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| Broadcast area | Charlotte metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1290kHz |
| Branding | WHKY TalkRadio |
| Programming | |
| Format | News/talk/sports |
| Affiliations | Premiere Networks Westwood One Salem Radio Network Fox News Radio North Carolina News Network Fox Sports Radio Motor Racing Network Performance Racing Network |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | WHKY, LLC |
| History | |
First air date | June 10, 1940 |
Call sign meaning | Hickory |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 65918 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 50,000watts day 1,000 watts night |
| Translator | 102.3 W272DU (Hickory) |
| Repeater | WHKY-TVSAP audio channel |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | whky.com |
WHKY (1290kHz) is acommercialAMradio station inHickory, North Carolina. The station is owned by WHKY, LLC, and broadcasts anews/talk/sportsformat. Theradio studios and offices are on Main Avenue SE in Hickory.
By day, WHKY is powered at 50,000watts, the maximum for AM stations. But to protect other stations onAM 1290, it greatly reduces power at night to 1,000 watts. It uses adirectional antenna at all times. Thetransmitter is on Tate Boulevard SE at 20th Street SE in Hickory.[2] Programming is also heard onFM translatorW272DU at 102.3MHz
WHKY begins each weekday with an hour of local news, including the "Crime Report" sponsored by King & Rowe, Attorneys at Law.[3] It is followed by live, local talk and information shows, "First Talk," hosted by Hal Row and "On Second Thought" talk show, hosted by Chuck Boozer. The rest of the weekday schedule comes mostly fromnationally syndicatedconservative talk shows:The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show,Sean Hannity,Mark Levin,Dave Ramsey,Fox Sports Radio andCoast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory. Weekends featureKim Komando,Somewhere in Time with Art Bell and repeats of weekday programs.
WHKY is also affiliated withMotor Racing Network,Performance Racing Network and theIndy Radio Network providing NASCAR racing coverage, as well as select Indy Car Series events when in season. Also, on Fridays when in season, WHKY airsHickory High Schoolfootball and girls and boys varsity basketball.
Weekdays, WHKY has local news at 15 and 45 past the hour from 6:45 to 8:45am, 12 noon, 3 and 5pm. Local sports is provided at 7:45 and 8:45am and 3 and 5pm. News at the top of each hour is provided byFox News Radio. WHKY is also affiliated with theNorth Carolina News Network.
Until 2023, the station was co-owned with WHKY-TV (channel 14, nowreligious stationWWJS). WHKY radio issimulcast via that station'ssecond audio program, effectively bringing its reach across the Charlotte metro through that simulcast.
On June 10, 1940, the station firstsigned on. DuringWorld War II, getting equipment was difficult, but Ed Long put together the WHKY transmitter with the help of a mule and plow. The station signed on in 1940, broadcasting from the Hotel Hickory. In the 1950s, it moved to theElliott-Carnegie Library.[4]
Tom Long, Ed Long's son, supervised the station's daytime signal boost from 5,000 to 50,000 watts in 2003, as well as the construction of a new building. Jeff Long, representing the third generation of Longs, was station manager.[5]
In 1987, WHKY ended its music programming and went with an all talk format. WHKY airedPaul Harvey'sNews and Comment segments prior to his death in 2009.[6]
WHKY was a charter station ofThe Rush Limbaugh Show and aired the show through his death untilPremiere Networks debutedTheClay Travis andBuck Sexton Show four months after his death.[7]
35°43′35″N81°18′02″W / 35.72639°N 81.30056°W /35.72639; -81.30056