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Knoxville radio history

Carrying 94.3 further back, they were easy listening WUUU (the station for you), and for a brief period in the late 60's, they were WATO-FM playing underground rock. UT students used to hang antennas out their dorm room windows to listen.

Also don't forget 95.3 in Clinton. Now a religious satellite station, they were WTNZ Power 95 back in the 80's before sliding into bankruptcy. And before that (while still on 104.9 FM), they were the first Top 40 FM in the Knoxville area as WCFA (Super CFA). The current mayor of LaFollette was a jock as CJ the DJ.
 
SuperQ said:
Carrying 94.3 further back, they were easy listening WUUU (the station for you), and for a brief period in the late 60's, they were WATO-FM playing underground rock. UT students used to hang antennas out their dorm room windows to listen.

Also don't forget 95.3 in Clinton. Now a religious satellite station, they were WTNZ Power 95 back in the 80's before sliding into bankruptcy. And before that (while still on 104.9 FM), they were the first Top 40 FM in the Knoxville area as WCFA (Super CFA). The current mayor of LaFollette was a jock as CJ the DJ.
Click to expand...

The current mayor of LaFollette was the DJ at WCFA? I didn't know that. Do you know what decade it was?

I would also like to know the history of all the FM stations? If you could, email me at [email protected] because I would love to hear from you.
 
I remember WUUU -- it was my first job in radio (mid-70s) -- board op during Braves baseball broadcasts. It was WATO-AM's neglected sibling -- back in the days when AM was king (prog. rock fans will remember W-149 and, later, 1340 KGN.)

Carson Cooper
 
SuperQ said:
Also don't forget 95.3 in Clinton. Now a religious satellite station, they were WTNZ Power 95 back in the 80's before sliding into bankruptcy.
Click to expand...

95.3 started the 80s as WYSH-FM. Mack Sanders bought it to pair with WNOX, playing country as WNKX. The station, along with 990, changed owners several times - and was in and out of bankruptcy through most of the 80s. One of the post Sanders owners made the move to Power 95 about the same time 990 went dark. Looking back over the 80s, how many K-town AMs went dark? I recall WRJZ and WKGN both being off the air for part of the 80s, along with WNOX.

As for Derrick's original question - here's my best, but incomplete guess on the K-town radio lineup in 1984. Some with format.

WUOT - 91.9 FM Knoxville
WETQ - 94.3 FM Oak Ridge
WNKX - 95.3 FM Clinton / Country
WEZK - 97.5 FM Knoxville / Beautiful Music
WOKI - 100.3 FM Oak Ridge / Top 40
WMYU - 102.1 FM Sevierville / AC
WIMZ - 103.5 FM Knoxville / Rock
WIVK - 107.7 FM Knoxville / Country

WRJZ - 620 AM Knoxville / Oldies. Then went dark and returned as Christian.
WIVK - 850 AM Knoxville / Country
WKXV - 900 AM Knoxville / Christian
WSEV - 930 AM Sevierville / Country
WNOX - 990 AM Knoxville / Country
WIMZ - 1240 AM Knoxville (I may be wrong on the call letters at that time.) / Standards
WATO - 1290 AM Oak Ridge
WKGN - 1340 AM Knoxville / Talk
WYSH - 1380 AM Clinton / Country
WITA - 1490 AM Knoxville (Could they have still been WROL in the early 80s?) / Religion

Wasn't there a WORI, somewhere on AM in the mid to upper 1500s - sister station to WOKI? And when did James Brown's AM go dark? Wasn't that in the lower 1400s on AM? When did the Gatlinburg stations sign on? I seem to recall an AM licensed to the 'burg briefly on the air in the mid 80s.
 
history said:
95.3 started the 80s as WYSH-FM. Mack Sanders bought it to pair with WNOX, playing country as WNKX. The station, along with 990, changed owners several times - and was in and out of bankruptcy through most of the 80s. One of the post Sanders owners made the move to Power 95 about the same time 990 went dark. Looking back over the 80s, how many K-town AMs went dark? I recall WRJZ and WKGN both being off the air for part of the 80s, along with WNOX.

As for Derrick's original question - here's my best, but incomplete guess on the K-town radio lineup in 1984. Some with format.

WUOT - 91.9 FM Knoxville
WETQ - 94.3 FM Oak Ridge
WNKX - 95.3 FM Clinton / Country
WEZK - 97.5 FM Knoxville / Beautiful Music
WOKI - 100.3 FM Oak Ridge / Top 40
WMYU - 102.1 FM Sevierville / AC
WIMZ - 103.5 FM Knoxville / Rock
WIVK - 107.7 FM Knoxville / Country

WRJZ - 620 AM Knoxville / Oldies. Then went dark and returned as Christian.
WIVK - 850 AM Knoxville / Country
WKXV - 900 AM Knoxville / Christian
WSEV - 930 AM Sevierville / Country
WNOX - 990 AM Knoxville / Country
WIMZ - 1240 AM Knoxville (I may be wrong on the call letters at that time.) / Standards
WATO - 1290 AM Oak Ridge
WKGN - 1340 AM Knoxville / Talk
WYSH - 1380 AM Clinton / Country
WITA - 1490 AM Knoxville (Could they have still been WROL in the early 80s?) / Religion

Wasn't there a WORI, somewhere on AM in the mid to upper 1500s - sister station to WOKI? And when did James Brown's AM go dark? Wasn't that in the lower 1400s on AM? When did the Gatlinburg stations sign on? I seem to recall an AM licensed to the 'burg briefly on the air in the mid 80s.
Click to expand...

There was a WORI-AM and it was on AM 1550. I am not sure if it is still around. James Brown's AM station WJBE was sold in the late 1970s and was renamed WBMK and changed calls to WEMG. They went off the air in the early 1990s.

I think you forgot to mention AM 1580. By 1980, the calls were WSKT-AM. Not sure what format it carried at the time. About 105.5 in Gatlinburg, they were WNKX where it broadcasted rock music. I think it signed on in the mid 1980s.

I did see a phonebook from 1984 with a WNKX ad where it talked about the station and the Kix Zebra which was their mascot. I wish I had kept the phonebook so that I could post the picture.

Thanks for posting this by the way, do you know of the list of Knoxville stations from 1979? I would love to find out the list from that year.
 
I am glad that I am posting Knoxville radio history. I will be hoping to start a website very soon that is devoted to Knoxville radio history. I will mainly list the FM stations first thing. I will probably do this by this weekend or something like that.

When I get the website posted, I will let all of you know the URL.
 
KnoxvilleTVFan said:
do you know of the list of Knoxville stations from 1979?
Click to expand...

There are probably some mistakes in these lists. I'm sourcing them only by my increasingly fallible memory. Here's what I remember from '79. I'll only list what I'm most sure of.

WUOT - 91.9 FM Knoxville
WYSH - 95.3 FM Clinton
WEZK - 97.5 FM Knoxville / Beautiful Music
WOKI - 100.3 FM Oak Ridge / Top 40
WSEV - 102.1 FM Sevierville
WIMZ - 103.5 FM Knoxville / Rock (Or was this still WBIR-FM?)
WIVK - 107.7 FM Knoxville / Country

WRJZ - 620 AM Knoxville / Top 40 (They had transitioned to AC by mid 1981.)
WIVK - 850 AM Knoxville / Country
WKXV - 900 AM Knoxville / Christian
WSEV - 930 AM Sevierville
WNOX - 990 AM Knoxville / AC
WIMZ - 1240 AM Knoxville (And/or was this still WBIR-AM?)
WATO - 1290 AM Oak Ridge
WKGN - 1340 AM Knoxville (Was this the Disco 13 era?)
WYSH - 1380 AM Clinton
WBMK - 14?? AM Knoxville / R&B
WITA - 1490 AM Knoxville (When did they drop the WROL call letters?)
 
history said:
There are probably some mistakes in these lists. I'm sourcing them only by my increasingly fallible memory. Here's what I remember from '79. I'll only list what I'm most sure of.

WUOT - 91.9 FM Knoxville
WYSH - 95.3 FM Clinton
WEZK - 97.5 FM Knoxville / Beautiful Music
WOKI - 100.3 FM Oak Ridge / Top 40
WSEV - 102.1 FM Sevierville
WIMZ - 103.5 FM Knoxville / Rock (Or was this still WBIR-FM?)
WIVK - 107.7 FM Knoxville / Country

WRJZ - 620 AM Knoxville / Top 40 (They had transitioned to AC by mid 1981.)
WIVK - 850 AM Knoxville / Country
WKXV - 900 AM Knoxville / Christian
WSEV - 930 AM Sevierville
WNOX - 990 AM Knoxville / AC
WIMZ - 1240 AM Knoxville (And/or was this still WBIR-AM?)
WATO - 1290 AM Oak Ridge
WKGN - 1340 AM Knoxville (Was this the Disco 13 era?)
WYSH - 1380 AM Clinton
WBMK - 14?? AM Knoxville / R&B
WITA - 1490 AM Knoxville (When did they drop the WROL call letters?)
Click to expand...

91.9 was still a public radio station at the time. WSEV-FM 102.1 would later become WMYU-FM 102.1. WSEV-FM 102.1 was still automated at the time. WBIR-FM 103.5 was still playing country music as "MusicCountry 104" (I think) and they would become WIMZ-FM 103.5 in 1980.

I think the 1240AM signal in Knoxville was probably using a standards format with the calls WHEL. I think WKGN was still in the Disco 13 era. WBMK-AM was on AM 1430. I am not sure about WITA-AM 1490 and when they dropped the WROL calls, I don't know that either.
 
94.3 and 100.3 are both licensed to Oak Ridge. I learned from this post that 94.3 was originally WATO's FM. Was 100.3 originally paired with an AM also?
 
cheapman said:
94.3 and 100.3 are both licensed to Oak Ridge. I learned from this post that 94.3 was originally WATO's FM. Was 100.3 originally paired with an AM also?
Click to expand...

I don't know if 100.3 was paired with an FM. I would like to know more about the history of WOKI-FM (now WNOX-FM).
 
history said:
There are probably some mistakes in these lists. I'm sourcing them only by my increasingly fallible memory. Here's what I remember from '79. I'll only list what I'm most sure of.

WUOT - 91.9 FM Knoxville
WYSH - 95.3 FM Clinton
WEZK - 97.5 FM Knoxville / Beautiful Music
WOKI - 100.3 FM Oak Ridge / Top 40
WSEV - 102.1 FM Sevierville
WIMZ - 103.5 FM Knoxville / Rock (Or was this still WBIR-FM?)
WIVK - 107.7 FM Knoxville / Country

WRJZ - 620 AM Knoxville / Top 40 (They had transitioned to AC by mid 1981.)
WIVK - 850 AM Knoxville / Country
WKXV - 900 AM Knoxville / Christian
WSEV - 930 AM Sevierville
WNOX - 990 AM Knoxville / AC
WIMZ - 1240 AM Knoxville (And/or was this still WBIR-AM?)
WATO - 1290 AM Oak Ridge
WKGN - 1340 AM Knoxville (Was this the Disco 13 era?)
WYSH - 1380 AM Clinton
WBMK - 14?? AM Knoxville / R&B
WITA - 1490 AM Knoxville (When did they drop the WROL call letters?)
Click to expand...

WITA aired a Christian music format at the time. WITA was WKVQ ("15-Q") with a top 40 format. Kim Carson and Rockin' Ron Baptist were the DJ's there.

I do believe that as soon as she arrived a few days or a few weeks after the station launched, WKVQ became WITA with a Christian music format.

Does anyone know the history of 1490AM. I would like to know when they signed on.
 
WUOT - 91.9 FM Knoxville
WETQ - 94.3 FM Oak Ridge
WNKX - 95.3 FM Clinton / Country
WEZK - 97.5 FM Knoxville / Beautiful Music
WOKI - 100.3 FM Oak Ridge / Top 40
WMYU - 102.1 FM Sevierville / AC
WIMZ - 103.5 FM Knoxville / Rock
WIVK - 107.7 FM Knoxville / Country

WRJZ - 620 AM Knoxville / Oldies. Then went dark and returned as Christian.
WIVK - 850 AM Knoxville / Country
WKXV - 900 AM Knoxville / Christian
WSEV - 930 AM Sevierville / Country
WNOX - 990 AM Knoxville / Country
WIMZ - 1240 AM Knoxville (I may be wrong on the call letters at that time.) / Standards
WATO - 1290 AM Oak Ridge
WKGN - 1340 AM Knoxville / Talk
WYSH - 1380 AM Clinton / Country
WITA - 1490 AM Knoxville (Could they have still been WROL in the early 80s?) / Religion


Now my memory might be fading, but I could have sworn WNOX was Top 40 competing directly with WRJZ until they made the switch to Country...

TK
 
tk said:
WUOT - 91.9 FM Knoxville
WETQ - 94.3 FM Oak Ridge
WNKX - 95.3 FM Clinton / Country
WEZK - 97.5 FM Knoxville / Beautiful Music
WOKI - 100.3 FM Oak Ridge / Top 40
WMYU - 102.1 FM Sevierville / AC
WIMZ - 103.5 FM Knoxville / Rock
WIVK - 107.7 FM Knoxville / Country

WRJZ - 620 AM Knoxville / Oldies. Then went dark and returned as Christian.
WIVK - 850 AM Knoxville / Country
WKXV - 900 AM Knoxville / Christian
WSEV - 930 AM Sevierville / Country
WNOX - 990 AM Knoxville / Country
WIMZ - 1240 AM Knoxville (I may be wrong on the call letters at that time.) / Standards
WATO - 1290 AM Oak Ridge
WKGN - 1340 AM Knoxville / Talk
WYSH - 1380 AM Clinton / Country
WITA - 1490 AM Knoxville (Could they have still been WROL in the early 80s?) / Religion


Now my memory might be fading, but I could have sworn WNOX was Top 40 competing directly with WRJZ until they made the switch to Country...

TK
Click to expand...
WNOX and WRJZ were both Top 40 stations during this time period. I was in high school during the late 70's and you either listened to WNOX or WRJZ. WRJZ was the first to go country in Fall 81 and WNOX would remain as the only Top 40 AM station in Knoxville until they switched to Country on April 1, 1982.

WBIR-FM switched from Country to Rock in the Summer 1979 and would rename themselves WIMZ in February 1980.
 
I'll have to check my old scrapbook about that call letter change from WBIR-FM to WIMZ (I was working there at the time.) Also: WBIR-AM went to WHEL-AM ("The Wheel") for a while before WIMZ-AM. Carson
 
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