WYCA

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WYCA
City of license Crete, Illinois
Broadcast area Chicago, South Suburbs
Branding "Rejoice 102.3"
Slogan "Chicagoland's FM Gospel Choice"
Frequency 102.3 FM(MHz) (Also on HD Radio)
First air date December 1, 1997
Format Black Gospel
ERP 1,050 watts
Class A
Callsign meaning W "Y"oung people's "C"hurch of the "A"ir
Former callsigns WTAS (1965-1995) WEMG (1995-1997) WYAA (1997-2001) WYBA (2001-2004) WYCA (2004-present)
Affiliations none
Owner Crawford Broadcasting Co.
(Dontron, Inc.)
Webcast yes
Website http://www.wyca1023.com

WYCA-FM (102.3 FM) is licensed to Crete, Illinois, south of Chicago, with studios in Hammond, Indiana, and transmitter at Beecher, Illinois, south of Crete. Ownership is Dontron, Inc., a subsidiary of Crawford Broadcasting Co. WYCA is formatted as a religious station, primarily Black Gospel. It is the only Black Gospel FM station in the Chicago market. The most popular program of the broadcast day is the "King's Highway" morning show, featuring Gospel Announcer Darryll King. Ms. King has won numerous awards for her work in Black Gospel Radio. The remaining broadcast day is divided between Black Gospel music and various recorded and live broadcasts by local and national gospel ministers. Some program length commercial broadcasts are also aired.

[edit] History

WYCA began operation as WTAS Radio in September of 1965, serving the southern Cook County community. Ownership changed in 1995, and the call sign changed to WEMG and the format to Black Gospel. The station went dark for about four months in 1997, during which time Dontron, Inc., subsidiary of Crawford Broadcasting acquired the station out of bankruptcy and changed its call sign to WYAA. The station call sign was changed to WYBA in 2001, and finally to WYCA in 2004. The WYCA Call sign stands for "Young people's Church of the Air", and was named for a TV program originated by Crawford's founder, Percy Crawford, on the DuMont network in the 1950's. The WYCA call was for 42 years assigned to the Crawford station in Hammond on 92.3 MHz, then handed over to the company's 106.3 station in Lansing, thence to the Crete station. WYCA is now the lone religious outlet for Crawford in Chicagoland.

WYCA streams live on the World Wide Web at www.wyca1023.com. All Crawford Broadcasting Co. stations broadcast in High Definition Digital (HD) Radio, and all Crawford FM stations broadcast programming on the HD-2 second digital channel.

[edit] External links