WXTK

WXTK (95.1 FM; "Newsradio 95 WXTK") is a news/talk radio station licensed to West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and headquartered in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.. It is the direct descendant of Cape Cod's first commercial radio station, WOCB.

WXTK
CityWest Yarmouth, Massachusetts
Broadcast areaHyannis, Massachusetts
Cape Cod
Frequency95.1 MHz
BrandingNewsradio 95 WXTK
SloganCape Cod's #1 source for news, weather and traffic
Programming
FormatNews/Talk
Ownership
OwneriHeartMedia, Inc.
(iHM Licenses, LLC)
WCIB, WCOD-FM, WEII
History
First air date
May 2, 1948 (as WOCB-FM on 94.3)[1]
Former call signs
WOCB-FM (1948–1978)
WSOX-FM (1978–1984)
WRZE (1984–1985)
WJFK (1985–1987)
WOCB-FM (1987–1990)
WJIB (1990–1991)
WOCB-FM (1991)
Former frequencies
94.3 MHz (1948–1962)
94.9 MHz (1962–1997)
Call sign meaning
W eXtreme TalK (proposed, but never used, station branding)
Technical information
Facility ID6250
ClassB
ERP50,000 watts
HAAT80 meters
Transmitter coordinates
41.6357°N 70.2345°W / 41.6357; -70.2345
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitehttps://95wxtk.iheart.com/

History

WOCB first signed on as an AM station on October 2, 1940;[2] the station was originally owned by the Cape Cod Broadcasting Company.[3] It originally operated at 1210 kHz, but moved to 1240 in 1941 as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement.[2] WOCB shut down in May 1943 after running out of money, resulting in its license being canceled by the FCC on November 30.[2] E. Anthony and Sons, owner of WNBH in New Bedford and publisher of the New Bedford Standard-Times and the Cape Cod Standard-Times, bought the station's equipment and relaunched WOCB under a new license on May 6, 1944 as an affiliate of the Blue Network,[2] broadcasting mostly network programming (soap operas, radio drama, newscasts, etc.) with some local programming, remaining affiliated with that network after it became ABC. When ABC broke into four sub-networks in 1968, WOCB AM and FM became affiliated with ABC's American Entertainment Network.

Its FM signal, for years a simulcast of its AM signal, signed on May 2, 1948 on 94.3 MHz[1] (becoming the Cape's first FM commercial station as well), and in 1962, moved to 94.9 MHz.[4] (The 94.3 frequency is now used on Cape Cod by WZAI, the Brewster repeater for WCAI.)

By the 1970s, WOCB-FM broke away from simulcasting the AM during midday and evening hours to broadcast easy-listening music while still simulcasting the AM's format (then adult contemporary, with a heavy news commitment) during weekday drive times and hourly newscasts the rest of the broadcast day. The FM call letters were changed to WSOX-FM in 1978,[5] WRZE in 1984,[6] WJFK in 1985,[7] back to WOCB-FM in 1987,[8] WJIB in 1990 (shortly after the call sign was dropped by 96.9 FM in Boston, now WBQT), and then WOCB-FM once more in 1991.[9]

In the summer through winter of 1981, the afternoon drive announcer on WOCB was Edd Hall, who subsequently did voice work for Late Night with David Letterman from 1982–1990 and was the announcer on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 1992–2004.

In 1991, Hurricane Bob blew down WOCB's transmitter tower, and the damage suffered was so severe that the owners could not afford to rebuild. The station was then sold to Ernie Boch, Sr., an automobile dealer in the Boston suburb of Norwood, Massachusetts, who turned WOCB-FM into the flagship station for his new Boch Broadcasting company. The station's first news director, Hal Lamb, applied to the FCC to change the station's calls to WXTK, or "X-Talk," a reference to the rarity of the news/talk format on the FM dial at the time. WXTK initially planned to brand as "Extreme Talk," but did not do so, though a few station IDs were produced using the branding (as late as 1998, the unused IDs were still in the station archives). Despite this, WXTK went through with the change to news/talk, and secured several syndication agreements, including the right to broadcast The Rush Limbaugh Show. Limbaugh himself acknowledged his newest affiliate by remarking on-air, "I am now beaming into Kennedy compound." Over the next few years, the station also became the Cape's home of G. Gordon Liddy (cancelled from the station as of July 2006) and Howie Carr, and longtime local morning hosts Ed Lambert and Don McKeag.

Concurrent with the WXTK relaunch, WOCB's AM 1240 facility became WUOK,[10] and under those call letters programmed CNN Headline News,[11] sports radio,[12] and finally a WXTK simulcast.[13] In 1997, Boch donated WUOK to Boston University for use as a relay of WBUR-FM in Boston, under the callsign WBUR (AM).[14] 1240 AM now broadcasts as WBAS.

WXTK's first logo after the frequency switch. Before the switch its branding was simply "94.9 WXTK" with no actual logo.

In July 1996, WXTK filed an application with the FCC to change frequencies from 94.9 to 95.1 MHz. The application was granted May 20, 1997.[15] The move was in response to listener complaints of co-channel interference (when two stations on the same frequency interfere with each other) from WHOM on Mount Washington. The move took effect on-air on September 18, 1997;[16] to ease people into the new frequency, there were two weeks of promotional material over-the-air, and after the switch its branding was changed to "95.1 is 95 WXTK", putting stress on the word "is". When WXTK moved to 95.1, it had to operate "directionally" with a signal limited towards WHRB in Cambridge.

WXTK's logo under Qantum Communications ownership

In 2005, Boch Broadcasting sold WXTK and its sister stations to Qantum Communications, owner of WRZE (now WEII, a simulcast of sports radio WEEI-FM) and WCIB, though Qantum had to sell WTWV/WDVT (now WHYA and WFRQ) to Nassau Broadcasting in order to stay within FCC regulations. Until that sale, WOCB/WXTK had been broadcasting from the same studio building for over 60 years.

On May 15, 2014, Qantum Communications announced that it would sell its 29 stations, including WXTK, to Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), in a transaction connected to Clear Channel's sale of WALK AM-FM in Patchogue, New York to Connoisseur Media via Quantum.[17] The transaction was consummated on September 9, 2014.

Programming

Local, regional, and national shows aired include The Ed Lambert Show, The Barry Armstrong Show, Rush Limbaugh, Howie Carr, Sean Hannity, C.L. Fonari's Gardenline, The Pat Desmarais Show and The Handyman Hotline with Larry Egan. The station broadcasts games for the New England Patriots and Boston Bruins.

The staff is led by Operations Manager Kevin Matthews.

References
  1. "WOCB-FM W. Yarmouth Is Now on Air With 1 kw" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. May 17, 1948. p. 226. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  2. Halper, Donna; Wollman, Garrett. "The Eastern Massachusetts Radio Timeline: the 1940s". The Archives @ BostonRadio.org. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  3. Halper, Donna; Wollman, Garrett. "The Eastern Massachusetts Radio Timeline: the 1930s". The Archives @ BostonRadio.org. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  4. "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 15, 1962. p. 78. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  5. "Call letters" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 28, 1978. p. 101. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  6. "Call letters" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 5, 1984. p. 78. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  7. "Call Letters" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 14, 1985. p. 90. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  8. "Call Letters" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 1, 1987. p. 74. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  9. "Call Sign History (WXTK)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  10. "Call Sign History (WBAS)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  11. "WUOK reception verification" (PDF). February 13, 1993. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  12. Fybush, Scott (April 13, 1996). "New England RadioWatch". Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  13. Fybush, Scott (April 16, 1996). "New England RadioWatch". Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  14. Mccloy, Andrew P. (March 3, 1997). "WBUR expands coverage". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  15. http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=228596
  16. Fybush, Scott (September 18, 1997). "WVIP, R.I.P. (and WMMM, too)". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  17. Venta, Lance (May 15, 2014). "Qantum Sells To Clear Channel; Connoisseur Expands In Long Island". RadioInsight. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
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