I recently discovered that WAEC radio had changed it’s Christian format after decades on the air and it brought back a lot of memories for me.

    When I joined WAEC Radio back in 1979, I was actually applying for a job at a country music station, the way it was listed in the phone book on 860AM as WXAP.

    During the interview, I was told that they had just changed their format to a new style of music called Contemporary Christian and were the first station to do so in Atlanta. The call letters had been changed to WAEC to mean Atlanta’s Electric Church.

    I gave it a listen and thought it was interesting and took the job. By 1982, Forus Communications had bought the station, making me general manager with the intent to expand on the growth of the station in its first four years.

    I gave it the new nickname of Love 86, WAEC. We made changes going from 1000 watts to 5000 watts and broadcasting 24 hours instead of just in the daytime.

    Ratings began to appear and revenues had grown by 500 percent. We moved to four different studios from Peachtree Street to West Peachtree to its last home on Northside Drive.

    I had created the Atlanta Christian Business Directory and Love 86 Express Newspaper for the station. Both were growing and demanding more of my time. So, after 15 years at the helm, I left to focus full time on the publications in 1994, changing the name of Love 86 Express to Atlanta Christian Magazine, which I still own.  Forus sold the station to Beasley Broadcasting shortly after.

    WAEC continued on with multiple general managers in the last 29 years consisting mostly of national and local ministries.

    So, it was to my surprise when I saw that Beasley had changed the format of the station from its 43 year long Christian programming to a Salsa music format. It is no longer Love 86, but is known on-air as “Playa 860”. If you click on the website, it forwards you to https://playatampa.com.
   That didn’t go too well. So, in June of 2024, Beasley sold its 17 acre tower site to a housing developer to build townhomes. That marked the end of the 76 year 860AM frequency as it is now dark, or no longer on the air.

   Earlier last year, Beasley also sold it’s other Atlanta station, variety “Real 1100” WWWE.

    One of the longest running formats in Atlanta radio is no more. With all of the competition from internet radio and dozens of on air area religious stations, it ultimately became too difficult to sustain profitability.

   A lot of great memories from those days. But, all things must pass.

   If you’re looking for other metro Christian stations to listen to, you can find our list at https://atlantachristianweb.com/atlanta-christian-web-area-christian-radio-stations-guide/