WKKT

Infobox Radio Station


name = WKKT-FM
frequency = 96.9 (MHz)
branding = "96.9 The Kat"
pronounced "Cat"
slogan = Kat Country
city = Statesville, North Carolina
area = Charlotte/Metrolina
format = Country
erp = 100,000 watts
owner = Clear Channel Communications
sister_stations = WEND, WIBT, WKKT, WLYT, WRFX
website = [http://www.wkktfm.com http://www.wkktfm.com]
callsign_meaning = W K KaT

WKKT is a Country radio station in Charlotte, North Carolina.

History

The station on 96.9 FM in Statesville, North Carolina began in 1967 as WDBM-FM, and was largely the simulcast partner to co-owned daytime station WDBM-AM (now with the call sign WAME). The station's original owner was Walter B. Duke, and the call letters supposedly stood for "Walter Duke's Beautiful Music" station. WDBM-FM continued to broadcast in the evenings after the AM station signed off.

The Duke family sold the stations in 1973, and the new owners separated the operations of the AM and FM, and programmed the FM station as a rock-oriented Underground format, changing the call letters to WOOO and the station's slogan to "Triple-O-97".

In 1981, WOOO was sold again. The new owners increased its power to 100,000 watts and began serving the Charlotte market under the call letters WLVV and slogan "Love 97". It's initial format under these call letters was an automated system called "The FM100 Plan", but later changed to Churchill Productions' "Radio One", a soft adult contemporary format. Popular announcers on the station in those years included Phil Green, Bob Brandon, Bob Chrysler, Dan Lucas, Dick Durante and Anne Cruse.

Another ownership change and a switch to country came in 1985, along with new letters WLVK ("K-97"). In January 1989, Bill Blevins, using the on-air name Billy Buck, became the new morning host to compete with Charlotte's top DJ, Bill Dollar [Jeff Borden, "Country WLVK Puts Its Money on Billy Buck," "The Charlotte Observer", January 6, 1989] .

In the early 90s, the station experimented with adding southern rock such as ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, calling itself WTDR "Thunder 96.9". That experiment didn't last long, but the letters WTDR remained for a while before the name was changed to WKKT "Kat Country" in 1997Fact|date=August 2008. In December 1997, Paul Schadt moved to WKKT after 16 years at WSOC [Mark Price, "Country DJ Schadt Moves to WKKT-FM," "The Charlotte Observer", January 8, 1998.] ,

In Fall 2000, Kat Country was no. 5 in Charlotte, while former no. 1 WSOC-FM was no. 12 [Mark Washburn, "Once a Powerhouse, WSOC Slips in Ratings," "The Charlotte Observer", January 19, 2001.] .

References

External links

* [http://www.wkktfm.com Official website]
*fmq|WKKT