WOKV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WOKV (690 AM, simulcast on WOKV-FM 106.5 FM) is a conservative news/talk radio station in Jacksonville, Florida. WOKV-AM/FM is owned by Cox Radio of Atlanta, who also owns WFYV, WJGL, WMXQ and WAPE, all FM stations in Jacksonville.

WOKV is the only AM radio station in the Jacksonville market to remain in the top 10 in the Arbitron ratings since 1996. After its locally produced morning news program, WOKV airs syndicated talk with locally-anchored news, traffic and weather reports. WOKV also is the Jacksonville Jaguars flagship radio station.

WOKV-AM 690 has one of the strongest AM signals on the East Coast, as it covers the entire coast from Melbourne, Florida all the way to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, an area that includes Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina markets.

Until 1994, the station operated on a different frequency, AM-600, at 5,000 watts day and night. The station moved to AM-690 for its bigger signal (50,000 watts day and 10,000 at night).

From the 1950s to the 1980s, AM-690 was the original home to top 40 station WAPE, who migrated to the FM-95.1 frequency in 1986.

In 2006, the station upgraded its nighttime signal to 25,000 watts at night, with a broader pattern, and also added a simulcast on 106.5 z FM, formerly WBGB; making it one of the first news/talk radio stations in the country to simulcast on both AM and FM.

Other such stations that "simulcast" include are WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina, WWL in New Orleans, and WHIO in Dayton, Ohio.

[edit] FM History

According to the FCC's Call Sign History, 106.5 MHz signed on as WPVJ in July of 1994.

The station changed calls to WTLK in October 1996, and was known as Real Radio 106.5, with a talk format. The most notable event during this part of the station's history was the return of The Greaseman to Jacksonville's airwaves. (Ironically, the Greaseman's previous time in Jacksonville had been on WAPE when it was on AM 690 - the current home of WOKV-AM.)

WTLK flipped to classic rock in January, 1998, becoming known as Big 106.5, and changing to the WBGB calls in March, 1998. At this time, the station was owned by Clear Channel.

WBGB was divested by Clear Channel, along with sister stations WZNZ, WZAZ, and WJGR, in the fall of 1999 to Concord Media Group. From there, it came under the ownership of Jacor Broadcasting, who in turn sold the station to Caron Broadcasting (a division of Salem Communications) in 2003.

Caron flipped WBGB to Contemporary Christian, branding the station as 106.5 The Promise. Based on ratings, it was the most popular station of its genre in Jacksonville.

On July 6, 2006, Salem Communications entered into an agreement to sell WBGB-FM to Cox Radio for $7.7 million in cash. The last day the station broadcast as 106.5 The Promise was Monday, September 18th, 2006. The format then moved to non-commercial religious broadcaster WCRJ-FM (88.1), who adopted The Promise name as well as a number of on-air staffers.

In the afternoon on Tuesday, September 19th, Cox began stunting, letting listeners know that The Promise had moved to 88.1, and promising something "new and exciting" to come to 106.5 on Thursday, September 21st. Part of the stunt included listening in on a "board meeting", with various ideas being thrown out for the new format - including dance, "really redneck radio", "ultra-lite" (a jab at WEJZ), all-commercials (a blatant shot at Clear Channel), women's radio, and an alternative "Jack" format. However, the true fate of WBGB was revealed on Cox's Investor Relations website on September 20th.

[edit] Airstaff

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup because it is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (April 2008)

The current lineup is as follows

• Morning Show: Jacksonville's Morning News - Bob Schuman, Rich Jones, Roxy Tyler, Coty White,
  Jamie Dupree, Jared Halpern, Cole Pepper, Adam Kirk & Jeremy Ratliff
• Late Morning: The Rude Awakening - Neal Boortz
• Mid-Days: Excellence In Broadcasting - Rush Limbaugh
• Afternoon Drive: "Hannitizing" America! - Sean Hannity
• Evenings: The Consumer Warrior - Clark Howard
• Nighttime: The Savage Nation - Michael Savage
• Overnights: The Rusty Show - Rusty Humphries (12am-1am)
  Coast To Coast - George Noory (1am-5am)

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WOKV
• Radio Locator Information on WOKV
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WOKV
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WOKV
• Radio Locator information on WOKV
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WOKV