WXTK
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| WXTK | |
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| Broadcast area | Cape Cod, Massachusetts |
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| Branding | "95 WXTK Newsradio" |
| Frequency | 95.1 MHz |
| First air date | 1949 (as WOCB-FM/94.3) |
| Format | Commercial; Talk radio |
| ERP | 50,000 Watts |
| HAAT | 80 meters |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | W eXtreme TalK (proposed, but never used, station branding) |
| Owner | Qantum of Cape Cod, LLC |
| Website | www.95wxtk.com |
WXTK (95.1 FM), known as "95 WXTK Newsradio", is a news/talk radio station licenced to West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and headquartered in Hyannis, Massachusetts. It is the direct descendant of Cape Cod's first commercial radio station, WOCB.
WOCB first signed on as an AM station in 1941 as an affiliate of the NBC Blue Network, playing mostly news and talk programming, as was the format of the network that would eventually become ABC. Its FM signal, a simulcast of its AM signal, signed on in 1949 on Channel 232/94.3Mc. (becoming the Cape's first FM commercial station as well), and after numerous FCC regulation changes for the FM band, eventually settled to 94.9 FM.
In 1991, Hurricane Bob blew down WOCB's transmitter tower, and the damage suffered was so severe that they could not afford to rebuild. The station was then sold to Ernie Boch, an automobile dealer in the Boston area, who turned WOCB into the flagship station for his new Boch Broadcasting company. WXTK's first news director, Hal Lamb, applied to the FCC to change the station's calls to WXTK, or "X-Talk," a reference to the rarity of Newstalk radio on the FM dial at the time.
When WXTK returned to the air in late 1991, Lamb had negotiated several syndication agreements including license to broadcast the Rush Limbaugh radio program. Limbaugh himself acknowledged his newest affiliate by remarking on-air, "I am now beaming into Kennedy compound."
However, WXTK's eventual station branding of "Extreme Talk", was never actually used, though a few station IDs were produced using the branding (as late as 1998, the unused IDs were still in the station archives). Despite the unused branding, WXTK remained a news and talk station, and over the next few years would become the Cape's home of such popular syndicated hosts as G. Gordon Liddy (cancelled from the station as of July 2006), Rush Limbaugh, and Howie Carr, and longtime local morning hosts Ed Lambert and Don McKeag (the latter of whom is no longer with the station).
In September, 1997, responding to listener comments of signal interference from WHOM, a powerful 94.9 FM signal based out of New Hampshire broadcasting from the top of Mount Washington, WXTK changed their frequency to 95.1Mc. (Channel 236), increasing their signal radius significantly. To ease people into the new frequency, there were two weeks of promotional material over-the-air, and after the switch their branding was changed to "95.1 is 95 WXTK", putting stress on the word "is".
In 2005, Boch Broadcasting sold WXTK and its sister stations to Quantum Communications (now called Quantum of Cape Cod, LLC), owner of WRZE (96.3 The Rose) and WCIB (Cool 102), though Quantum had to sell what is now "Frank FM" to Nassau Broadcasting in order to stay within FCC regulations. Until that sale, WOCB/WXTK had been broadcasting from the same studio building for over 60 years. Local ,Regional & National Shows are featured including The Ed Lambert Show, Neal Bortz, Rush Limbaugh, Howie Carr, Sean Hannity, C.L. Fonari's Gardenline, Fooding Around with John Rega, The Handyman Hotline with Larry Egan, Sports including The Boston Red Sox, The New England Patriots & The Boston Celtics. The News Staff featuring Judith Goetz & Mark Mumford have tallied countless Awards many due to their Spectrum Series. Operations Manager Steve McVie & PD Joe Rossetti oversee programming.
According to Arbitron, WXTK is currently (as of March 2007) the highest-rated radio station on Cape Cod.
[edit] Sources
- Emi M. Briet, former Chief Operator (1997-1998) and Webmistress (1996-1999) of WXTK
[edit] External links
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