WOKV (690
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 ...
AM 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 the
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...
, United States. WOKV is owned by
Cox Media Group
CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company pri ...
and broadcasts 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 from studios in Jacksonville's
Southside district and
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 ...
s in
Orange Park and
Baldwin.
690 AM is a Canadian and Mexican
clear-channel
A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...
frequency, on which
CKGM
CKGM ('' TSN 690 Montreal'') is an English-language AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, owned by Bell Media Radio. Formerly an affiliate of sports radio network " The Team," it was one of three stations to retain the sports format after the ...
in
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
and
XEN-AM
XEN-AM (branded as Radio Centro/El Fonógrafo) is a commercial radio station in Mexico City. It airs a talk radio and Spanish oldies radio format on 690 kHz. The station is owned by Grupo Radio Centro.
XEN broadcasts with 100,000 watts by day. ...
in
Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of Mex ...
share
Class A status.
History
The Big Ape
AM 690 first
signed on
Signing may refer to:
* Using sign language
* Signature
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...
the air on October 23, 1958, as WAPE. It was a
daytimer
A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-coun ...
, owned by Brennan Broadcasting. WAPE originally broadcast with 25,000 watts and was required to be off the air at night. In 1963, the station got a boost to 50,000 watts by day and it also got nighttime authorization, running 10,000 watts after sunset; a previous attempt to add 25,000 watts of night power in 1960 was dismissed as contravening the
North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement
The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, es, Convenio Regional Norteamericano de Radiodifusión) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreem ...
.
For more than two decades, WAPE operated as a popular
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, known as "The Big Ape". Comic actor
Jay Thomas
Jay Thomas (born Jon Thomas Terrell; July 12, 1948 – August 24, 2017) was an American actor, comedian, and radio personality. He was heard in New York from 1976–1979 on top-40 station 99X, and later on rhythmic CHR station 92KTU, and in L ...
started his professional career as the station's morning man. The Brennan family sold the station in 1970 to Stan and Sis Atlass Kaplan for $1.48 million.
Eastman Radio acquired WAPE in 1980. The next year, despite a rating increase, WAPE flipped to
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 ...
. Several years later, it converted to a
Christian radio
Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk progra ...
format. In 1986, WAPE migrated to 95.1 MHz (which, at the time, aired a
rhythmic contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and upbeat R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary never uses ...
as WJAX-FM) and relaunched its Top 40 format as
WAPE-FM
WAPE-FM (95.1 MHz "The Big Ape") is a commercial FM radio station in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned by Cox Radio and airs a Top 40 (CHR) radio format. Its transmitter is located in Downtown Jacksonville, off Gator Bowl Boulevard. The ...
.
News/talk
In 1989, WAPE was bought by Genesis Communications, which changed 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 ...
to WJKF, and then to WPDQ, and switched the format to news/talk. The station carried a mix of local hosts and nationally syndicated shows, and was an affiliate of the
ABC Information Network.
In 1993, Prism Radio Partners bought WPDQ for $400,000. The following year, Prism bought talk station
WOKV (600 AM) and
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 ...
station
WKQL (96.9 FM) for $3.75 million. The company moved the talk programming and call letters of WOKV from 600 to 690.
Cox Radio acquired WOKV and several other Jacksonville-area stations in 2000. In 2006, Cox upgraded WOKV's nighttime signal to 25,000 watts after sunset, with a broader pattern, and also added an FM
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 ...
on 106.5 FM, formerly WBGB (now
WXXJ). This made WOKV one of only a few large-market news/talk radio stations at the time to simulcast on both AM and FM. In 2013, the FM simulcast was upgraded when WOKV moved the simulcast to
the former WFYV-FM at 104.5, broadcasting with 100,000 watts; the 106.5 frequency returned to a music format, first as
soft AC
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 ...
WEZI and currently as
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
WXXJ.
WOKV was the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
for the
NFL's
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...
from the team's inception in 1995 through 2013.
WJXL took over that role in 2014.
In 2010, WOKV was added as a Primary Entry Point to the
Emergency Alert System
The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite, or broadcast television, and both ...
as part of a doubling of the number of designated PEP stations.
Flip to sports
On January 2, 2019, WOKV (AM) split from its simulcast with WOKV-FM and changed its format to sports, branded as "ESPN 690" with programming from
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
.
AM 690 facilities
WOKV has one of the strongest daytime AM signals in the Southeast.
In addition to the
Jacksonville metropolitan area
The Jacksonville Metropolitan Area, also called the First Coast, Metro Jacksonville, or Northeast Florida, is the metropolitan area centered on the principal city of Jacksonville, Florida and including the First Coast of North Florida. According ...
, its
non-directional 50,000–
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 ...
daytime signal covers the Atlantic coast, as far south as
Melbourne, Florida
Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando. As of th2020 Decennial Census there was a population of 84,678. The municipality is the second-largest in the county by both size and population. ...
, and as far north as
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina.
Long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and maritime forests create a unique environment where wind and waves shape ...
, an area that includes
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
, and
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
. At night, the station reduces power to 25,000 watts and uses 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 ...
to protect
clear channel Class A station
CKGM
CKGM ('' TSN 690 Montreal'') is an English-language AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, owned by Bell Media Radio. Formerly an affiliate of sports radio network " The Team," it was one of three stations to retain the sports format after the ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
as well as older, high-power stations on the 690 frequency, including
XEWW in
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and
CBU in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
Programming
WOKV AM 690's programming is made up primarily of
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
shows, with some live play-by-play coverage of sporting events.
References
External links
*
{{COXMG
OKV
Cox Media Group
Radio stations established in 1958
1958 establishments in Florida
Sports radio stations in the United States
ESPN Radio stations