WCHK (1290

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 ...

broadcasting a

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

Latin pop Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

, known as "La Mega."

Licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Canton, Georgia Canton is a city in and the county seat of Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 22,958, up from 7,709 in 2000. Geography Canton is located near the center of Cherokee County at (34.227307 ...

, it serves

Metro Atlanta Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...

. The

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

stands for Cherokee, the county of which Canton is the

seat of government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation’s capital is also seat of its government, thus that ...

, largest city, and

geographic center In geography, the centroid of the two-dimensional shape of a region of the Earth's surface (projected radially to sea level or onto a geoid surface) is known as its geographic centre or geographical centre or (less commonly) gravitational centre. I ...

. The station is currently owned by Davis Broadcasting of Atlanta, L.L.C. By day, WCHK is powered at 10,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s, using a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna (electronics), antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (mathematics), axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle ...

. But at night, to protect other stations on 1290 AM, it switches to a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...

and greatly reduces power to 500 watts. The

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is on Keith Drive, near

Interstate 575 Interstate 575 (I-575) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the United States, which branches off I-75 in Kennesaw and connects the Atlanta metropolitan area with the North Georgia mountains, extending . I-575 is also the unsigned State R ...

and Hickory Log Creek in Canton. WCHK is also heard on two

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

stations: 96.5 W243CE in Winder and 105.1 W286DU in Canton.

History

The Glory Days of WCHK

WCHK first went on the air on April 11, 1957, under the ownership of Cherokee Broadcasting (headed by Chuck McClure, owner of Columbus-based McClure Broadcasting). Its programming involved

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

and

southern gospel Southern gospel music is a genre of Christian music. Its name comes from its origins in the southeastern United States. Its lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as ...

music, with local production. Among the personalities were station manager Byron Dobbs (retired in 1997), Mike McDougal, and Jim Axel (who moved to

WAGA-TV WAGA-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facili ...

WCHK-FM

Because WCHK was on the

AM band Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...

with a daytime-only operation, it was required to sign-off by sunset, allowing clear-channel stations to take over the airwaves. Therefore, on August 1, 1964. WCHK launched a simulcast on 105.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

, as WCHK-FM. This allowed the station to extend programming on the

FM band The FM broadcast band is a range of radio frequencies used for FM broadcasting by radio stations. The range of frequencies used differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa (defined as International Telecommunication Union ( ...

by midnight. In 1991, WCHK-FM received

FCC 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 ...

approval to upgrade to a class C2 license. It relocated its transmitter to Bear Mountain, providing greater coverage in north

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. At the same time, the station switched its frequency to 105.7 MHz. Another station from Carrollton, WMAX-FM, later occupied the 105.5 MHz frequency in 1994. (In 2002, WMAX moved to 105.3 MHz; it is now

WRDG WRDG (105.3 FM, "105-3 The Beat") is an Atlanta radio station broadcasting a mainstream urban radio format. The station's transmitter is located in Newnan, Georgia and targets metro Atlanta, also covering its city of license of Bowdon, Georgi ...

.) The station was renamed "North Metro's K-105", then "Country 105.7", and finally as "Atlanta's Classic Country 105.7". WCHK-FM was bought by Clear Channel Communications (now

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

) in 1993, under a local marketing agreement, simulcasting news/talk station WGST as WGST-FM. (The station is now

WBZY WBZY (105.7 FM broadcasting, FM) – branded Z105.7 – is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Canton, Georgia, Canton, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, broadcasting a Spanish Spanish language, CHR format. Owned by i ...

.) In 1998, WCHK launched another simulcast on 100.1 MHz, licensed to

Talking Rock, Georgia Talking Rock is a town in Pickens County, Georgia, United States. The population is 91. History Talking Rock had its start in the early 1880s when the railroad was extended to that point. The community takes its name from nearby Talking Rock Cree ...

, under the WCHK-FM callsign. In 1999, WCHK-FM was renamed WNSY, launching an oldies format as Sunny 100. The new station operated from the facilities of WCHK (with personalities Michael Searcy and Scott Evans).

The end

In the early 2000s, WCHK abandoned its country/gospel format in favor of news/talk. Shows included Ludlow Porch,

Dave Ramsey David Lawrence Ramsey III (born September 3, 1960) is an American personal finance personality, radio show host, author, and businessman. An evangelical Christian, he hosts the nationally syndicated radio program ''The Ramsey Show''. Ramsey has ...

, and local-based Paul Carden. The station also aired a simulcast of the 6PM news from

WSB-TV WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to rad ...

. On July 18, 2004, Chuck McClure, owner of WCHK, died of natural causes. On November 14, 2006, Davis Broadcasting, owners of

WLKQ-FM WLKQ-FM (102.3 MHz "La Raza 102.3/107.1") is a commercial radio station licensed to Buford, Georgia, and serving Metro Atlanta. It is owned by Davis Broadcasting and airs a Regional Mexican radio format. The programming is simulcast on 107.1 W ...

102.3 in

Buford Buford may refer to: Places United States *Buford, Arkansas *Buford, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Buford, Georgia *Buford Highway corridor, in Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett Counties in Georgia * Buford, North Dakota *Buford, Ohio *Bufo ...

, made the purchase of both WCHK and sister station WNSY-FM, being completed in January 2007. Afterwards, both stations went off the air on January 22, 2007. WNSY returned to the airwaves on February 1, 2007 as a simulcast of WLKQ-FM (La Raza 102.3), broadcasting a

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico ...

format. WCHK came back a year later, simulcasting WLKQ.

Spanish-language radio

In 2013, WCHK switched from Mexican music to a simulcast of W243CE Winder, airing a

Spanish Tropical Tropical music ( es, música tropical) is a term in the Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republ ...

format as La Mega 96.5. W243CE was also heard on

WSRV WSRV (97.1 FM, "97.1 The River") is a commercial radio station licensed to Gainesville, Georgia, and serving Metro Atlanta. It is owned by the Cox Media Group. WSRV broadcasts a classic rock radio format. The studios and offices are in the C ...

-HD3. In 2015, W243CE and WSRV-HD3 broke from the simulcast, with WCHK maintaining the Tropical format. On March 21, 2017, WCHK re-added W243CE as a simulcast and relaunched the Latin pop format as La Nueva Mega 96.5/1290. The relaunch is intended to serve the Hispanic communities of North Fulton and

Gwinnett Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the second-most populous county in Georgia (after Fulton ...

Counties.Promo for La Nueva Mega.
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FM translators

Former personalities

*Chuck McClure (owner) *Jim Axel (1957-1959, later moved to

) *Bob Peterson (1957-1962, Co-Owner) *Byron Dobbs (1957-1997, General Manager/presenter) *Steve Bramham (1963-1965, Announcer, Chief Engineer) *Jackson Bain (1962-1964) later moved to WAGA-TV, then to NBC News *Chris Morgan (1990) *Mike McDougal *Joe Robinnell *Dick Byrd *Robert Owens *Linda Lee *Don Holt (1968-Feb 1972) *Scott Woodside *Jim McGhee *Paul Carden *Yzzi Evangelista ‘El Malo’(2017–19) *Tim (Lawson) Cavender (1974-1987, announcer and Operations Manager of WCHK AM)

References

External links

La Mega Website
* * * * {{Spanish Radio Stations in Georgia CHK Cherokee County, Georgia Radio stations established in 1957 CHK