WKEY (1340 AM) is an American

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 ...

licensed to serve the community of Covington, Virginia. The station, which began broadcasting in 1941, is owned and operated by Todd P. Robinson, Inc. The WKEY broadcast license is held by WVJT, LLC. The station broadcasts a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

to the

Covington Covington may refer to: People * Covington (surname) Places United Kingdom * Covington, Cambridgeshire * Covington, South Lanarkshire United States * Covington, Georgia * Covington, Indiana * Covington, Kentucky, the largest American cit ...

/ Clifton Forge area. WKEY is branded, along with its broadcast translator W278BF (103.5 FM, Covington), as "103.5 Big Country".

History

WKEY began broadcasting on May 23, 1941, as WJMA with 250 watts of power. WJMA was owned by John Arrington Jr. and his wife, Marcia. On May 26, 1942, WJMA was sold to Earl M. Key and the callsign changed to WKEY in 1943. By 1964, the station's power had increased to 1,000 watts during the day, while the nighttime power remained at 250 watts. On June 1, 1973, WKEY was sold to WKEY, Inc., headed by E.H. Barr, for an undisclosed amount. WKEY increased its nighttime power in 1987 to 1,000 watts, matching its daytime power. On December 20, 2002, WKEY was acquired by Quorum Radio Partners of Virginia, Inc. for $650,000. During 2002, WKEY switched from its longtime

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 ...

format to

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 ...

. On April 20, 2005, Quorum Radio Partners of Virginia, Inc. filed for bankruptcy and WKEY placed into debtor-in-possession status pending a sale. On January 1, 2006, WKEY was sold to Todd P. Robinson, Inc., for $100,000. On May 1, 2008, the station changed its format from oldies to

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 ...

, under "The Cross" branding. On January 14, 2012, WKEY began

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

ing sister station

WIQO-FM WIQO-FM is a News/Talk formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Forest, Virginia, serving Lynchburg, Bedford, and Buena Vista in Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southe ...

, after its move to

Forest, Virginia Forest is a census-designated place (CDP) in eastern Bedford County, Virginia, United States. The population was 11,709 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Forest is located at (37.370723 ...

, and away from Covington. On August 9, 2012, WKEY began simulcasting full-time on translator station W278BF (103.5 FM), located in Covington, with the country format that was previously heard on WIQO. On November 18, 2013, WKEY began streaming its signal live on the internet.

Programming

WKEY carries a mix of local and syndicated programming. Weekdays begin with a locally produced morning show called "Highway 64 with Big Al". The station also has a news department which prepares and broadcasts local news reports on weekdays. The bulk of the broadcast day's programming comes from Dial Global's Mainstream Country network. Nationally syndicated programs aired on WKEY include the "Tim White Bluegrass Show" and "zMAX Racing Country". The station carries a one-minute newscast from

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

at the top of each hour. WKEY broadcasts live football games from Covington High School in the Fall. WKEY is an affiliate of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

's Virginia Sports Network, which carries the school's

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 ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

games.

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Sprint Cup Series races can also be heard on WKEY with live coverage provided by the Motor Racing Network and the

Performance Racing Network The Performance Racing Network (PRN) is a radio syndication network controlled by Speedway Motorsports (SMI) founded in 1981. PRN airs NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series events held at Speedway Motorsports and Penske Corporation-owned and manag ...

. On Sunday mornings, WKEY airs an assortment of religious programming. The programming begins with half an hour of locally produced

Gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

program, after which the station the syndicated programs '' In Touch Ministries'' and ''

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

'', rounding out the block with a live local church service broadcast.

Translator

In addition to the main station, WKEY is relayed by an FM translator to widen its broadcast area.

References

External links

103.5 Big Country Online
* * {{Country Radio Stations in Virginia

KEY Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

Radio stations established in 1941 1941 establishments in Virginia Country radio stations in the United States