WOCN-FM (104.7 FM, "Ocean 104.7") is a

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

radio station licensed to Orleans, Massachusetts. The station is licensed to Sandab Communications (doing business as Cape Cod Broadcasting) and operated locally. WOCN-FM is a sister station to

WQRC WQRC (99.9 FM; "99.9 The Q") is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format. Licensed to Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States, the station serves the Cape Cod region. The station is owned by Sandab Communications Limited Partn ...

, WFCC-FM, and WKPE-FM. WOCN-FM is frequently one of the Cape's most-listened-to radio stations, especially among adults 45 and older. Artists that are played on WOCN-FM include the

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

Norah Jones Norah Jones ( ; born Geethali Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, , has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the top jazz artist of ...

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

and others. WOCN-FM continues to serve the Cape Cod community with hourly weather forecasts, news updates and community information. Although previously playing more soft AC, it has shifted to play more current artists (e.g.

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

Sara Bareilles Sara Beth Bareilles ( ; born December 7, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. She has sold over three million albums and over 15 million singles in the United States. Bareilles has earned various accolades, including ...

The Band Perry The Band Perry are an American band composed of siblings Kimberly Perry (lead vocals, guitar), Reid Perry (bass guitar, background vocals), and Neil Perry (mandolin, bouzouki, background vocals). They signed to Republic Nashville in August 2 ...

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

History

The station went on the air on July 25, 1974, as WVLC-FM, broadcasting on 104.7 MHz. Initially, the station was just a full-time simulcast of WVLC (1170 AM, now WFPB). WVLC-FM became WLOM in 1977. In 1980, the FM band was still new territory for

Top-40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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 ...

radio. Boston's

WXKS-FM WXKS-FM (107.9 MHz), branded ''Kiss 108'', is a commercial contemporary hit radio station licensed to serve Medford, Massachusetts, and covering Greater Boston. Owned by iHeartMedia, the WXKS-FM studios are in Medford and the station transmits f ...

(known at the moniker "Kiss 108") had only started one year prior and was very popular due to its unique mix of disco, rhythmic, and urban titles, routinely beating Boston's only mainstream Top 40 radio station at the time, WRKO-AM, in the ratings. Cape Cod needed its own similar station to compete in its own market, and in May 1980, 104.7 changed its call letters to WKZE-FM and began its own programming, branding itself ''"KZ 104 FM"''. After just over three successful years in the Top 40/CHR format, the station rebranded itself as ''"Cape 104"'' on August 1, 1983; a few months later, the callsign was changed to WKPE. After the Top 40 format fragmented, "Cape 104" switched formats in the fall of 1992, rebranding itself "

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

104" to compete with Boston's "Oldies 103" and Nantucket's "Oldies 96" (which went Top-40 in January 1993). During the spring of 1995, WKPE switched formats to a

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

format and became "Rock 104.7, The Cape". It was in direct competition with WPXC. In 1999, the station was sold by Grancam Communications to

Charles River Broadcasting Charles River Broadcasting Company was the owner of classical music stations, a classic rock station, a CNN Headline News affiliate, and a syndicated classical music program service, serving communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. History ...

. In September 1999, the station switched formats to

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

. With the 2006-07 dismantling of Charles River Broadcasting, Cape Cod Broadcasting, owner of

and WOCN-FM, signed a contract to operate WFCC-FM and WKPE under a local marketing agreement, with the two stations still licensed to Charles River. Upon the acquisition of Charles River Broadcasting's

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

assets, it was announced that the popular "Ocean 104" would relocate to the stronger Class B signal of 104.7 MHz, swapping frequencies with WKPE-FM. The swap occurred on April 17, 2007.

References

External links

* {{Adult Contemporary Radio Stations in Massachusetts OCN Soft adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Orleans, Massachusetts Radio stations established in 1974 1974 establishments in Massachusetts