WKBF (AM)  WKBF was a radio station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, which last carried a regional Mexican format. The station's frequency was 1270 kHz, and was broadcast at a power of 5 kW. It last broadcast in Autumn 2018 and its license was cancelled June 1, 2020. Its transmitter was located on 22nd Avenue (Old Colona Road) in Moline, alongside the Moline–East Moline border just off 53rd Street and Avenue of the Cities. The history of the station dates to 1925, when businessman Calvin Beardsley purchased an experimental radio transmitter that operated in Cambridge, Illinois. He took the equipment and set it up at the rear of his store in Rock Island. The station was first licensed on February 20, 1925, using the callsign WHBF and broadcasting 100 watts at 1350 kHz. The letters were said to stand for "Where Historic Blackhawk Fought." The station changed frequency to 1210 kHz in November 1928. The station moved to the Harms Hotel in Rock Island in 1932. In November of that year, Beardsley sold interest in his station to the John Potter family, which operated the "Rock Island Argus". In 1939, the station changed frequency to 1240 kHz, and increased power to 1,000 watts, 24 hours a day, with a directional array at night. In 1940, the station's power was increased to 5,000, with a directional array, day and night, and in 1941, the station changed frequency to its current position at 1270 kHz. WHBF was joined by a sister FM radio station - WHBF-FM, the first in the Quad Cities - in October 1947, and a television station went on the air in July 1950. By now, all three facilities were located in the Telco Building in downtown Rock Island. WHBF underwent many format changes since the end of the Golden Age of Radio. During the 1960s and early 1970s the station aired a middle-of-the-road, adult standards format. The station's signature format for many years was country music. From 1974 to 1995, the station was known as "Country Sunshine Radio", and aired both current and classic country music. WHBF first adopted the country format in 1974, and for years was among the top-rated stations in the Quad Cities market, alongside powerhouses KSTT and KIIK. But by the mid-1980s and the explosive growth of FM radio, WHBF's listenership began to wane.