with the sale. The station soon received both a new transmitter, and an FM sister station at 92.3 MHz, which also took the WCOL calls. The Pixleys would sell off WCOL AM/FM to Air Trails, Inc. in January 1952. Air Trails, and its successor Great Trails Broadcasting would be the primary owners of WCOL for over 52 years. Operating power for the station was increased to 1,000 watts during the daytime by July 1960, along with broadcasting 24-hours a day. WCOL, by then an independent station, then changed its format over to Top-40 that July 1, dubbing itself "The New WCOL." WCOL was best known to Columbus area residents throughout the 1960s during this era, and was the primary Top-40 format station in the Columbus market when its jingle "twelve thirty the new W-C-O-L" was part of the local audio landscape. It held this distinction from 1960 to the early 1970s, until the rise in popularity of FM broadcasting and competition from WNCI. WCOL, in its Top-40 heyday was heralded as the station which "premiered" the hits. Bryan McIntyre gained national award recognition for his uncanny ability to pick hit music, in advance of other radio markets. The WCOL calls were also used in tribute as the backdrop for the 1996 Tom Hanks movie "That Thing You Do." Air Trails was renamed Great Trails Broadcasting in 1969 after a corporate reorganization, but still retaining much of the management and personnel. Great Trails also would own regional stations WING in Dayton, WIZE in Springfield, WGTZ (née WJAI) in Eaton, and WKLO (now WKJK) and WKLO-FM (now WDJX-FM) in Louisville during this time. WCOL-FM would also see changes, splitting away from the AM station to highlight a progressive rock format before becoming "92X" WXGT (for "X-Great Trails") where the top 40 format was moved to. As the 1970s faded, the station changed format to a more adult-contemporary focus. WCOL was still successful in this format until a series of management and airstaff changeovers followed in the early 1980s including a brief switch to middle of the road-styled adult standards and the brief return of Columbus broadcast legend Spook Beckman. The station began broadcasting at 1,000 watts 24-hours a day, along with a format change to news/talk. After that format failed to show in the ratings, WCOL flipped back to "Top-40 Oldies" with the WXGT calls dropped reverting to WCOL-FM. By 1991, WCOL-AM