WYRN, Franklin County's first radio station, was founded September 12th, 1958, by Joseph T. Lane. In 1968, Franklin Broadcasting, comprised of station staffer Molly Evans, Clay McBride and Franklin Times editor Asher F. Johnson Jr., bought WYRN from Lane. McBride died in 1981 and Johnson returned to the newspaper business in 1992. In 1989, a sister station, WHLQ, was added at 102.5 on the FM dial. In May of 2003, Evans sold WYRN and WHLQ to Curtis Media Group for more than $2 million dollars. The stations were managed by Billy McClatchey, Curtis' son-in-law, until he assumed ownership of Raleigh's WRBZ in 2004. In the past, WYRN has aired a mix of Southern gospel and country music. During the past decade, WYRN simulcasted their FM station, renamed WKXU in July of 2004, one-hundred percent. In 2006, the station began simulcasting Raleigh-based talk station WDOX, 570 AM. In August of 2009, Curtis Media sold WYRN to Johnson Media Group for $190,000.