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WZKO

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Coordinates: 26°37′31″N 81°50′29″W / 26.62528°N 81.84139°W / 26.62528; -81.84139
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WZKO
Frequency1350 kHz
Branding107.5 Jamz
Programming
FormatUrban adult contemporary
Ownership
Owner
  • Aaron Howard
  • (Genesis Multimedia Group, LLC)
History
First air date
August 22, 1964
Former call signs
WXYC (1960–1964, CP)
WCAI (1964–1986)
WWWQ (1986–1988)
WHYS (1988–1989)
WCRM (1989–2016)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID39798
ClassD
Power2,000 watts day
150 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
26°37′31″N 81°50′29″W / 26.62528°N 81.84139°W / 26.62528; -81.84139
Translator(s)107.5 W298CB (Fort Myers)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Website1075jamz.fm

WZKO (1350 AM) is a radio station licensed to Fort Myers, Florida, United States. It airs an urban adult contemporary format branded as "107.5 Jamz".

FM Translator

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Broadcast translator for WZKO
Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) Class FCC info
W298CB 107.5 FM Fort Myers, Florida 150277 99 D LMS

History

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WCAI

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On August 14, 1962, William H. Martin received the construction permit to establish a new radio station in Fort Myers, with the call letters WXYC. Martin sold the construction permit prior to going on air to Lee Broadcasting,[2] which changed the call letters to WCAI before signing on August 22, 1964.[3] The new daytime-only outlet broadcast middle-of-the-road music.[3] Operations were threatened in 1967 when a city controlled burn operation went out of control and blew toward the station; WCAI remained on the air, but its tower, which had just been painted red that day, was colored black with ash.[4]

WCAI remained mostly unchanged through the 1970s aside from a format flip to country, though it gave its listeners a scare when a 1977 promotion announcing "the end of the station" for a weekend of classic country prompted so many phone calls that a telephone exchange was blown out.[5] The next year, a disc jockey resigned after being implicated in a company that sold memberships in nonexistent department stores.[6] There were several transfers of ownership in 1980 and 1981, resulting in the station being sold to Ercona South for $600,000.[7] The principals of Lee Broadcasting had sold WCAI in order to pursue a new FM license on Estero Island,[8] which they won and launched in 1983 as WQEZ.[9] By 1984, WCAI was a talk station.[10]

In 1985, Charlie Frank reached an agreement to sell WCAI to Horizon Communications, which owned WQSA of Sarasota, for $700,000, with Horizon announcing plans to retain WCAI's talk programming.[11] However, ratings surveys showed it dead last in the Fort Myers market of 12 stations,[12] and in September, employee paychecks started bouncing as payment complications emerged in the sale to Horizon.[13] The wheels came off in November, two weeks after former owners Truman Morris and Helen Pierce foreclosed on Horizon,[14] when WCAI went silent while it searched for another new owner.[15]

Nine days after receiving authority to cease broadcasting from the Federal Communications Commission, WCAI filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.[16] One prospective bidder was Caloosa Television, which owned WEVU-TV in Naples.[16] The only bid for WCAI, at $51,000, ultimately came from Roger Coleman, owner of a station in Galesburg, Illinois, after Caloosa withdrew its bid.[17] However, Coleman backed out and withdrew his application with the FCC to buy WCAI in April.[18] Other parties that showed interest in WCAI included a local pastor, Eddie Grimsley, who wanted to broadcast religious programming.[19] After the license was transferred to WCAI's former creditors, Asti Broadcasting Corporation of Clearwater acquired WCAI for $400,000 late in the year.[14]

WWWQ and WHYS

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To get their own identity in the market, Asti changed the call letters to WWWQ.[14] The station reemerged on March 15, 1987, as "3WQ" with an urban contemporary format—the only one in southwest Florida—primarily syndicated from the Satellite Music Network.[20] Only a year later, however, 1350 AM returned to talk, this time as WHYS, because it struggled to overcome its image as a "black" radio station with white listeners and advertisers.[21]

WCRM

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In 1989, Asti sold WHYS to Manna Christian Missions, which had brokered out 34 hours a week on the station for Spanish-language programming, for $450,000. Manna changed WHYS to WCRM "Radio Consolación",[22] the first Spanish-language radio station in Lee County.[23] Yet again, however, the minority-oriented format proved problematic for potential advertisers, prompting Manna to flip WCRM to contemporary Christian in July 1990.[24] (One of the hosts on the new station was Eddie Grimsley, the same pastor that had attempted to buy it out of bankruptcy four years prior.[24]) Less than two years later, WCRM flipped back to a Spanish-language format as "Radio Manantial".[25]

WCRM remained a Spanish-language Christian station, with some brokered programming and gospel music on Sundays, under Manna's ownership; it gained national recognition when it was named among the top 5 Spanish Christian radio stations in the United States in 1996.[26] It suffered through a 1997 burglary in which $9,000 worth of equipment was taken or destroyed,[27] as well as a 2000 lightning strike that took out its transmitter site.[28]

In 2008, Manna sold WCRM to Vida Radio Ministries, a subsidiary of Christ Center International, for $950,000. Three years later, however, Manna bought back the land on which WCRM's studios and transmitter are located from Christ Center for $50,000 in a foreclosure sale;[29] in early 2012, it won back the license in a settlement of Manna's claims against CCI.[30]

While Manna took back the WCRM license, it decided to outsource the station's operations under a local marketing agreement. In late July 2012, Everglades City Broadcasting, owners of WBGY (88.1 FM) on Marco Island, began operating WCRM and flipped it to Fox Sports Radio.[31]

WZKO

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In December 2015, Manna sold WCRM to Genesis Multimedia for $450,000.[32] Genesis paired the station with a translator it bought in Melbourne and moved to Fort Myers[33] as W298CB (107.5 FM), and relaunched WCRM as WZKO "107.5 Jamz".[34]

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WZKO". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Lee Broadcasting Is Incorporated". News-Press. February 4, 1964. p. 5-B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "'Middle of Road' Music New Station's Specialty". Tampa Tribune. August 26, 1964. p. 1=B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  4. ^ "Fire Threatens Radio Station". Tampa Tribune. April 5, 1967. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  5. ^ Sloat, Bill (May 7, 1977). "Radio station gimmick panics loyal listeners". News-Press. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  6. ^ Johnson, Barbara (August 25, 1978). "Disc jockey resigns after publicity". News-Press. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  7. ^ Lieber, David (November 30, 1981). "Media". News-Press. p. 1E, 4E. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  8. ^ Klein, Ken (June 12, 1980). "License for Estero radio station generating lots of interest". News-Press. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  9. ^ Averill, Roslyn (October 13, 1983). "Easy-listening radio station to broadcast from Beach". News-Press. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  10. ^ "Nixon interview to be aired". February 1, 1984. p. 2B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  11. ^ Schroder, Tom (March 20, 1985). "Sarasota firm buys local radio station". News-Press. p. 15A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  12. ^ Smarte, Charlotte (August 11, 1985). "WINK-FM is area's radio leader". News-Press. p. 1B, 2B.
  13. ^ Schroder, Tom (September 19, 1985). "Low ratings, payment mix-ups causing static at WCAI-AM". News-Press. p. 17A.
  14. ^ a b c Ward, Judy L. (November 24, 1986). "Company aims to get WCAI-AM on air again". News-Press. p. 8. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  15. ^ Christie, Rick (November 27, 1985). "WCAI-AM stops broadcasting, looks for buyer". News-Press. p. 13A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  16. ^ a b Christie, Rick (December 18, 1985). "WCAI-AM files under Chapter 7 bankruptcy". News-Press. p. 13A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  17. ^ Christie, Rick (January 10, 1986). "WCAI-AM sells for $51,000". News-Press. p. 15A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  18. ^ Christie, Rick (April 9, 1986). "WCAI-AM returns to sales block". News-Press. p. 9B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  19. ^ Christie, Rick (April 12, 1986). "Black pastor bids on radio station". News-Press. p. 7B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  20. ^ Williams, Frances D. (October 16, 1987). "Souled out". News-Press. pp. 1D, 4D. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  21. ^ Williams, Frances D. (April 2, 1988). "AM station's change more than just talk". News-Press. p. 1D. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  22. ^ Hirsch, Suzanne; Jeffries, Suzanne (September 27, 1989). "Radio station plans benefit for Hugo victims". News-Press. p. 22A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  23. ^ del Villar, Sandra G. (July 12, 1989). "Spanish radio station battles way to 24-hour schedule". News-Press. p. 9A. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  24. ^ a b Williams, Frances D. (July 16, 1990). "Tune in to the new tunes on WCRM radio". p. 1D. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  25. ^ "WCRM-AM drops Twins games". News-Press. April 14, 1992. p. 4C. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  26. ^ Salmón, Efraín (October 20, 2006). "Radio Manantial 1350 AM cumple quince años". Gaceta Tropical (in Spanish). p. 16. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  27. ^ Brassfield, Mike (July 16, 1997). "Theft can't silence Christian radio". News-Press. p. 1B. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  28. ^ Scott, Denise L. (June 24, 2000). "Station tunes in listeners for help". News-Press. pp. 1E, 8E. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  29. ^ "Nonprofit buys land in foreclosure sale". News-Press. October 13, 2011. p. B2. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  30. ^ "Fort Myers AM goes back to original seller". RBR. March 19, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  31. ^ "Station switcheroo". News-Press. August 6, 2012. p. D1. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  32. ^ Venta, Lance (December 18, 2015). "Station Sales Week Of 12/19". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  33. ^ Venta, Lance (December 31, 2015). "Station Sales Week Of 12/31: Family Life Ministries Enters Syracuse". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  34. ^ Venta, Lance (October 12, 2016). "The Secret Format Changes Of 2016". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
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