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| Broadcast area | Burlington–Plattsburgh |
| Frequency | 98.9MHz |
| Branding | 98.9 WOKO |
| Programming | |
| Format | Country music |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Hall Communications |
| WBTZ,WIZN,WJOY,WKOL | |
| History | |
First air date | June 26, 1962 (62 years ago) (1962-06-26) |
Former call signs |
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| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 25867 |
| Class | C1 |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 94 meters (308 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 44°27′3.1″N73°11′49.4″W / 44.450861°N 73.197056°W /44.450861; -73.197056 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | woko.com |
WOKO (98.9FM) is an Americanradio station broadcasting acountry musicformat. Licensed toBurlington, Vermont, United States, the station serves the Burlington-Plattsburgh area. The station is owned byHall Communications[2][3]
WJOY-FM signed on the air on June 26, 1962.[4] It was Vermont's first FM radio station and broadcast a classical format, programmed separately from its AM counterpart,WJOY (1230 AM).[5] The station contracted with Heritage Music, a company based in New York andBellingham, Washington, to provide its musical selections.[5][6] To prepare for FM broadcasting, one studio was cut in half to add an FM control room, and another studio was converted to a transmitter room for WJOY's AM and FM operations.[4] In 1967, WJOY-AM-FM broke ground on new studio facilities, including a new and taller 359-foot (109 m) tower to replace the 220-foot (67 m) tower being used.[7] WJOY-FM began stereo broadcasting in 1969.[8]
In 1971, Frank Balch, who had joined WJOY as an announcer in 1951, and had become president of the Vermont Broadcasting Corporation, acquired majority control of WJOY-AM-FM.[9] The next year, on August 14, 1972, WJOY-FM became WQCR;[10] the call letters were said to stand for "Wonderful Queen City Radio".[11] The station continued to have an easy listening sound.[11]
There were two major developments for WQCR in 1975. In February, it flipped to a rock format; in July, it increased its effective radiated power from 3,200 watts[12] to 33,000, doubling its coverage area.[13] Balch served in the late 1970s, as director of theNational Association of Broadcasters and on theUniversity of Vermont Board of Trustees.[14] WQCR's power was further increased to 50,000 watts in 1980.[15] Despite having fully automated programming, "Q99" was a strong second overall in the market in 1981, and led among young adults.[16]
After 35 years in broadcasting, Balch sold WJOY-WQCR to Hall Communications ofNorwich, Connecticut, for $2.2 million in 1983.[17] The new ownership switched WQCR from automated to live programming.[18] The 1984 sign-on ofWXXX put a massive dent in WQCR's ratings; the new contemporary hit outlet debuted at number one and dropped WQCR from a 21.2 share in the fall 1984Arbitron book to a 9.4.[19]
September 9, 1988, brought technical and format changes. The station rebranded as "The New Rock 99 FM" the same day it doubled its power to 100,000 watts.[20][21]
On April 1, 1990, after 16 years as a rock station, WQCR switched to country music and adopted new WOKO call letters, seeking to fill a void in the market, which only had one FM country outlet.[22] Around the same time, under the guidance of former executive vice president and COO Dick Reed, Hall flipped stations it owned servingNew London, Connecticut, andProvidence, Rhode Island, to country.[23] The move was described by general manager Dan Dubonnet in 1992 as a quest to "save" the station, which was gaining little traction as a rocker; it tripled its weekly audience in the two years after the flip and benefited from the increased popularity of country music in the early 1990s.[24] The station's success earned it back-to-back station of the year honors from the Vermont Association of Broadcasters in 1993 and 1994;[25] by 1995, WOKO was back on top of the Burlington radio ratings.[26] Hall became Vermont's first FM duopoly owner with its purchase ofWEXP-FM that same year.[27]
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