WFCN first signed on the air in December 1968 as 1190 WAMB. It was the brainchild of longtime Nashville broadcaster Bill Barry, who realized in the 1960s that the switch of most popular radio stations to varied youth-oriented formats was alienating many older listeners, a large segment of whom were nostalgic for the big band sound of 1930s and 1940s popular music and a station which would play it. The station was originally licensed to the Nashville suburb of Donelson. Airing a format called "The Music of Your Life", it was a pioneer of Adult standards music. The format was eventually syndicated with hundreds of such stations carrying the Music of Your Life throughout North America.