WGKC

WGKC
City	Mahomet, Illinois
Broadcast area	Champaign, Illinois
Branding	U.S. 105.9
Slogan	New Country and All-Time Favorites
Frequency	105.9 MHz
First air date	October 30, 1990 (as WHZT)
Format	Country
ERP	2,500 watts
HAAT	156 meters
Class	A
Facility ID	10112
Former callsigns	WHZT (1990-1996)
Owner	SJ Broadcasting LLC
Sister stations	WSJK, WJEK, WQQB
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	country1059.com

WGKC (105.9 FM, "U.S. 105.9") is a country music radio station licensed to Mahomet, Illinois and broadcasting in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by SJ Broadcasting, LLC.

History

WGKC was originally WHZT and was started by Adlai Stevenson IV, grandson of former presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson II, in 1990.^[1] WHZT was later owned and operated by Odyssey Communications, Inc. Oddyssey ran the syndicated Z-Rock format. Z-Rock was known as the station in Champaign-Urbana with the hearse.

Odyssey Communications sold WHZT in 1996 to Liberty Radio II, Inc. The new owners dropped the Z-Rock format and the WHZT call letters. On November 15, 1996 WHZT became Classic Rock 105.9 WGKC. The station gained its name from WCKG in Chicago, which was a classic rock station at the time. The first song played on WGKC was "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones.

WGKC was mostly jockless minus a live and local morning show hosted by Dennis Miller (not the comedian). In 1999, Liberty Radio moved syndicated morning duo Bob and Tom from sister station, WZNF "Rock 95-3", to WGKC.

In March 2000 Liberty Radio II, Inc. sold WGKC along with sister stations WQQB, WZNF, and WEBX to AAA Entertainment, LLC. The stations were subsequently purchased by one of the principals of Liberty Radio II, Jim Glassman under his new company (RadioStar, Inc.) in 2006.

On May 21, 2010 it was announced that RadioStar, Inc. was in the process of selling WGKC to SJ Broadcasting LLC. SJ Broadcasting is operated by Steve "Stevie Jay" Khachaturian and Clint Atkins (before Atkins' death in March 2011).

In 2011, the station replaced Bob and Tom with ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning.

In 2012, WGKC became the Champaign affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, as they took over from WDWS, who had been broadcasting the Cubs for one year.

On January 14, 2013 WGKC changed their format to country, branded as "US 105.9".^[2]^[3]

References

↑ http://www.huameicapital.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=28&Itemid=32
↑ http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/80518/wgkc-champaign-il-shifts-to-country/
↑ "Format Changes". Your Midwest Media. 13 January 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2013.

External links

Query the FCC's FM station database for WGKC

Radio-Locator information on WGKC

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WGKC

Radio stations in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois market
By AM frequency	580 1400 1460 1580
By FM frequency	88.3 88.7 89.3 90.1 90.9 91.7 92.1 92.5 93.5 94.5 95.3 95.7 96.1 97.5 97.9 98.3 99.1 99.7 100.3 101.1 102.1 102.5 103.3 (CP) 103.9 104.5 104.9 105.5 105.9 107.1 107.9
By callsign	W202CF WBCP WBGL WCZQ WDNL WDWS WEFT WGKC WGNJ WGNN (+W280DE) WHMS-FM WILL WILL-FM (+W266AF) WIXY (+W211CK +W259BG) WJEK WKIO WKJR WKZS WLHF-LP WLRW WPCD WPGU WPXN WQQB WREE WRFU-LP WSJK WWHP WYXY
Nearby radio markets Bloomington Chicago Decatur Kankakee Lafayette Springfield Terre Haute See also List of radio stations in Illinois

Country radio stations in the state of Illinois
By AM frequency	750 920 980 1060 1230 1240 1290 1330 1440 1490 1510 1520 1530 1540
By FM frequency	92.1 92.7 92.9 93.7 93.7 94.1 94.3 94.3 94.9 95.1 95.3 95.5 95.7 95.9 96.3 96.5 97.3 97.3 97.5 97.7 98.3 98.3 98.5 99.1 99.3 99.5 99.5 99.9 100.1 100.3 100.3 100.5 100.9 101.3 101.7 101.7 101.9 102.1 102.1 102.3 102.3 102.3 102.5 103.7 103.7 104.1 104.5 104.9 105.5 105.9 105.9 106.1 106.5 107.3 107.7 107.9
By callsign	KSD (FM) – St. Louis, Missouri KSGM – Chester WAAG – Galesburg WALS – Oglesby WBBA-FM – Pittsfield WBWN – Le Roy WCCI – Savanna WCCQ – Crest Hill Canton WCOY – Quincy WCRC – Effingham WDDD-FM – Johnston City WDUK – Havana WDZQ – Decatur WEBG – Chicago WEBQ – Harrisburg WFMB-FM – Springfield WFPS – Freeport WFYR – Elmwood WGEL – Greenville WGKC – Mahomet WGLC-FM – Mendota WHCO – Sparta WHET – West Frankfort WHPO – Hoopeston WIBH – Anna WIBL – Fairbury WIBV – Mount Vernon WIRL – Peoria WIXY – Champaign WJBC-FM – Pontiac WJRE – Galva WJVO – South Jacksonville WKJT – Teutopolis WKRO – Cairo WLCN – Atlanta WLFZ – Springfield WLIQ – Quincy WLLR-FM – Davenport, Iowa WLUV – Loves Park WLWF – Marseilles WMCI – Neoga WMCL – McLeansboro WMIX-FM – Mount Vernon WMKR – Pana WMOK – Metropolis WNLF - Macomb WOKZ – Fairfield WOOZ-FM – Harrisburg WQQW - Highland WRAM – Monmouth WRCV – Dixon WRIK – Brookport WRMJ – Aledo WRMS-FM – Beardstown WRUL – Carmi WRTB – Winnebago WRVY-FM – Henry WSEI – Olney WSMI – Litchfield WSMI-FM – Litchfield WSVZ – Tower Hill WUSN – Chicago WUSW - Taylorville WXCL – Pekin WXNU – Saint Anne WXXQ – Freeport WYOT – Rochelle WYUR – Gilman WYXY – Savoy WZUS – Macon
See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Illinois

Coordinates: 40°13′26″N 88°17′56″W / 40.224°N 88.299°W / 40.224; -88.299

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