WKNK (103.5 FM) 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 ...

broadcasting 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. Licensed to

Callaway, Florida Callaway is a city in Bay County, Florida, United States, and is a suburb of Panama City. The population was 14,405 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Panama City– Lynn Haven– Panama City Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ...

, United States, the station serves the Panama City area. The station is currently owned by Aaron S. Lee, through licensee Great American Media, L.L.C. Until 2018, WKNK featured "The Gulf Coast Morning Show with Flip & Streeter". Personalities included Melissa Miller, Brad McKay and Jay Arthur, with additional programming from

Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. I ...

and

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

History

WKNK first signed on on 12 October 1989 as WXDZ. On 5 December of the same year, its calls were changed to WBKL. WBKL, known as "Cool 103.5", was an oldies station. On 6 December 1991, WBKL became WDRK, and billed itself as "Rock 103". It was a modern- and alternative-rock oriented station. This lasted until 21 November 1997, when its calls were again changed, this time to WMXP, and was known as "Mix 103". In 2000, the station changed its format to

Soft Rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

, and its branding to "Lite Rock 103.5". In 2002, WAKT (then a country station) and WMXP traded formats, WMXP rebranding itself to "Max Country 103.5". On 10 Mar 2004, Max Country 103 became Kat Country and its call sign was changed to WAKT-FM. In 2009, WAKT switched over to

Hank FM Hank FM is the on-air brand name of several radio stations in the United States and Canada. Stations using the Hank FM brand name typically air a country format, in configurations of classic country, contemporary country, or a less tightly-formatt ...

branding, which lasted until 2012. On 9 October 2012, its calls were changed to WKNK and its branding to "Kick'n Country 103.5". On 10 October 2018,

Hurricane Michael Hurricane Michael was a very powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that became the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous United States since Andrew in 1992. It was the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to ma ...

destroyed the facilities of Powell Broadcasting, then-owner of WKNK,

WASJ WASJ (105.1 FM, "Bob FM 105.1") is a radio station broadcasting an adult hits music format, under the Bob FM branding. Licensed to Panama City Beach, Florida, United States, the station is currently owned by Aaron S. Lee, through licensee Great ...

WPFM WPFM, branded as "K-Love" is a commercial radio station located in Panama City, Florida, licensed to broadcast on 107.9 FM broadcasting, FM. WPFM is owned and operated by Educational Media Foundation and formerly aired a Rhythmic contemporary, Rhy ...

, and

WRBA WRBA (95.9 FM, "B95.9") is a radio station licensed to Springfield, Florida. Owned by Great American Media, it broadcasts a classic rock format serving the Panama City market. History The station began broadcast in 1986 as WVBM, which was the ar ...

. After WKNK, WASJ, and WRBA were purchased by Gulf Coast Broadcasting in December 2018 (WPFM was sold to EMF), WKNK was the first to go back on the air on 23 January 2019, under the Hank FM moniker. The sale to Gulf Coast Broadcasting was consummated on April 30, 2019, at a price of $325,000. On July 3, 2019, Gulf Coast broadcasting sold WKNK,

, and

to Great American Media for $700,000.https://www.rbr.com/flip-or-flop-this-cluster-spin-brings-a-big-windfall/ Radio+Television Business Report The sale was consummated on September 26, 2019. In February 2020, the Hank FM name was dropped and it was once again rebranded to "Kickin' Country 103.5".

References

External links

Kick'n 103.5 Facebook
* KNK Radio stations established in 1989 Country radio stations in the United States 1989 establishments in Florida {{Florida-radio-station-stub