WTKK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WTKK | |
 |
|
| City of license | Boston, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Branding | 96.9 FM WTKK |
| Slogan | "96.9 Boston Talks" |
| Frequency | 96.9 (MHz) (also on HD Radio) 96.9 HD-2 for All Irish Music |
| First air date | 1948 |
| Format | Talk radio |
| ERP | 22,500 watts |
| HAAT | 224 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 25050 |
| Callsign meaning | TalK |
| Owner | Greater Media (Greater Boston Radio, Inc.) |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.wtkk.com |
WTKK is a New England commercial talk radio station, first broadcast out of Boston on 96.9 FM beginning in 1999. It can be heard in eastern Massachusetts, the northernmost area of Rhode Island, and southern New Hampshire and southern Maine. Stations on 96.7 in Rochester, New Hampshire may limit WTKK's potential audience in the Seacoast Region of New Hampshire.
The station originated in 1945 as W1XHR (later WXHR), owned by Harvey Radio Laboratories. In 1967 WXHR was sold to the Boston Globe and became the beautiful music station WJIB (whose AM successor operates out of the old Harvey Radio Labs building in Cambridge). After several further ownership changes — first to General Electric in 1972, then to NBC in 1986 (following a merger between NBC's parent company, RCA, and GE) and Emmis Communications in 1988 — it operated as smooth jazz station WCDJ from 1990 to 1993. After Greater Media bought the station, the station was converted to country as WBCS. The station became WKLB-FM in 1996 after the previous WKLB-FM was bought by Greater Media and consolidated with WBCS, with its frequency being converted to WROR-FM. Smooth jazz returned in 1997 as WSJZ after a format swap with what had been WOAZ (now WCRB); this was dropped in 1999 in favor of the current format.
The station is still owned and operated by Greater Media to this day, with studios in Dorchester along with other Greater Media properties.
WTKK's programming includes well-known personalities such as Michael Graham and Jay Severin. WTKK management attempted to add Boston Herald columnist and talk-show host Howie Carr to its lineup, but his long-time radio-station employer, Entercom-owned WRKO-AM, blocked that move by exercising a clause in Mr. Carr's contract allowing it to make a matching counter-offer.
Carr held out until November 16, 2007, after which point Carr returned to WRKO. On December 3, WTKK resumed broadcasting Imus in the Morning, which the station had carried until the April 12 firing of Don Imus for his comments about the Rutgers University Women's Basketball team.
Its has been widely reported, Severin was suspended indefinitely by WTKK-FM on April 30, 2009, after his most controversial on-air commentary against Mexican-women, Mexican immigrants, Mexican-Americans and those infected with the H1N1 epidemic. [1] His suspension ended after one month on June 2, 2009 with an apology. [2]
[edit] External links and Citations
- ^ http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/04/_jay_severin.html?
- ^ http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/06/severin_expecte.html
- Official Website
- Station History
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WTKK
- Radio-Locator information on WTKK
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WTKK
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
  |
This article about a radio station in Massachusetts is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
