WKKB (100.3 FM, "Latina 100.3") is 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 Middletown, Rhode Island, United States. The station airs a

Tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

format, which consists of such musical styles as

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

and merengue and some

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American hip hop, ...

. Its transmitter is located in Middletown. Its offices and studios are located in 75 Oxford Street in

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

, while its transmitter is located in Tiverton. Prior to its switch to Tropical, the station was a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

station.

History

WKKB started out as WOTB in 1974 on 107.1 MHz. WOTB was a smooth jazz station with the moniker "Cool FM", co-owned with

WKFD WKFD (1370 AM) was a radio station which existed from 1961 until 2001 when its license was deleted after being silent for three years (the station last broadcast on July 29, 1998). WKFD was licensed to the village of Wickford, Rhode Island. The ...

/1370 in

Wickford Wickford is a town and civil parish in the south of the English county of Essex, with a population of 33,486. Located approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of London, it is within the Borough of Basildon along with the original town of Basil ...

, later with

WADK WADK (1540 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The station is owned by 3G Broadcasting, Inc. It airs a news/ talk format, with jazz airing each weekend. The station, the first to be built on Aquidneck ...

/1540 in Newport. WOTB switched frequencies to 100.3 MHz and boosted its effective radiated power to 6 kW. WZRI & WZRA logo

The smooth jazz format ended on June 14, 1996, when it was sold to Urso Broadcasting. WOTB then changed to WDGF and began simulcasting WDGE for a brief time. In February 1997, WDGF became a '70s oldies/disco station as "100.3 The Beat". After stunting with a three-day electronic countdown, WDGF then became

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980 ...

as WHKK "100FM The Hawk" on October 10, 1997. During this time, 99.7 entered into simulcasting WHKK. Both stations then became all-'80s hits as "Z100" with the 100.3 frequency adopting the WZRI callsign. In October 2002, WHKK's studios were moved to

Fairhaven, Massachusetts Fairhaven (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor wi ...

with Citadel sister stations

WBSM WBSM (1420 AM) is a radio station broadcasting in the New Bedford–Fall River market area with a news/talk/sports format. WBSM is under ownership of Townsquare Media, with studios in Fairhaven shared with WFHN. News and weather WBSM had a f ...

and

WFHN WFHN (107.1 FM), better known as Fun 107, is a contemporary hit radio station that serves the New Bedford-Fall River, Massachusetts, market along with (to a lesser extent) the Providence, Rhode Island, market. The station is licensed to Fairh ...

. On Halloween of that year, the calls were then changed to the current WKKB, and the station began targeting the

South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...

region of Massachusetts by flipping to a rock format as "100.3 KKB"; the first song on KKB was "

You Shook Me All Night Long "You Shook Me All Night Long" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, from the album ''Back in Black''. The song also reappeared on their later album ''Who Made Who''. It is AC/DC's first single with Brian Johnson as the lead singer, rep ...

" by AC/DC. During its run as a rock station, WKKB served as the Providence and South Coast affiliate of the

Patriots Rock Radio Network The New England Patriots Radio Network is a radio network which carries live game broadcasts of the New England Patriots. The network's flagship station is WBZ-FM Boston. Bob Socci, who now does the play-by-play with former Patriots quarterback ...

. In January 2005, Citadel sold WKKB and

WAKX WAKX (98.7 FM, "KIX Country 98.7") is a radio station licensed to serve the community of Palm Coast, Florida. The station is owned by Flagler County Broadcasting and the broadcast license is held by Flagler Broadcasting, LLC. WAKX shares radio s ...

to Davidson Media Group; WKKB took on its current format on February 1 of that year. WKKB was one of four stations sold to Red Wolf Broadcasting in 2015. Brian Ram serves as VP/Programming.

References

External links

Latina 100.3 WKKB official website
KKB KKB Middletown, Rhode Island Radio stations established in 1978 Tropical music radio stations {{RhodeIsland-radio-station-stub