WRKW

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WRKW

area = Ebensburg, Pennsylvania / Johnstown
Branding	"Rocky 99"
Slogan	"The Laurel Highlands' Rock Station"
First air date	July 15, 1962
Frequency	99.1(mHz)
Format	Current and classic rock
ERP	50,000 watts
Class	B
Owner	Forever Broadcasting of Johnstown, LLC
Website	http://www.rocky99.com

WRKW is a commercially-licensed FM radio station, licensed to Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Forever Broadcasting of Johnstown and maintains studios and offices at 109 Plaza Drive in Johnstown. WRKW operates at the federally-assigned frequency of 99.1 megahertz with an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts.

Contents 1 History 2 The End of an Era 3 WRWK Today 4 Rocky Lines

[edit] History

For much of its existence, WRKW was known as WIYQ, first signing on the air July 15, 1962 from studios on Center Street in downtown Ebensburg, its licensed community. The station was founded by Cary H. Simpson, who also founded the Allegheny Mountain Network based in Tyrone. Years later, as Johnstown's economy prospered, the station moved to 1240 Scalp Avenue in Richland Township, where it became more of a regional station serving West Central Pennsylvania.

Throughout its existence, WIYQ went through a series of different formats, from middle-of-the-road to a brief period of hard rock in the mid-1980's. What WIYQ particularly became well-known for was a local polka show broadcast every Sunday afternoon.

"Jo-Jo's Polka Swing" debuted in 1973, and remained a staple of WIYQ's programming for twenty years, becoming one of the most successful programs on the station. Joe Veshnevsky, a Coalport high school history teacher by trade who also did sports play-by-play for another area station, hosted the show, gaining an especially strong following because of his mastery of the native Polish language and the powerful signal of WIYQ, which reached 27 counties in three states.

[edit] The End of an Era

After 31 years, the station's history as WIYQ came to sad end as the station was sold to TMZ Broadcasting of State College for $440,000. Gone were the popular oldies music and Jo-Jo's Polka Swing, which would resurface years later at a 5,000 watt AM radio station in Philipsburg.

WIYQ then became known as WQKK, or "Quick Rock", operating as a satellite of classic rocker WQWK in State College. The station was purchased by TMZ as part of a strategic move to increase its presence in Johnstown and Altoona. WQWK's weaker signal at 97.1 did not have the ability to reach those more populous areas, unlike 99.1.

[edit] WRWK Today

Quick Rock was eventually spun off to Forever Broadcasting of Johnstown, which owned CHR formatted WGLU 92.1. For a time, both WQKK and WGLU swapped formats, but then reverted back to their original ones, with one exception: 92.1 kept the WQKK call letters, while 99.1 took its current call sign of WRKW, and a new name...Rocky 99.

[edit] Rocky Lines

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