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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nassau County, New York |
| Frequency | 98.3MHz |
| Branding | K-Joy 98.3 |
| Programming | |
| Languages | English |
| Format | Adult contemporary music |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WALK-FM,WHLI,WWSK,WWWF-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | July 15, 1947; 77 years ago (1947-07-15) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | K Joy |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 38338 |
| Class | A |
| ERP | 3,000 watts |
| HAAT | 100 meters (330 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°41′08″N73°36′37″W / 40.68556°N 73.61028°W /40.68556; -73.61028 |
| Translator(s) | 107.1 W296CQ (Hempstead) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
WKJY (98.3FM) is a radio stationlicensed toHempstead, New York, and servingNassau County, New York. It broadcasts anadult contemporary musicformat and is owned byConnoisseur Media. WKJY's studios and offices are located at Airport Plaza inFarmingdale, New York, and itstransmitter is located near theSouthern State Parkway in Hempstead.
The station firstsigned on the air on July 15, 1947, as WHNY.[2] It was owned by the FM Broadcasting Company, along with AM sister stationWHLI. In 1949 the call letters were changed to WHLI-FM. For its first two decades, the station mostlysimulcast WHLI.
In the late 1960s, the FCC was encouraging AM-FM combos to offer different programming. WHLI-FM began playingbeautiful music while WHLI 1100 continued itsmiddle of the road music format. Trying to carve out a separate identity, WHLI-FM changed its call letters in 1975 to WIOK.[3]
In 1980, it switched call signs again, this time to WKJY representing the moniker "K-Joy."
During the 1980s, as theeasy listening audience began to age, the station switched to asoft adult contemporary format. In the 1990s, the tempo picked up and the format moved to standard adult contemporary music. WKJY and WHLI were acquired by Barnstable Broadcasting in 1984.[4]
Along withWBZO,WHLI, andWIGX, WKJY was purchased byConnoisseur Media from Barnstable Broadcasting for $23 million in 2012. Previously known as "K-Joy 98.3," the station changed its branding toK 98.3 in July 2013. The K-Joy brand was revived on May 17, 2019.[5]
On February 13, 2014, an anti-gay note allegedly sent by aBaldwin mother in response to a birthday party invite from two gay dads was a hoax carried out by two of the station's disc jockeys. The hosts of the K-98.3 Morning Show, Steve Harper – also the station's program director – and Leanna Karlson, admitted the weekend after that the story was "totally fictitious" and that they fabricated it to "spur a healthy discourse on a highly passionate topic." An apology was posted on the radio station's website.
The statement said that the hoax was perpetrated without the knowledge of the station's management.[6] The fabricated RSVP was first posted to the radio station's Facebook page. The photo of the party invite had been scrawled with a response supposedly from a homophobic mother that included statements such as, "I will not subject my innocent son to your 'lifestyle.'" The radio station's management issued a statement saying it has a responsibility to its listeners to be accurate, and is looking at "all courses of action." The station announced on the evening of February 16 that the two hosts were suspended for one week.[7][8]