WOKY

Infobox Radio station


name = WOKY
city = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
area = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
airdate =
frequency = 920 (kHz)
format = Classic Country
owner = Clear Channel Communications
power = 5,000 watts (day) 1,000 watts (night)
branding = "AM920 The Wolf"
slogan = "Classic Country"
class = B
facility_id = 63917
webcast = [http://www.am920thewolf.com/pages/streaming.html Listen Live]
website = [http://www.am920thewolf.com/ am920thewolf.com]
callsign_meaning = "MILWOKY"
sister_stations = WISN, WKKV, WMIL, WQBW, WRIT|

WOKY (920 AM, "The Wolf") is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, radio station. They broadcast an classic country radio format emphasizing country from the 50s-80s. WOKY is owned by Clear Channel Communications.

History

WOKY is legendary in Milwaukee. It began in 1950 and served as the city's premier Top 40 station during most of the 1960s and early 1970s, and was known as the "Mighty 92". Due to competition from FM stations, WOKY shifted to an adult standards format in the early 1980s.

To keep up with demographic trends, WOKY tweaked their format over the years, gradually shifting to a middle of the road/oldies hybrid that mixed uptempo 1950s-1970s oldies with classic and current adult contemporary music, with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond and The Carpenters being mainstays of the format. On Fridays, starting in 2005, WOKY began programming oldies for the entire day, complete with old jingles and other elements. For many years, WOKY was a success in the ratings, though many of its listeners were older than the demographics that many advertisers actively seek.

On January 2, 2007, after concluding their Christmas holiday programming, WOKY came back with a new approach, an oldies format emphasizing hit songs from the 1960s and 1970s. The "Mighty 92" name returned full-time, as did many of the classic jingles the station played in its Top 40 heyday. On nights and weekends, the station uses Dial Global's satellite-delivered "Oldies Channel" service. With the new format, and to keep up with the baby boomers, WOKY did not go all christmas in 2007. Instead, like sister WRIT, they will play a few Christmas tunes every hour.

WOKY is famous for pioneering marathons of Christmas music beginning on Thanksgiving Day and continuing through the holiday season, beginning in 1993. The idea subsequently spread to other stations, and after September 11, 2001, many more stations (chiefly Adult Contemporary in format) around the country picked up on the idea of all holiday music. The Dial Global standards format heard on WOKY during non-local dayparts also shifts to 100% Christmas music between Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas. They did not flip all Christmas in 2007.

WOKY was briefly the Milwaukee outlet for the syndicated Delilah love songs show, previously heard on the late ( and Clear Channel sister station ) WLTQ 97.3 FM (now WQBW). Delilah is now heard in Milwaukee on WMYX-FM.

The station was also the home for Milwaukee Panthers basketball game broadcasts from 2003 to 2007 when they moved to sister station WISN 1130.

The station changed on September 18, 2008 to their current classic country format [http://blogs.jsonline.com/cuprisin/archive/2008/09/17/oldies-woky-goes-classic-country.aspx] , which was transferred from sister station WMIL-FM (106.1)'s HD Radio subchannel as an automated station to one featuring several of WOKY's airstaff [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=796198] . The combined classic-current country stations now sub-brand as "MIL-WOKY, Milwaukee's Country Connection".

HD Radio

WOKY broadcasts in AM HD Radio

References

External links

* [http://www.am920thewolf.com/ WOKY official website]
* [http://www.onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/milwradio.html Milwaukee radio: a retrospective]
*AMQ|WOKY
*AML|WOKY
*AMARB|WOKY