown Bowling Green and would later relocate both the studios and transmitter to its final location of 689 Scott Lane, now known as Indian Ridge Subdivision, adjacent to the Indian Hills Country Club.
In later years, the station was well known as a favorite among country music fans in South Central Kentucky and North Central Tennessee, as it had an effective daytime power of 5,000 watts (1,000 watts directional at night). One of the station's most popular programs was the 1981 launch of the Wrangler Country Showdown, a live-broadcast country music talent search which preceded such current programs as American Idol by some 20 years.
The station was also known as one of the earliest and longest-running affiliates of the now-defunct Mutual Broadcasting System and also carried Mutual's The Larry King Show, which was broadcast overnight during the early 1980s, making the station Bowling Green's first 24-hour radio operation.
The station was an affiliate of Cincinnati Reds baseball and the University of Kentucky football/basketball networks. The station was also known for live broadcasts of horse racing events at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington. The station also broadcast national news updates from The Christian Science Monitor news service during the 1980s.
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