WGKC (105.9 FM, "U.S. 105.9") is 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, ...

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

Mahomet, Illinois Mahomet () is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,434 at the 2020 census. Mahomet is located approximately 10 miles northwest of Champaign at the junction of Interstate 74 and IL 47. Geography Mahomet is ...

and broadcasting in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by SJ Broadcasting, LLC.

History

WGKC was originally WHZT and was started by

Adlai Stevenson IV Adlai Ewing Stevenson IV (born November 4, 1956) is an American business executive and a former television and print journalist. Early life and education Stevenson was born on November 4, 1956, the son of Senator Adlai Stevenson III, grandson ...

, grandson of former presidential candidate

Adlai Stevenson II Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (; February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was twice the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. He was the grandson of Adlai Stevenson I, the 23rd vice president of ...

, in 1990. WHZT was later owned and operated by Odyssey Communications, Inc. Oddyssey ran the syndicated

Z-Rock Z Rock was a nationally syndicated radio network based in Dallas, Texas, United States that, from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, played heavy metal and hard rock music. The format was one of several 24-hour satellite-delivered music for ...

format. Z-Rock was known as the station in Champaign-Urbana with the hearse. Odyssey Communications sold WHZT in 1996 to Liberty Radio II, Inc. The new owners dropped the Z-Rock format and the WHZT call letters. On November 15, 1996, WHZT became Classic Rock 105.9 WGKC. The station gained its name from

WCKG WCKG (1530 AM) is a radio station licensed to Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. The station serves the Chicago area and is owned by DuPage Radio, LLC. The station operates during daytime hours only. Hours of operation are determined by the Feder ...

in Chicago, which was a classic rock station at the time. The first song played on WGKC was "

Start Me Up "Start Me Up" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album ''Tattoo You''. Released as the album's lead single, it reached number one on Australian Kent Music Report, number two in Canada, number two on the ''Bi ...

" by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

. WGKC was mostly jockless minus a live and local morning show hosted by Dennis Miller (not the comedian). In 1999, Liberty Radio moved syndicated morning duo

Bob and Tom Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

from sister station,

WZNF WZNF (95.3 MHz, "95-3 Gorilla") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Lumberton, Mississippi and serving the Biloxi– Gulfport area. The station airs a Top 40 (CHR) radio format and is owned by Coast Radio Group, Inc. WZNF is a Top 40 st ...

"Rock 95-3", to WGKC. In March 2000 Liberty Radio II, Inc. sold WGKC along with sister stations

WQQB WQQB (96.1 MHz) is a CHR - Top 40 FM radio station licensed to Rantoul, Illinois and serving the Champaign/Urbana radio market. It is owned by SJ Broadcasting LLC, headed by Stevie Jay Khachaturian, with radio studios and offices on Boulder ...

, and WEBX to AAA Entertainment, LLC. The stations were subsequently purchased by one of the principals of Liberty Radio II, Jim Glassman under his new company (RadioStar, Inc.) in 2006. On May 21, 2010, it was announced that RadioStar, Inc. was in the process of selling WGKC to SJ Broadcasting LLC. SJ Broadcasting is operated by Steve "Stevie Jay" Khachaturian and Clint Atkins (before Atkins' death in March 2011). In 2011, the station replaced Bob and Tom with ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning. In 2012, WGKC became the Champaign affiliate of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

, as they took over from

WDWS WDWS (1400 AM) is a commercial radio station in Champaign, Illinois, calling itself "Newstalk Radio 1400 & 93.9FM DWS." It airs a News/Talk radio format and is owned by ''The News-Gazette'', the primary daily newspaper in the Champaign-Urbana M ...

, who had been broadcasting the Cubs for one year. On January 14, 2013, WGKC changed their format to country, branded as "US 105.9".

References

External links

* GKC Country radio stations in the United States Champaign County, Illinois {{Illinois-radio-station-stub