WRKA (103.9 FM) is a commercial

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

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 Louisville,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. Owned by SummitMedia, the station covers the

Louisville metropolitan area The Louisville metropolitan area is the 43rd largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States. It had a population of 1,395,855 in 2020 according to the latest official census, and its principal city is Louisville, Kentucky. Th ...

. The WRKA studios are located in Downtown Louisville, while the transmitter site resides atop the

National City Tower PNC Tower is a skyscraper in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States, and located at 101 South Fifth Street. Completed in 1972, the 40-story, high structure was designed by architects Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz based on the time ...

. Besides a standard analog transmission, WRKA is available online.

History

In November 1974, the station signed on the air as WFIA-FM, an FM adjunct to WFIA and owned by AM 900, Inc. The call sign was later changed to WXLN and played

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

. The station's first post Christian format was

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

as WZKS "Kiss 104". Debuting on July 5, 1990, WZKS intended to challenge WDJX, but after WDJX's owners entered into 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 ...

to operate the station on January 27, 1992, WZKS simulcast WDJX for nearly a month and a half. After the simulcast broke that March 19, WZKS began stunting by playing songs recorded by

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

, then switched to

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, ...

on March 23. During this period, 103.9 became the first FM station in the market intended to challenge longtime country leader WAMZ. Initially, 103.9 was known as "Hot Country 103.9", which, unlike WAMZ, had no local air talent, instead relying on Westwood One's "Hot Country" format. On March 30, 1993, the station was revamped as "103.9 The Hawk", added local programming, and changed its call sign to WHKW. The format, call letters, and "The Hawk" branding were transferred to WKJK (107.7 FM) on May 24, 1994. After that programming move, WHKW adopted an

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 ...

format branded as "Cool 103.9", with replacement WQLL calls on June 6. The playlist was changed to all 1970's music, but the "Cool" branding was retained. The station changed its format to Smooth Jazz on June 3, 1996, and changed its call letters to WSJW. On August 7, 1998, the station changed again to

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 ...

as WMHX "Mix 103.9", reviving a format dropped by the former

WLRS WLRS may refer to: * WLRS (AM), a radio station (1570 AM) licensed to serve New Albany, Indiana, United States * WLRS FM, a radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, with frequency 102.3 FM, now WXMA, which held the call sign WLRS fro ...

a year earlier. After the station was purchased by Cox Radio in 1999, WHMX switched to an all-80s hits format branded as "103.9 The Point" in November 2000. The call letters were switched to WPTK on November 24, then a month later, on December 20, to WPTI. WPTI dropped the 80s hits format for another attempt at country, branded "New Country 103.9", on October 21, 2004. WPTI's call letters were changed to WRKA on July 18, 2008, and the format was changed to

Classic Country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

as "Country Legends 103.9" that July 23. The previous country format was moved to the former WRKA, renamed WQNU. Cox Radio, Inc. sold WRKA, along with 22 other stations, to Summit Media LLC for $66.25 million on July 20, 2012; the sale was consummated on May 3, 2013. On May 23, 2014, WRKA began stunting by only playing music by

as "103.9 Garth-FM" before announcing the station was not able to use Brooks' name due to what they claimed was "legal issues". It rebranded as "XXXXX-FM" (with the "XXXXX" being pronounced on-air as a long beep) and promising a new format to debut the following Monday, June 2, at 7 am. At that time, WRKA relaunched with a 1990s-heavy country format, once again branded as "103.9 The Hawk". The first song on "The Hawk" was '' Gone Country'' by

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many o ...

. On December 31, 2018, WRKA dropped the classic country format and began stunting as "103.9 The Party" using the slogan, "Where it's New Year's Eve every day." On January 14, 2019, at 9 a.m., WRKA flipped to rhythmic adult contemporary, branded as "103.9 The Groove". In January 2020, WRKA shifted to

, still under the "Groove" branding.103.9 The Groove Evolving to Urban AC; Adds Rickey Smiley
Radioinsight - January 3, 2020 Image:WPTI logo.png, logo through July 23, 2008 Image:WRKA-FM logo.png, previous "Country Legends" logo, 2008-2013 File:WRKA 103.9TheHawk logo.png, previous "103.9 The Hawk" logo, 2014-2018

References

External links

* {{Urban Radio Stations in Kentucky Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States

RKA The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

Radio stations established in 1974 1974 establishments in Kentucky