WATO (1290 AM) was a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

in Oak Ridge,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

.Mike Blackerby
No more airing it out; After 60 years, station signs off on Oak Ridge football
, ''

Knoxville News Sentinel The ''Knoxville News Sentinel, also known as Knox News,'' is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: ''The ...

'', October 16, 2008 The call letters were chosen for the first three letters in "Atomic City" as Oak Ridge was known at the time of the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

. WATO was licensed to broadcast at 5 kW during daytime hours and 500 watts at night. It broadcast at 1 kW during daylight hours and 125 watts at night from a temporary site while lookingfor a new permanent home.

History

The station commenced broadcasting, as WOKE, February 1, 1948. under the authority of the

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...

. It was the first radio station to be established on a U.S.

military reservation A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and Military operation, operations. A military base always provides ...

. Initially it broadcast on 1490 kHz, but it moved to 1290 kHz on January 24, 1959, when the original owners bought out WOKE. Broadcasts of Oak Ridge High School

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

games were a staple of its programming from 1948 through 2007. The station broadcast a total of 678 consecutive high school games. The format was

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

at one time. The station went off the air in March 2008 when one of its three transmission towers fell during a storm. Its owner, Horne Radio, determined that it would be financially infeasible to return the station to the air. In October 2008 Horne announced that it would sell WATO's transmission site and would surrender the station's broadcasting license to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

. On February 19, 2009 the

granted an application to temporarily move the transmitter site, with reduced power, to a site 5 miles west of the original transmitter site, broadcasting from a tower formerly used by WORI which is now silent. There is also an application on file for a change of ownership. Ann and Larry Walden of Lenoir City, Tennessee, purchased WATO and brought it back on the air August 26, 2009; the new format included a talk show, Oak Ridge High School sports, music, and more. Lipstick Lingo, hosted by Martha Woodward, also aired on WATO Radio. In the first week of April 2010, WATO again ceased broadcasting, this time due to the owners of the land and its transmitting equipment selling off the property to a hotel developer. Because of economic conditions, the owners of WATO could not afford to buy its own property or equipment. The owners placed its license up for sale., however, on April 2, 2012, the license was cancelled at the licensee's request.

References

External links

FCC Station Search Details: DWATO
(Facility ID: 71100)
FCC History Cards for WATO
(covering 1950-1979 as WOKE / WATO) {{Knoxville Radio Oak Ridge, Tennessee

ATO ATO may refer to: Technology *Abort to Orbit, an intact abort procedure for Space Shuttle launches *Arsenic trioxide a potent chemotherapeutic agent for acute promyelocytic leukemia * ATO fuse * Automatic train operation * Assisted take off Milit ...

Defunct radio stations in the United States Radio stations disestablished in 2010 Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Tennessee 2010 disestablishments in Tennessee