| City of license | Decatur, Alabama |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Huntsville, Alabama |
| Branding | WTKI/WEKI |
| Slogan | "Talk Radio For Real Life" |
| Frequency | 1490 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 94.3 W232BX (Decatur) |
| First air date | 1953 |
| Format | Talk/Sports |
| Power | 1,000 watts |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 70707 |
| Former callsigns | WAJF (1953-2006) WDPT (2006-2009)[1] |
| Affiliations | Fox Sports Radio |
| Owner | Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc. (sale pending) |
| Sister stations | WTKI |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wekiradio.com |
WEKI (1490 AM, "WTKI/WEKI") is a radio station licensed to Decatur, Alabama, USA, that serves the western Huntsville, Alabama, market. The station broadcasts a mix of news and Fox Sports programming.[2] Except for high school sports and select special programming, WTKI is a simulcast of sister station WTKI (1450 AM) in Huntsville, Alabama.[3]
In 2010, the station will broadcast at least 85 Southern League baseball games as a member of the Huntsville Stars Radio Network. The network also includes sister station WTKI and WWIC in Scottsboro.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s WAJF were the call letters and the format was mostly Top 40 and Rock and Roll. It was in main competition with WMSL across town. There were several local legends that worked there, including George "The Cardboard" Carden, Bill and Dave, Thom Collins and more. WAJF also hosted the CBS Radio Mystery Theater each weeknight at midnight. With FM radio becoming more and more popular, AM stations began to suffer. The local talent moved on and advertising got virtually impossible to sell. Eventually, the station had only a handful of faithful sponsors but, not enough to hold.
Before switching to the current call letters, this station was known as WAJF. The station was assigned the WDPT call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on November 20, 2006.[1] The 1490 frequency was re-allocated to Decatur after WHBS-AM/1490 in Huntsville moved from 1490 kHz to 1550 kHz in 1952.
In December 2002, the then-WAJF was sold to WAJF Inc. (Ira Littman, president) by Daniel L. Oppenheim for $150,000.[4]
In June 2007, WDPT was sold to Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc. by WAJF Inc. (Troy Bryant, president) for a reported sale price of $167,500.[5] The station, branded as "ProTalk 1490", was operated as a simulcast of sister station WTKI until both ceased operations and went temporarily silent on January 30, 2009, due to the late 2000s recession.[6] Both stations returned to the air in November 2009 broadcasting a mix of talk radio and sports talk programming. The station's callsign was changed to WEKI on November 19, 2009, to better match its simulcast partner.[1]
On December 23, 2009, Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc. applied to the FCC to transfer the broadcast license for WEKI to FRC of Alabama LLC, doing business as "Focus Radio Communications".[3][7] The Commission approved this application on February 16, 2010, but the transaction has yet to be consummated as of March 6, 2010[update].[7] Focus Radio, which has contracted to provide programming for both WEKI and WTKI under a local marketing agreement since November 2009, paid a total of $235,000 for the licenses and assets of both stations.[7]
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