History WKMK

1 history

1.1 wthj history
1.2 whtg history
1.3 freeform
1.4 ownership change
1.5 hit 106
1.6 thunder 106

history
wthj history

this facility allocated ocean city , broadcast city wslt-fm on 106.3 mhz, beginning around 1970. station broadcast beautiful music, adult contemporary , classical formats until local marketing agreement led country format , new call sign of wkoe. more format changes ensued, none of them made of impact on atlantic city market , owners applied move station present location , frequency. on july 6, 2006, wkoe swapped frequencies wbbo, had been simulcasting whtg-fm on 98.5 fm , known b98.5 prior that. august 2005 january 2009 simulcasted g 106.3 in ocean county , south jersey. on january 19, 2009, format switched top 40 along whtg-fm. on december 8, 2010 wbbo call letters reverted fm station on 98.5 mhz licensed ocean acres, nj, near manahawkin, nj. concurrently station on 106.5 mhz in bass river township, nj, became wthj.

whtg history

whtg-fm first signed on @ 105.5 mhz frequency on october 11, 1961, sister station of whtg (1410 am). station named harold , theo gade, first owners , operators. eventually, gades daughter faye became general manager of station. faye gade assumed ownership of station in 1985.

interference wdha in northern new jersey resulted in move current 106.3 mhz frequency in 1965, had been vacated in 1963 when wfha in red bank, nj, discontinued operations.

primarily beautiful music station, broadcast adult standards (e.g. popular vocalists frank sinatra) , big bands in evenings alongside sister station until 1983, adult contemporary music switch alternative rock in august, 1984. station officially split off fm station in summer of 1984 kevin dunn named program director station. whtg-am began offering own format of adult contemporary, , eventually, oldies music,using many of personalities beautiful music days new airstaff assembled take on rock music norm on fm. station started play emerging local bands such red house, dramarama, blases , whirling dervishes along national alternative sounds artists such bolshoi, flesh lulu, del-lords, social distortion , husker du.

air personalities on whtg @ time included jack scott, kevin dunn, don brennan, ray knight, jeff michaels (now known jeff rafter), vince hartnett, james theadoracopulous (who used air name j.t. copulous ), chuck weigel, phil matthews, rich robinson, drew williamson, rich o reilly, dave mackey, chuck rossi, mike marrone, , matt pinfield.

whtg did not reach ocean county until august 2005, when began simulcast on 98.5 wbbo. whtg fm call letters dropped on december 8, 2010, when fm station on 106.5 mhz in bass river twsp, nj, became wthj. there station in eatontown, nj, on 1410 khz call letters whtg.

on august 31, 2012 modern rock returned jersey shore airwaves on familiar 106.3 fm frequency sign on of wjse rock alternative .

freeform


whtg fm106.3 logo

in fm 106–3 days, station had of free-form approach, djs alternative rock fans picking music played, pixies prince. during mid-1980s, smiths , other manchester sound artists favored station s jocks. time rich robinson had become program director , nudging ownership more contemporary format. dj matt pinfield, started @ station in 1984 , had, nineties, become program director, noted being extremely knowledgeable of alternative , independent artist information when introducing tracks. later seen spouting knowledge 2nd host of mtv s 120 minutes .

in 1980s, station referred as, rock alternative, fm 106.3. brief period in nineties, station used slogan of real rock radio, fm 106.3. in nineties, signature copy became, fm 106.3, modern rock @ jersey shore.

whtg achieved highest ratings ever in 1993 , 1994 when received favorite radio station honor in rolling stone s annual readers polls. station garnered underground marketing support in form of widespread application of station s logo (at right) upon traffic signs throughout state. vinyl stickers quite durable , available free @ jersey area independent music shops.

ownership change

g-rock logo

in november 2000, whtg sold press communications. whtg became known g106.3, , took on format described hybrid of alternative , modern adult contemporary. later, whtg had evolved alternative rock station played current , re-current alternative hits, heritage artists such cure , rem. before acquisition of wbbo, whtg referred g106.3, rock alternative, echoing—perhaps unwittingly—fm 106.3 s original alternative-era slogan 1985 1989.

g rock radio featured special programming on weekend mornings. saturday morning breakfast club took nostalgic @ alternative rock 1980s, while common threads (a program dates fm 106-3 era , featured theme sets of songs) showcased modern acoustic music. acquisition of wbbo, g106.3 became known g-rock radio , simulcast on 106.3 , 98.5. in july 2006, wbbo s 98.5 signal moved 106.5. during time, g-rock trimulcasted on 98.5, 106.3, , 106.5 assist listeners in frequency transition. g-rock later dropped weekday noon request show called 90 s @ noon more 80 s influenced request show known retro request hour . specialty show heard on sunday nights called underground, featured indie bands b-sides , unknown tracks current played artists, dropped in march 2007. on june 24, 2007, specialty programming on sunday nights returned punkyard , consisted of 2 hours of punk music. spring 2008, other weekend programming on g rock included all-request radio kaos 7 pm – midnight saturdays. there queens of noise on sundays 9-10 pm, featured female-fronted bands , solo rock artists.

hit 106

on january 19, 2009, previous alternative rock format heard on whtg , wbbo dropped in middle of day no advance notice in favor of top 40 format, known hit 106 . last song le disko shiny toy guns.

a facebook group known bring grock! formed protest format change. membership in group peaked @ on 10,700. protest outside of press communications held week of change, attended 200 people. in letter posted in response protest, ceo of press communications robert mcallan lambasted g rock radio fans perceived reluctance fill out arbitron surveys, adding hoped tune new station, counted justin timberlake, 50 cent, pink , fall out boy among core artists.

hit 106 logo


thunder 106

on september 15, 2010, @ 3:00 p.m., press broadcasting s thunder country format swapped formats , call signs hit 106, thunder broadcasting on renamed wkmk , wbbo-fm , hit music format moved 98.5 frequency in ocean acres, known whtg-fm. whtg-fm once again known b 98.5 . wkmk closest radio station new york city country format until january 21, 2013 when format reappeared in city on 94.7 fm.

this came twenty months after sudden format change on january 19, 2009, when both whtg-fm , wbbo dropped long-time alternative format , switched top 40 format, identifying hit 106.