WZKO

WZKO (1350 AM) is a radio station licensed to Fort Myers, Florida, United States. It airs an urban adult contemporary format branded as "107.5 Jamz".

WZKO
CityFort Myers, Florida
Frequency1350 kHz
Branding107.5 Jamz
Programming
FormatUrban adult contemporary
Ownership
OwnerAaron Howard
(Genesis Multimedia Group, LLC)
History
First air date
August 22, 1964
Former call signs
WXYC (1960–1964, CP)
WCAI (1964–1986)
WWWQ (1986–1988)
WHYS (1988–1989)
WCRM (1989–2016)
Technical information
Facility ID39798
ClassD
Power2,000 watts day
150 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
26°37′31″N 81°50′29″W
Translator(s)107.5 W298CB (Fort Myers)
Links
WebcastListen Live
Website1075jamz.fm

FM Translator
Broadcast translators of WZKO
Call signFrequency
(MHz)		City of licenseFacility
ID		ERP
(W)		ClassFCC info
W298CB107.5Fort Myers, Florida15027799DFCC

History

WCAI

On August 14, 1962, William H. Martin received the construction permit to establish a new radio station in Fort Myers, with the call letters WXYC. Martin sold the construction permit prior to going on air to Lee Broadcasting,[1] which changed the call letters to WCAI before signing on August 22, 1964.[2] The new daytime-only outlet broadcast middle-of-the-road music.[2] Operations were threatened in 1967 when a city controlled burn operation went out of control and blew toward the station; WCAI remained on the air, but its tower, which had just been painted red that day, was colored black with ash.[3]

WCAI remained mostly unchanged through the 1970s aside from a format flip to country, though it gave its listeners a scare when a 1977 promotion announcing "the end of the station" for a weekend of classic country prompted so many phone calls that a telephone exchange was blown out.[4] The next year, a disc jockey resigned after being implicated in a company that sold memberships in nonexistent department stores.[5] There were several transfers of ownership in 1980 and 1981, resulting in the station being sold to Ercona South for $600,000.[6] The principals of Lee Broadcasting had sold WCAI in order to pursue a new FM license on Estero Island,[7] which they won and launched in 1983 as WQEZ.[8] By 1984, WCAI was a talk station.[9]

In 1985, Charlie Frank reached an agreement to sell WCAI to Horizon Communications, which owned WQSA of Sarasota, for $700,000, with Horizon announcing plans to retain WCAI's talk programming.[10] However, ratings surveys showed it dead last in the Fort Myers market of 12 stations,[11] and in September, employee paychecks started bouncing as payment complications emerged in the sale to Horizon.[12] The wheels came off in November, two weeks after former owners Truman Morris and Helen Pierce foreclosed on Horizon,[13] when WCAI went silent while it searched for another new owner.[14]

Nine days after receiving authority to cease broadcasting from the Federal Communications Commission, WCAI filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.[15] One prospective bidder was Caloosa Television, which owned WEVU-TV in Naples.[15] The only bid for WCAI, at $51,000, ultimately came from Roger Coleman, owner of a station in Galesburg, Illinois, after Caloosa withdrew its bid.[16] However, Coleman backed out and withdrew his application with the FCC to buy WCAI in April.[17] Other parties that showed interest in WCAI included a local pastor, Eddie Grimsley, who wanted to broadcast religious programming.[18] After the license was transferred to WCAI's former creditors, Asti Broadcasting Corporation of Clearwater acquired WCAI for $400,000 late in the year.[13]

WWWQ and WHYS

To get their own identity in the market, Asti changed the call letters to WWWQ.[13] The station reemerged on March 15, 1987, as "3WQ" with an urban contemporary format—the only one in southwest Florida—primarily syndicated from the Satellite Music Network.[19] Only a year later, however, 1350 AM returned to talk, this time as WHYS, because it struggled to overcome its image as a "black" radio station with white listeners and advertisers.[20]

WCRM

In 1989, Asti sold WHYS to Manna Christian Missions, which had brokered out 34 hours a week on the station for Spanish-language programming, for $450,000. Manna changed WHYS to WCRM "Radio Consolación",[21] the first Spanish-language radio station in Lee County.[22] Yet again, however, the minority-oriented format proved problematic for potential advertisers, prompting Manna to flip WCRM to contemporary Christian in July 1990.[23] (One of the hosts on the new station was Eddie Grimsley, the same pastor that had attempted to buy it out of bankruptcy four years prior.[23]) Less than two years later, WCRM flipped back to a Spanish-language format as "Radio Manantial".[24]

WCRM remained a Spanish-language Christian station, with some brokered programming and gospel music on Sundays, under Manna's ownership; it gained national recognition when it was named among the top 5 Spanish Christian radio stations in the United States in 1996.[25] It suffered through a 1997 burglary in which $9,000 worth of equipment was taken or destroyed,[26] as well as a 2000 lightning strike that took out its transmitter site.[27]

In 2008, Manna sold WCRM to Vida Radio Ministries, a subsidiary of Christ Center International, for $950,000. Three years later, however, Manna bought back the land on which WCRM's studios and transmitter are located from Christ Center for $50,000 in a foreclosure sale;[28] in early 2012, it won back the license in a settlement of Manna's claims against CCI.[29]

While Manna took back the WCRM license, it decided to outsource the station's operations under a local marketing agreement. In late July 2012, Everglades City Broadcasting, owners of WBGY (88.1 FM) on Marco Island, began operating WCRM and flipped it to Fox Sports Radio.[30]

WZKO

In December 2015, Manna sold WCRM to Genesis Multimedia for $450,000.[31] Genesis paired the station with a translator it bought in Melbourne and moved to Fort Myers[32] as W298CB (107.5 FM), and relaunched WCRM as WZKO "107.5 Jamz".[33]

References
  1. "Lee Broadcasting Is Incorporated". News-Press. February 4, 1964. p. 5-B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  2. "'Middle of Road' Music New Station's Specialty". Tampa Tribune. August 26, 1964. p. 1=B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  3. "Fire Threatens Radio Station". Tampa Tribune. April 5, 1967. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  4. Sloat, Bill (May 7, 1977). "Radio station gimmick panics loyal listeners". News-Press. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  5. Johnson, Barbara (August 25, 1978). "Disc jockey resigns after publicity". News-Press. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  6. Lieber, David (November 30, 1981). "Media". News-Press. p. 1E, 4E. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  7. Klein, Ken (June 12, 1980). "License for Estero radio station generating lots of interest". News-Press. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  8. Averill, Roslyn (October 13, 1983). "Easy-listening radio station to broadcast from Beach". News-Press. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  9. "Nixon interview to be aired". February 1, 1984. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  10. Schroder, Tom (March 20, 1985). "Sarasota firm buys local radio station". News-Press. p. 15A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  11. Smarte, Charlotte (August 11, 1985). "WINK-FM is area's radio leader". News-Press. p. 1B, 2B.
  12. Schroder, Tom (September 19, 1985). "Low ratings, payment mix-ups causing static at WCAI-AM". News-Press. p. 17A.
  13. Ward, Judy L. (November 24, 1986). "Company aims to get WCAI-AM on air again". News-Press. p. 8. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  14. Christie, Rick (November 27, 1985). "WCAI-AM stops broadcasting, looks for buyer". News-Press. p. 13A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  15. Christie, Rick (December 18, 1985). "WCAI-AM files under Chapter 7 bankruptcy". News-Press. p. 13A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  16. Christie, Rick (January 10, 1986). "WCAI-AM sells for $51,000". News-Press. p. 15A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  17. Christie, Rick (April 9, 1986). "WCAI-AM returns to sales block". News-Press. p. 9B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  18. Christie, Rick (April 12, 1986). "Black pastor bids on radio station". News-Press. p. 7B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  19. Williams, Frances D. (October 16, 1987). "Souled out". News-Press. pp. 1D, 4D. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  20. Williams, Frances D. (April 2, 1988). "AM station's change more than just talk". News-Press. p. 1D. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  21. Hirsch, Suzanne; Jeffries, Suzanne (September 27, 1989). "Radio station plans benefit for Hugo victims". News-Press. p. 22A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  22. del Villar, Sandra G. (July 12, 1989). "Spanish radio station battles way to 24-hour schedule". News-Press. p. 9A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  23. Williams, Frances D. (July 16, 1990). "Tune in to the new tunes on WCRM radio". p. 1D. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  24. "WCRM-AM drops Twins games". News-Press. April 14, 1992. p. 4C. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  25. Salmón, Efraín (October 20, 2006). "Radio Manantial 1350 AM cumple quince años". Gaceta Tropical (in Spanish). p. 16. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  26. Brassfield, Mike (July 16, 1997). "Theft can't silence Christian radio". News-Press. p. 1B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  27. Scott, Denise L. (June 24, 2000). "Station tunes in listeners for help". News-Press. pp. 1E, 8E. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  28. "Nonprofit buys land in foreclosure sale". News-Press. October 13, 2011. p. B2. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  29. "Fort Myers AM goes back to original seller". RBR. March 19, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  30. "Station switcheroo". News-Press. August 6, 2012. p. D1. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  31. Venta, Lance (December 18, 2015). "Station Sales Week Of 12/19". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  32. Venta, Lance (December 31, 2015). "Station Sales Week Of 12/31: Family Life Ministries Enters Syracuse". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  33. Venta, Lance (October 12, 2016). "The Secret Format Changes Of 2016". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
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