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 ...
in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
, owned by
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...
. It is the oldest radio station in Oklahoma and among the oldest in the nation. WKY airs a
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
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 ...
which is
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 ...
with its
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
WWLS-FM
WWLS-FM (98.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to The Village, Oklahoma, and serving the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a sports radio format, calling itself "The Sports Animal." Local hosts ...
. The
studio
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...
s and offices are in northwest Oklahoma City.
WKY's
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
and its single tower are located on NE 91st Street in Oklahoma City. WKY is powered at 5,000
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 by day, using a 961 foot (293m)
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 ...
that is the tallest AM
radio tower
Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...
in the United States. It once broadcast at night with a 5,000-watt directional signal, using a multiple
tower array
A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower a ...
. Ownership decided to switch to non-directional nighttime operation, which allows WKY to need only one antenna, but required the station to drop to 510 watts at night.
History
Early years
Although
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 ...
(FCC) records list WKY's "date first licensed" as March 16, 1922, station histories have generally traced its founding to earlier activities, beginning as early as January 1920 according to WKY co-founder Earl Clement Hull."WKY Founder Remains Ardent Radio Fan", ''Oklahoma City Times'', December 7, 1968, page 8.
After the end of World War One, Hull was posted at
Fort Sill
Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost .
The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...
in Oklahoma, where he taught radio communication classes. Using a supply of scarce vacuum tubes he described as being "borrowed" from the Signal Corps, he constructed a radio transmitter that was operated from his home at 1911 Ash Street in Oklahoma City. In June 1921, Hull was issued a license for amateur station 5QP, located at his residence.
In the spring of 1921, Hull founded the Oklahoma Radio Shop, initially located at Hull's home, as a partnership with Sherwood Richards. In the fall of 1921, the Oklahoma Radio Shop was issued a license for an experimental station, 5XT.
Eventually the ''Daily Oklahoman'' newspaper teamed up with the Oklahoma Radio Company to provide a daily series of broadcasts, from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m., beginning on March 5, 1922. A March 8 broadcast of
Alma Gluck
Alma Gluck (May 11, 1884October 27, 1938) was a Romanian-born American soprano.
Biography
Gluck was born as Reba Feinsohn to a Jewish family in Iași, Romania, the daughter of Zara and Leon Feinsohn. Gluck moved to the United States at a you ...
singing at the First Christian Church was described by the newspaper as its "first big broadcast", although the microphone had to be hidden behind a curtain, because the singer had refused to consent to making the broadcast.
Beginning in late 1912, radio communication in the United States was regulated by the Department of Commerce. Initially there were no formal standards for which stations could make broadcasts intended for the general public, and after World War One stations under a variety of license classes, most commonly Amateur and Experimental, began making regularly scheduled programs on a limited basis. In order to provide common standards for the service, the Commerce Department issued a regulation effective December 1, 1921, that stated that broadcasting stations would now have to hold a Limited Commercial license that authorized operation on two designated broadcasting wavelengths: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports". WKY's first license, as Oklahoma's first broadcasting station, was issued on March 16, 1922, to the Oklahoma Radio Shop in Oklahoma City, for operation on both wavelengths.
The WKY call sign was randomly assigned from a list of available
call letters
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 ...
. Currently most stations west of the Mississippi River have call letters beginning with "K". However, WKY was licensed before the government changed the dividing line between W and K call signs. Prior to the January 1923 establishment of the Mississippi River as the boundary, call letters beginning with "W" were generally assigned to stations east of an irregular line formed by the western state borders from North Dakota south to Texas, with calls beginning with "K" going only to stations in states west of that line.
On November 1922, WKY announced a "silent night" policy, meaning the station would broadcast only four, and later three nights a week. This was so listeners could have a chance to tune into other stations in neighboring states.
Richards and Hull struggled to keep WKY on the air. In late 1925, Richards left the radio business, but Hull continued to keep WKY going by selling shares of the station to radio dealers in Oklahoma City. The dealers paid Hull a small fee to keep the station broadcasting, but over time, they decided the financial drain had become too much. In 1928, WKY was purchased by the Oklahoma Publishing Company, which also owned the ''
Daily Oklahoman
''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th large ...
'' newspaper. The price was $5,000 (about $75,000 today).
The formal opening of the new WKY was set for November 11, 1928, but the station went on the air several days earlier to carry the presidential election returns as
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
won in a Republican landslide.
That December, the station became an
NBC Red Network
The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...
affiliate and began carrying the network's programs. During the "
Golden Age of Radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...
" that included dramas, comedies, news, sports,
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
s,
game show
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...
s and
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
broadcasts. By the following year, WKY was attempting to operate like the powerhouse stations in the East. Aside from NBC network shows, everything broadcast by WKY originated locally.
WKY operated from the Skirvin Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City from 1936 to 1951, and was contracted to broadcast live from the Venetian Room from 11:00 to midnight every evening. The opening night performance cost $15 a couple for dinner and dancing.
From November 1941, through June 1942, WKY broadcast its own original supernatural thriller series called
Dark Fantasy
Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...
. All 31 episodes can still be heard today.
WKY-FM and -TV
WKY-FM was launched on July 1, 1947, at 98.9 MHz, programming mostly
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
. An effort was made to minimize duplication of WKY AM programs and make WKY-FM a true second station. In 1949, a TV station, WKY-TV (now
KFOR-TV
KFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Independent station (North America), independent station KAUT-TV (channel ...
) was added, as the first television outlet in Oklahoma.
Few people owned FM radios in the early 1950s. By 1952, WKY management had to make a decision about keeping the FM station on the air or increasing the power of the company's new television tower. Since WKY-FM was not showing a profit, it lost out. The station shut down, and its transmitter and associated equipment were donated to the Oklahoma City Public School District. The discontinuation received only one letter of protest, from a music lover in
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...
. In 1969 the vacated 98.9 MHz frequency was assigned to a new station, KBYE-FM, which is now sister station
KYIS
KYIS (98.9 FM, "98.9 KISS FM") is a hot adult contemporary radio station serving the Oklahoma City area and is owned by Cumulus Media. KYIS-FM's studios are located in Northwest Oklahoma City and a transmitter site is in the Northside of the cit ...
.
Top 40 years
WKY has featured many formats over the years, including Contemporary Hits,
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 ...
,
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, ...
,
Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
,
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 ...
Talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
,
Hot Talk
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
,
Sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
and
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 ...
as a simulcast of then-sister station
KINB
KINB (105.3 FM) is a sports radio station serving the Oklahoma City area.
History
This station officially signed on July 6, 2000 as Contemporary Christian as "The Light 105-Dot-3 FM" with call letters KLGH. On April 1, 2002 at midnight, the for ...
.
In 1958, WKY became the second
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
station in Oklahoma City after KOCY (now KGHM). During the 1960s and 1970s, WKY fended off serious challenges from 50,000 watt rival KOMA. Although KOMA was very famous outside Oklahoma City, due to its large nighttime signal, WKY was usually the ratings leader in the city itself. WKY continued to top many Arbitron ratings sweeps into the 1970s, even as young people began seeking hit music from the FM dial. Ironically, WKY's top
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
s during that time, Danny Williams, Ronnie Kaye and Fred Hendrickson, later became "KOMA Good Guys" when KOMA flipped from adult standards 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 ...
.
Country music
WKY changed its format to country music in the early 1980s, shortly after station owner
Edward Gaylord
Edward Lewis Gaylord (May 28, 1919April 27, 2003) was an American billionaire businessman, media mogul and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Gaylord Entertainment Company that included ''The Oklahoman'' newspaper, Oklahoma Publishing Co ...
purchased
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
. WKY simulcasted live Grand Ole Opry broadcasts from WSM for a short time.
Easy listening
WKY dropped its country format to become an
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 ...
station on June 30, 1990, shortly after longtime FM easy listening station
KKNG
KKNG-FM (97.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to Blanchard, Oklahoma, serving the Oklahoma City Metroplex. It is owned by Stanton Nelson, through licensee WPA Radio LLC.
KKNG-FM carries a religious talk and information radio format focusing on C ...
moved to
Soft Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...
music. Bus benches throughout Oklahoma City had the purple and white logo declaring "Easy Listening is back, 930 WKY."
Although it took a bit of time to grow the format, within a year, WKY had beaten KKNG in the ratings. As a result, KKNG shifted to Mainstream AC and rebranded as "Mix 92.5," which barely lasted a year.
Ironically, WKY's taking stewardship of the easy listening format ended up helping former rival KOMA, as its oldies format took over the 92.5 frequency in the summer of 1992. Despite getting high ratings, the easy listening format on WKY had trouble getting advertisers to buy in.
Talk radio
WKY switched to a
talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
format in 1994. In the process of flipping, it hired back many of the news staff it let go when it became an easy listening station in 1990.
The station stumbled out of the starting gate and struggled to compete against
Clear Channel Communications
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 ...
'
KTOK
KTOK (1000 AM) is a commercial radio station in Oklahoma City and airs a talk radio format. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., and licensed as iHM Licenses, LLC. The studios and offices are in the 50 Penn Place Building on the northwest side of ...
conservative talk
Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...
on its schedule, including
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...
and
Sean Hannity
Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commentar ...
. Often, WKY had to choose lesser national talk hosts to compete with KTOK for ratings. In its first year, WKY failed to cover its operational costs. In 1995, OPUBCO turned over operation of WKY to Clear Channel, who operated the station through a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
(LMA) after several continued months of operating in the red.
Finally, in 2002, OPUBCO sold the station to
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...
after 74 years of ownership. WKY, along with WSM-AM-FM in Nashville, had been the last vestiges of the once-vast Gaylord broadcasting empire, which at its height included eight radio stations and seven television stations.
From 1994 to 2002, WKY was a talk station. It flirted with an all-sports format, with two local sports talk shows in the
drive time
Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
periods. "SuperTalk 930 WKY" was launched in March 2003. The format featured local-oriented talk shows throughout the day with some syndicated talk during the evening and weekend.
WKY en español
"SuperTalk" ended in January 2006. In an effort to target Oklahoma City's growing Hispanic population, WKY began airing a simulcast of
KINB
KINB (105.3 FM) is a sports radio station serving the Oklahoma City area.
History
This station officially signed on July 6, 2000 as Contemporary Christian as "The Light 105-Dot-3 FM" with call letters KLGH. On April 1, 2002 at midnight, the for ...
. Because KINB was divested as part of the Citadel– ABC Radio merger, the simulcast on WKY was dropped June 12, 2007, and the station began stunting for several days.
On June 20, 2007, at 9:01 a.m., Oklahoma City Mayor
Mick Cornett
Michael Earl Cornett Sr. (born July 16, 1958) is an American politician and former television personality who served as the 35th mayor of Oklahoma City, from 2005 until 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he was only the fourth mayor in O ...
, a former sports, and later news anchor on
KOCO-TV
KOCO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. Its studios and transmitter are located on East Britton Road (Historic Route 66)—between North Kelley ...
, signaled the start of "JOX 930 WKY." It was the fifth station in the market with a sports radio format.
After struggling in the ratings, WKY announced on December 22, 2008, that it would change formats from sports programming. On January 7, 2009, WKY flipped back to "La Indomable." From February 2017 to September 8, 2019, WKY was a full-time affiliate of
ESPN Deportes Radio
ESPN Deportes Radio was an American Spanish language sports radio network created and produced by Disney-owned ESPN. Programming included call-in talk shows and commentary from hosts about a full range of sporting events, including soccer, Amer ...
, offering all sports programming in Spanish. After that network ended operations, WKY returned to sports in English, simulcasting sister station
WWLS-FM
WWLS-FM (98.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to The Village, Oklahoma, and serving the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a sports radio format, calling itself "The Sports Animal." Local hosts ...
On March 10, 2011, Cumulus Media announced that it would purchase Citadel Broadcasting. After receiving conditional regulatory approval from the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission, the deal was approved by Citadel shareholders on September 15, 2011. The merger of the two companies closed on September 16, 2011, and Citadel became an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Cumulus Media.
Notable alumni
*
Phil Boyce
Phil Boyce is an American program director for Salem Communications. He had previously served in the same capacity for NewsTalkRadio WABC (AM) in New York City, as well Vice President of news/talk programming for ABC Radio and program director f ...
, Program Director,
Salem Communications
Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in Camarillo, California (moved most operations to Ir ...
.
* ''
CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
'' anchor
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
(1916–2009) served as play-by-play commentator for
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
football games during the 1937 season.
* TV Show host Mike Douglas (1926–2006) started his career as a staff singer on WKY before joining the Navy during World War II and serving on a munitions ship.
* Chuck Dunaway,
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
native who worked his way to Oklahoma City and eventually landed in New York at WABC 770. He had two stints at WKY and went on to own radio stations in
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
, and
Joplin, Missouri
Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...
.
* Syndicated
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
Steve Goddard
*
Ernest Istook
Ernest James "Ernie" Istook Jr. (born February 11, 1950) is a retired American lawyer and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 5th congressional district. He held his congressi ...
, a former
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
member of the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
for the 5th District of Oklahoma. Istook was a member of the Appropriations and the
Homeland Security
Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...
committees. He was the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2006, running against incumbent Democrat Gov. Brad Henry. Istook lost the gubernatorial race. During the 1970s, Istook worked as a radio news reporter at WKY. Istook also worked at KOMA.
* Frank McGee (1921–1974) Co-Anchor, ''
NBC Nightly News
''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
'', NBC's ''
Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...
''.
*
Kevin Metheny
Kevin Metheny (June 6, 1954 – October 3, 2014) was an American radio and cable network executive who began his career as on-air talent and went on to direct programming and audience research at many radio stations and in a number of broadcast c ...
(1954–2014) using the name "Kevin Michaels" during his 1971 stint at WKY, was portrayed by
Paul Giamatti
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...
under the name Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton in the movie '' Private Parts'', starring
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...
. Metheny was the program director at
WNBC-AM
WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...
660 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
during the early 1980s. He went on to work at
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
as Vice President for Production and Programming. At the time of his death, Metheny was Program Director for
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
*
Jack Mildren
Larry Jack Mildren (October 10, 1949 – May 22, 2008), was an All-American quarterback at the University of Oklahoma, and professional football player with the Baltimore Colts and New England Patriots. A native Texan, he was later an oil compa ...
(1949–2008) All-American Quarterback at the University of Oklahoma from 1969 to 1971. During that time, he earned the title of "Godfather of the
Wishbone
Wishbone commonly refers to:
* Furcula, a fork-shaped bone in birds and some dinosaurs
Wishbone may also refer to:
* Wish-Bone, an American salad dressing and condiment company
* Wishbone formation, a type of offense in American football
* Wish ...
." Mildren played in the NFL from 1972 through 1974 for the
Baltimore Colts
The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...
and the
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
. In 1990, Mildren became the 22nd Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. In 1994, he ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic candidate for Governor of Oklahoma, losing to Republican Frank Keating. In addition to his drive-time show on WKY, Mildren was also a regular contributor on sister station WWLS.
* Jimmy O'Neill (1940–2013) Host of ABC's ''
Shindig!
''Shindig!'' is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles,Russell Pierson (1911–2015) farm broadcaster from 1959 to 1983, known for closing every program with a rhyme.
* Danny Williams (1927–2013) Program Director during WKY's years as a Top 40 station. Williams began the Oklahoma portion of his career in 1950, and would stay at WKY until his first "retirement" in 1979. At the age of 81, he retired from 92.5
KOMA-FM
KOMA (92.5 Hertz, MHz, "92.5 KOMA") is a classic hits formatted FM radio, FM radio station serving the Oklahoma City area owned by Tyler Media Group, Tyler Media, a locally-based, family-owned company controlled by brothers Ty and Tony Tyler. Th ...
on August 29, 2008, after spending 16 years as the morning drive personality.