 | |
| Frequency | 1350kHz |
|---|---|
| Branding | 107.5 Jamz |
| Programming | |
| Format | Urban adult contemporary |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | August 22, 1964 |
Former call signs | WXYC (1960–1964, CP) WCAI (1964–1986) WWWQ (1986–1988) WHYS (1988–1989) WCRM (1989–2016) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 39798 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 2,000watts day 150watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 26°37′31″N81°50′29″W / 26.62528°N 81.84139°W /26.62528; -81.84139 |
| Translator(s) | 107.5 W298CB (Fort Myers) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 1075jamz.fm |
WZKO (1350AM) is aradio station licensed toFort Myers, Florida, United States. It airs anurban adult contemporary format branded as "107.5 Jamz".
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | Class | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W298CB | 107.5 FM | Fort Myers, Florida | 150277 | 99 | D | LMS |
On August 14, 1962, William H. Martin received the construction permit to establish a new radio station in Fort Myers, with the call letters WXYC. Martin sold the construction permit prior to going on air to Lee Broadcasting,[2] which changed the call letters toWCAI before signing on August 22, 1964.[3] The new daytime-only outlet broadcast middle-of-the-road music.[3] Operations were threatened in 1967 when a city controlled burn operation went out of control and blew toward the station; WCAI remained on the air, but its tower, which had just been painted red that day, was colored black with ash.[4]
WCAI remained mostly unchanged through the 1970s aside from a format flip to country, though it gave its listeners a scare when a 1977 promotion announcing "the end of the station" for a weekend of classic country prompted so many phone calls that a telephone exchange was blown out.[5] The next year, a disc jockey resigned after being implicated in a company that sold memberships in nonexistent department stores.[6] There were several transfers of ownership in 1980 and 1981, resulting in the station being sold to Ercona South for $600,000.[7] The principals of Lee Broadcasting had sold WCAI in order to pursue a new FM license on Estero Island,[8] which they won and launched in 1983 asWQEZ.[9] By 1984, WCAI was a talk station.[10]
In 1985, Charlie Frank reached an agreement to sell WCAI to Horizon Communications, which owned WQSA ofSarasota, for $700,000, with Horizon announcing plans to retain WCAI's talk programming.[11] However, ratings surveys showed it dead last in the Fort Myers market of 12 stations,[12] and in September, employee paychecks started bouncing as payment complications emerged in the sale to Horizon.[13] The wheels came off in November, two weeks after former owners Truman Morris and Helen Pierce foreclosed on Horizon,[14] when WCAI went silent while it searched for another new owner.[15]
Nine days after receiving authority to cease broadcasting from theFederal Communications Commission, WCAI filed forChapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.[16] One prospective bidder was Caloosa Television, which ownedWEVU-TV inNaples.[16] The only bid for WCAI, at $51,000, ultimately came from Roger Coleman, owner of a station inGalesburg, Illinois, after Caloosa withdrew its bid.[17] However, Coleman backed out and withdrew his application with the FCC to buy WCAI in April.[18] Other parties that showed interest in WCAI included a local pastor, Eddie Grimsley, who wanted to broadcast religious programming.[19] After the license was transferred to WCAI's former creditors, Asti Broadcasting Corporation ofClearwater acquired WCAI for $400,000 late in the year.[14]
To get their own identity in the market, Asti changed the call letters toWWWQ.[14] The station reemerged on March 15, 1987, as "3WQ" with an urban contemporary format—the only one in southwest Florida—primarily syndicated from theSatellite Music Network.[20] Only a year later, however, 1350 AM returned to talk, this time asWHYS, because it struggled to overcome its image as a "black" radio station with white listeners and advertisers.[21]
In 1989, Asti sold WHYS to Manna Christian Missions, which had brokered out 34 hours a week on the station for Spanish-language programming, for $450,000. Manna changed WHYS toWCRM "Radio Consolación",[22] the first Spanish-language radio station in Lee County.[23] Yet again, however, the minority-oriented format proved problematic for potential advertisers, prompting Manna to flip WCRM to contemporary Christian in July 1990.[24] (One of the hosts on the new station was Eddie Grimsley, the same pastor that had attempted to buy it out of bankruptcy four years prior.[24]) Less than two years later, WCRM flipped back to a Spanish-language format as "Radio Manantial".[25]
WCRM remained a Spanish-language Christian station, with some brokered programming and gospel music on Sundays, under Manna's ownership; it gained national recognition when it was named among the top 5 Spanish Christian radio stations in the United States in 1996.[26] It suffered through a 1997 burglary in which $9,000 worth of equipment was taken or destroyed,[27] as well as a 2000 lightning strike that took out its transmitter site.[28]
In 2008, Manna sold WCRM to Vida Radio Ministries, a subsidiary of Christ Center International, for $950,000. Three years later, however, Manna bought back the land on which WCRM's studios and transmitter are located from Christ Center for $50,000 in a foreclosure sale;[29] in early 2012, it won back the license in a settlement of Manna's claims against CCI.[30]
While Manna took back the WCRM license, it decided to outsource the station's operations under a local marketing agreement. In late July 2012, Everglades City Broadcasting, owners ofWBGY (88.1 FM) onMarco Island, began operating WCRM and flipped it toFox Sports Radio.[31]
In December 2015, Manna sold WCRM to Genesis Multimedia for $450,000.[32] Genesis paired the station with a translator it bought inMelbourne and moved to Fort Myers[33] as W298CB (107.5 FM), and relaunched WCRM asWZKO "107.5 Jamz".[34]