| SimulcastsWYKGCovington | |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Atlanta metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1010kHz |
| Branding | 105.5 The King |
| Programming | |
| Format | Urban and Inspirational |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WYKG | |
| History | |
First air date | 1947; 78 years ago (1947) |
Former call signs |
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| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 72134 |
| Class | D |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 33°41′55″N84°17′22″W / 33.698605°N 84.289421°W /33.698605; -84.289421 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 105theking.com |
WXKG (1010AM) is acommercialradio station inAtlanta, Georgia, known as "105.5 The King". It is owned by Danny Wilson, through licensee Light Media Holdings, Inc., and airs an urban and inspirationalformat.
In the daytime, WXKG has the maximum power for AM stations in the U.S., 50,000watts. But becauseAM 1010 is a Canadianclear channel frequency, WXKG must reduce power at night when radio waves travel farther. Duringcritical hours, the power is 45,000 watts and at night, it broadcasts at 78 watts. It uses anon-directional antenna at all times, located off Battle Forrest Drive inDecatur, nearInterstate 285.[2] WXKG is classified as aclass DAM broadcast station according to theFederal Communications Commission.
The station originallysigned on in 1947 with thecall sign WEAS and was licensed to serve nearbyDecatur, Georgia.[3] The station was founded by Eurith Dickenson ("Dee") Rivers, Jr., son of formergovernor of Georgia E.D. "Ed" Rivers.[3] The WEAS call sign stood forEmory University &AgnesScott College, both of which are located in Decatur.[3] WEAS' format grew into a combination ofcountry and western music,southern gospel music and preaching.[3]
In 1959, the station changed its call sign to WGUN[4] It had acountry music format with the station adopting "the big GUN" slogan.[3] The WEAS call sign went to the Dee Rivers station at 900 MHz inSavannah, Georgia.
On January 25, 2013, the station changed its call sign to WTZA. On January 31, 2013, after a briefsimulcast withW233BF "Streetz 94.5", it changed its format tourban oldies, branded as "Old School 1010".[5]
Again after a simulcast of 94.5 (legally,WSTR FM 94.1HD3),broadcast translator station W257DF on 99.3 switched to simulcasting WTZA at the end of summer 2014, upon making its most recent move towardmetro Atlanta. However, since W257DF was only recently authorized by the FCC, it is illegal for it to rebroadcast anything other than another FM station's analog signal. Thecity of license for this station isDallas, Georgia, although it has never actually had that city within itsbroadcast range. It transmits at 99 watts instead of 250, to protectWRAS FM 88.5, which overlaps its 10.7 MHzintermediate frequency centered on 88.6.
Originally applied-for during the2003 window, the first location northwest ofVilla Rica was approved in December 2013 at the full 250 watts. Just a few days later, it applied for aconstruction permit to move east toward Atlanta, to a point alongU.S. 78 (Veterans Memorial Parkway) west ofDouglasville. Upon submitting the application for thebroadcast license to cover that 130-watt permit, it again applied almost immediately to move east again toMableton, still keeping Dallas as its supposed city of license, despite being even further away from there than the first two locations. Like other translator stations, it is trying to make small "skips" toward the city (and its primarydemographic) through a series of "minor modifications". The change of W256BO on 99.1 toW255CJ on 98.9 was also required to allow for this.
In 2014, WTZA split from the simulcast with W257DF and flipped to SpanishChristian Contemporary music as "Vida 1010."
In late 2015, W257DF was forcedoff the air by the upgrade ofco-channelWCON-FM 99.3 northeast of Atlanta. WTZA begansimulcasting on translator W227DN on 93.3 MHz.
On February 3, 2020, R.C. Media Partners assumed management of WTZA, with a talk format consisting of Kim "The Kimmer" Peterson, Kara Stockton, Pete Davis, Mike Brooks, Jim Gossett, Will Regan and "Flat Earth" Jamie Chapman. The station went silent on March 27, 2020.
Effective October 14, 2020, station owners K & Z Broadcasting, LLC sold the station to Radio Spice, LLC for $300,000. It returned to the air in the fall of 2020, airing aSouth Asian format of music and talk. Effective May 4, 2023, Radio Spice sold WTZA to Danny Wilson's Light Media Holdings, Inc. for $75,000. The station filed an application to change its call sign to WXKG, which took effect May 23, 2023.
