WXLA is a commercial AM

Amplitude modulation

Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...

 radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 located in Dimondale

Dimondale, Michigan

Dimondale is a village in Eaton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,342 at the 2000 census. The village is located within Windsor Charter Township. Dimondale is a suburb of Lansing, Michigan, which is northeast of the village in Ingham County, Michigan...

, a suburb of Lansing, Michigan

Lansing, Michigan

Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...

. The station broadcasts on 1180 kHz with 10,000 watts during most daytime hours. During the two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset it cuts back to 2,000 watts. WXLA does not broadcast at night as the station must sign-off at sunset to protect WHAM (AM)

WHAM (AM)

WHAM is a clear-channel talk radio station in Rochester, New York, owned by Clear Channel Communications. Its 50,000-watt transmitter is located in Chili, New York, and the station broadcasts on 1180 kHz.The station first went on the air in 1922...

 in Rochester

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

WXLA began broadcasting in 1982 as WDTB on 1170 kHz with 1,000 watts and a simulcast of CNN Headline News

CNN Headline News

HLN, formerly known as CNN Headline News and CNN2, is a cable television news channel based in the United States and a spinoff of the cable news television channel, CNN. Initially airing tightly-formatted 30-minute newscasts around the clock, since 2005, the channel has increasingly aired long-form...

. The call letters were changed to the present WXLA on June 29, 1984. WXLA was the first radio station to program specifically to Lansing's African-American community with an urban contemporary/R&B format. In July 2005 the station increased its power and began referring to itself as 10,000 Watt 1180.

In 2006, MacDonald Broadcasting purchased WXLA and sister station WQHH

WQHH

WQHH is a commercial FM radio station located in DeWitt, a suburb of Lansing, Michigan. The station broadcasts on 96.5 MHz with 6,000 watts. The station plays hip hop as well as rhythm & blues music.WQHH began broadcasting on May 26, 1991 with 3,000 watts...

 for $3.65 million. MacDonald switched the urban adult contemporary

Urban Adult Contemporary

Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...

 format (as "Mix 1180") to ABC Radio's "Timeless

Timeless (radio network)

Timeless was a 24-hour satellite music service of Citadel Media . It has distributed a mix of soft oldies and adult standards to radio stations around the USA...

" (formerly known as "Stardust") Middle of the Road/Oldies

Oldies

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

 format in October 2006. The Timeless Classics format had previously aired on co-owned "Unforgettable 1320" WILS

WILS

WILS is a radio station located in Lansing, Michigan broadcasting a news-talk format.Until October 2006, WILS aired ABC Radio's satellite-delivered adult standards/MOR music package known as "Timeless Classics" . The station had had this format since the early 1990s and was quite successful in the...

 and was moved to WXLA to make room for a new talk format on WILS.

In 2010, with the demise of Citadel Media's Timeless format, WXLA flipped to Dial Global

Dial Global

Dial Global is a radio syndication company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Triton Media Group and is a sister company to Townsquare Media, both of which are owned by Oaktree Capital Management....

's "America's Best Music

America's Best Music

America's Best Music is the on-air branding of an adult standards 24-hour radio network, known internally as Adult Standards and formerly known as AM Only, currently owned by Dial Global. It was one of the original Westwood One's Transtar networks...

" format, which features many of the same songs that Timeless played but also incorporates more traditional adult standards material and pre-1960s hits than did Timeless. Despite the fact that the actual "Timeless Favorites" format is no more, WXLA continues to use the phrase "Timeless Favorites" in its imaging.