Former WOKI Location.

[BRice16]

I agree! Get rid of the lousy talk format on 100.3, and put some local talent and music back on there! No more of this satellite in a can automated programming either!

That "lousy" talk format is making Citadel a ton of cash, so it's not going anywhere.

 

[Raingus]

I agree! Get rid of the lousy talk format on 100.3, and put some local talent and music back on there! No more of this satellite in a can automated programming either!

That "lousy" talk format is making Citadel a ton of cash, so it's not going anywhere.

Oh yeah........that's right.........it's all about the greed. Good programming doesn't matter these days it's about lining the pockets of these red tie/blue suit Corporates. Thanks for reminding me BRice16.

Geez......How could I forget in the modern day world of "Corporate Radio" where there is no such thing as a good variety of programming or music.

We wouldn't want to do anything to take away money from Citadel and their fake version of WNOX.

 

[howell]

OK, you guys made me laugh out loud and remember Buster. Us "Yard Apes" and "Lowest Life Forms on the Planet" did tear up a lot of equipment. I'll always remember Buster going to a Smokey Mountain Market grand openening...where hot dogs were 10 for a dollar...he at $5.00 worth!!! And then the day BJ from the sales department walked by him...and Buster wiped a booger on BJ's tie. (That one went nuclear) Then the time he parked the station van with the butt end of it over BJ's Porche...and the time....this could go on for a long time. Yeah, WOKI had it's problems...but I've never worked at a radio station yet that the grass wasn't always greener on the other side of the fence. The way to make money in radio is to use it as a springboard to do other things. There are very few 100,000 a year jocks out there...but a lot doing multiple things and making money. This is a great site.
JH

 

[radiorob2.0]

I agree! Get rid of the lousy talk format on 100.3, and put some local talent and music back on there! No more of this satellite in a can automated programming either!

That "lousy" talk format is making Citadel a ton of cash, so it's not going anywhere.

Oh yeah........that's right.........it's all about the greed. Good programming doesn't matter these days it's about lining the pockets of these red tie/blue suit Corporates. Thanks for reminding me BRice16.

Geez......How could I forget in the modern day world of "Corporate Radio" where there is no such thing as a good variety of programming or music.

We wouldn't want to do anything to take away money from Citadel and their fake version of WNOX.

Whoa, stop the tape, it's all about making money, that is what subsidizes the fun. Unfortunately, those who run the show these days don't know how to have fun anymore. Remember, there are end of year bonuses at risk.

 

[Raingus]

I agree! Get rid of the lousy talk format on 100.3, and put some local talent and music back on there! No more of this satellite in a can automated programming either!

That "lousy" talk format is making Citadel a ton of cash, so it's not going anywhere.

Oh yeah........that's right.........it's all about the greed. Good programming doesn't matter these days it's about lining the pockets of these red tie/blue suit Corporates. Thanks for reminding me BRice16.

Geez......How could I forget in the modern day world of "Corporate Radio" where there is no such thing as a good variety of programming or music.

We wouldn't want to do anything to take away money from Citadel and their fake version of WNOX.

Whoa, stop the tape, it's all about making money, that is what subsidizes the fun. Unfortunately, those who run the show these days don't know how to have fun anymore. Remember, there are end of year bonuses at risk.

I agree it's about making money also Radiorob2.0, however when they start sacrificing good programming for the sake of profit 'alone' that is where I have the problem.

Citadel has been a huge contributor in ruining Knoxville radio. They have no respect for Tradition such as moving the WNOX calls off of AM 990 and moving the WOKI calls to another frequency. I mean if they want to have a talk format on 100.3 why not at least keep the WOKI calls on there just like they should have kept the WNOX calls on AM 990. As far as I'm concerned 100.3-FM will never be WNOX.

Imagine how much hell people would raise out in Nashville if someone decided to move the WSM Calls off of AM 650 and they replaced them with WNML.

 

[Raingus]

OK, you guys made me laugh out loud and remember Buster. Us "Yard Apes" and "Lowest Life Forms on the Planet" did tear up a lot of equipment. I'll always remember Buster going to a Smokey Mountain Market grand openening...where hot dogs were 10 for a dollar...he at $5.00 worth!!! And then the day BJ from the sales department walked by him...and Buster wiped a booger on BJ's tie. (That one went nuclear) Then the time he parked the station van with the butt end of it over BJ's Porche...and the time....this could go on for a long time. Yeah, WOKI had it's problems...but I've never worked at a radio station yet that the grass wasn't always greener on the other side of the fence. The way to make money in radio is to use it as a springboard to do other things. There are very few 100,000 a year jocks out there...but a lot doing multiple things and making money. This is a great site.
JH

Thanks for the memories Jerry.

 

[tennvol]

Citadel has been a huge contributor in ruining Knoxville radio. They have no respect for Tradition such as moving the WNOX calls off of AM 990 and moving the WOKI calls to another frequency. I mean if they want to have a talk format on 100.3 why not at least keep the WOKI calls on there just like they should have kept the WNOX calls on AM 990. As far as I'm concerned 100.3-FM will never be WNOX.

Imagine how much hell people would raise out in Nashville if someone decided to move the WSM Calls off of AM 650 and they replaced them with WNML.

I suspect the vast majority of listeners (including me) don't care about what call letters are associated with what frequency.

 

[Raingus]

Citadel has been a huge contributor in ruining Knoxville radio. They have no respect for Tradition such as moving the WNOX calls off of AM 990 and moving the WOKI calls to another frequency. I mean if they want to have a talk format on 100.3 why not at least keep the WOKI calls on there just like they should have kept the WNOX calls on AM 990. As far as I'm concerned 100.3-FM will never be WNOX.

Imagine how much hell people would raise out in Nashville if someone decided to move the WSM Calls off of AM 650 and they replaced them with WNML.

I suspect the vast majority of listeners (including me) don't care about what call letters are associated with what frequency.

Those of us who appreciate Knoxville Radio History and tradition along with many of the folks who have been associated with these stations in the past do care.

The people in Nashville sure did care when the owners threatened to change WSM-AM's country music format to Talk Radio. They held protests over it, and as a result they decided to leave WSM a Country Music radio station like it had always been. Those folks appreciate tradition. I'm sure they would also get upset if the WSM calls were ever dropped from AM-650 and replaced with something else.

 

[radiorob2.0]

I agree and that was the tongue and cheek part of my comment about "end of year bonuses". Citadel screwed itself by trying to play with the big boys and purchasing ABC radio, today the stock has the value of toilet paper. Citadel doesn't have the money or the guts to do anything different because too many depend on the cash flow including shareholders, Vice-Presidents and vendors but not necessarily in that order.

Your theory of WSM almost happened five years ago. It was announced WSM-AM was going to change to sports and public outcry kept country on 650. Today, the signal is being starved to death by the managing company Cumulus and the owner of the frequency Gaylord Entertainment. It's a cruel dilemma, Gaylord want to sell WSM but only as a package with the Grand Ole Opry so they won't put anymore into it than required. Cumulus won't invest since they don't actually own the frequency.

I'm too lazy to look it up but I assume reading here Pirkle still owns the frequency. If that is the case then somebody needs to approach him and find out what it would take to take over the lease.

 

[howell]

As I understand it, and I've slept since this all went down, WIVK paid Pirkle for an LMA on WOKI. So, Pirkle still owns WOKI on paper, but it's controlled by Dick Broadcasting since they have the LMA. I'l check R&R and the latest ratings. They always list the corporate owners etc on the stations. My information could be waaaaay out of date.
Howell

 

[JKersting1]

Remember that the WNOX calls left 990AM before....back in the late 1980's when it became WIVK-AM. They came back in August or September 1997.

And the history of radio has calls jumping all over the dial. The calls ARE the heritage, not the frequency.

WIVK was 860AM, then 850AM, then also 107.7FM, then also 990AM...but what is important is WIVK, right?

WHB in Kansas City was one of the first Top 40 formats in the country back in the 1950's. They were known as Seventy Wonderful WHB because they were 710AM. Today, they are a 50KW all sports station at 810AM....and no one recalls the dial position.

Just sayin'

 

[howell]

I was program director of WNOX during it's final days when AM was rapidly becoming a dirty word. It wasn't a fun job fighting a losing battle, but it still was a job I had always dreamed of. WNOX and 990AM had been married since the beginning of radio with live shows and helped make legends in the business like Chet Atkins. My great uncle owned an antique radio, the big cabinet model with speakers the size of garbage cans...and on the dial the manufacturer had written radio stations across the United States so the consumer could listen to this "new fangled contraption". WNOX/990 was written on the dial. Commercial airliners flying into Knoxville used 990 as their ADF guidance frequency. True, a lot of radio stations have successfully danced around the dial and the call letters have moved too...but when a marriage like WNOX/990 is broken up after such a pronounced contribution to everything we have today...it's kinda sad. A piece of everyone's radio history goes away. Guess you had to live it...
H

 

[Richards84]

I did part time on-air and some vacation fill-in on-air at WOKI from 84-87...hired in the final days of PD Doc Fidler (?) and then worked for Jeff Jarnigan. I was in Oak Ridge a few years ago and made a point to drive by the old building...I almost couldn't find it because I guess I was still looking for the old 'pink' building. But when I did find it, it did look pretty run down. In the summers from 84-87, I had the opportunity to do the live broadcasts for many of the 'WOKI Pool Patrols'....and had a blast doing it. I worked with a lot of the old names mentioned on this board...JJ Randell, Jim Wilson, Shotgun Stevens (just exchanged emails with him a month or so ago), Wayne Edwards (anyone remember him?), Bandit, and Jerry Howell (I'm sure there are many others...my memory isn't what it used to be). I filled in for overnights for a couple of months during that time and the one memory I have of you Jerry (other than that thick beard and gravely voice), was you describing to me a possible "future" technology (keep in mind, this is the mid 80's) of being able to download electronic game programs over the air using our tower signal (can you tell I'm technology challenged?). Those were truly the days.

p.s. I do still have a few of the t-shirts from the 'good ole days'....I think I have a pool patrol shirt and maybe a few others...and maybe a bumper sticker or two.