WJOK
WJOK (1050 AM) is a Roman Catholic Christian formatted radio station licensed to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, that serves the Green Bay and Appleton-Oshkosh areas. The station is owned by the Green Bay-based Relevant Radio network.
| City | Kaukauna, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Green Bay-Appleton-Oshkosh |
| Frequency | 1050 kHz |
| Branding | Relevant Radio |
| Programming | |
| Format | Christian radio |
| Affiliations | Relevant Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Relevant Radio (Relevant Radio, Inc.) |
| History | |
First air date | September 25, 1965 |
Former call signs | WKAU (1965–1984) WQWM (1984–1993) WSGC (1993–1999) |
Call sign meaning | Jesus Our King (backronymed calls; formerly stood for "Jock" for last commercial sports format) |
| Technical information | |
| Class | B |
| Power | 1,000 watts day 500 watts night |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | relevantradio |
The station originally signed on as WKAU in a Top 40 format. In 1984, the station was sold to Quinn Martin of Milwaukee who changed the call letters to his initials, WQWM, and made it an oldies music format. The station changed hands again in 1993 to a new ownership who changed the calls to WSGC and the format to "Positive Country" music. Another sale in 1999 resulted in the station becoming all-sports "1050 The Jock, WJOK," which carried programming from the national Sports Fan Radio Network as well as local broadcasts of Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball. WJOK was purchased by Starboard Broadcasting in 2000, and the station joined Starboard's Relevant Radio network on November 26 of that year.
Previous incarnations
WJOK was also the call sign of a small radio station in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in the early 1980s, broadcasting on the 1150 AM frequency. It was unique at the time for having been the first radio station to broadcast comedy routines from comedy albums recorded by Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy and older radio programs such as "The Great Gildersleeve" and "Baby Snooks". Lesser known, older artists were also aired such as Shelley Berman, Henny Youngman, Hudson & Landry and the Duck's Breath Mystery Theater. Music by "Weird Al" Yankovic was commonly played. From 10:00 PM until its midnight sign-off, the station featured "Unexporgated Comedy", material containing profanity and indecent language.
The disc jockeys of WJOK provided patter in between selections and played interactive radio games with the audience for prizes such as tickets to comedy shows at comedy clubs in Washington, DC, including the Comedy Cafe and Garvin's, a comedy club chain with three branches at its height.
DJs included Brad Krantz, "Uncle Walt", Evan Haining weekdays, Eddie Katz, Steve Willett and the syndicated Dr. Demento Show.
Some recurrent listeners (notably redneck "Jee-im (Jim) from Poolesville") were integrated into some games.
WJOK went off the air due to insufficient growth in ratings. A very weak signal (1000 watts during the day, 500 watts at night), was partially to blame and no other format lasted longer before the station was permanently closed.
WJOK began broadcast before comedy cable TV stations such as HA! went on the air, followed by the successful establishment of Comedy Central.
External links
- WJOK in the FCC's AM station database
- WJOK on Radio-Locator
- WJOK in Nielsen Audio's AM station database