The Spencer Family of Parke County originally applied for the broadcast license that is now WAXI, in 1976. While in the process of getting ready to put the station on the air, tragedy struck. Three men from Crawfordsville invaded the Spencer Home near Hollandsburg on Sunday evening February 14th, 1977, killing the Spencer's three boys and injuring Mrs. Spencer. It has come to be known as the Hollandsburg Massacre.
The Spencers bravely went ahead with the station. It went on the air July 25, 1977. August 1, 1983, WAXI was sold to Bob and Sharon Rouse of Terre Haute. Rouse was a well known radio operator in the Wabash Valley. They managed the station until 1985 when Rouse hired Bill Cook as station manager. Bill promptly hired his new wife Kandee, whom he had met at WJNZ (now WREB) in Greencastle, and subsequently married. The Cooks ran the station under its current format relatively unchanged until 1998, when the Rouses decided to sell the property to Crossroads Communications of Terre Haute. Crossroads also owns CROCK 92.7 (WSDM-FM-Brazil), ESPN AM 1130 (WSDX-Brazil)AM 1300 (WBOW-Terre Haute), and B 102.7 (WBOW-FM-Terre Haute)
Crossroads retained the Cooks, keeping Bill as WAXI manager, and moving Kandee to the Terre Haute office as business manager. However at the end of September, 2001, Bill Cook left Crossroads for a new position. Mike Petersen assumed the management duties for WAXI. Mike was also manager of WSDM, WSDX, and WBOW, and is President of Crossroads Communications.
While WAXI is run primarily from the Terre Haute office and studio, WAXI still operates as the primary local station for Parke and Vermillion Counties, while serving the greater Terre Haute market with it's "Timeless Classics" adult standards music format, Cubs Baseball, Indiana University Sports, and local high school sports. In the fall of 2005, WAXI changed it's adult standards format to Oldies Rock and Roll and adopted the slogan, "Gold 104.9."
The main studio for WAXI was moved at the end of October, 2002, to our main facility at 1301 Ohio Street in Terre Haute. The studio is linked to the transmitter via microwave.
In October, 2005, Mike Petersen retired from his general manager position, turning that job over to Doug Edge. Petersen remains as Company President, and as an account executive for all the stations.