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For the television station formerly known as WKJG, see WISE-TV.
WKJG
Broadcast areaFort Wayne metro
Frequency1380 kHz
Branding1380 The Fan
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatSports radio
AffiliationsFox Sports Radio
Westwood One Sports
Indianapolis Colts Radio Network
Chicago White Sox Radio Network
Ownership
Owner
WBYR, WFWI, WMEE, WOWO (AM), WQHK-FM
History
First air date
November 15, 1947; 77 years ago (1947-11-15)
Former call signs
WKJG (1947–71)
WMEE (1971–79)
WQHK (1979–96)
WHWD (1996–99)
WONO (1999–2003)
Call sign meaning
William Kunkel, former Journal Gazette publisher[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID51724
ClassB
Power5,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
41°0′15.00″N 85°5′57.00″W / 41.0041667°N 85.0991667°W / 41.0041667; -85.0991667 (WKJG)
Translator(s)100.9 W265CY (Fort Wayne)
Links
Public license information
Webcast
Websitewww.1380thefan.com

WKJG (1380 AM; "1380 The Fan") is a radio station located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The station, owned by Federated Media, is Fort Wayne's Fox Sports Radio affiliate.

History

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Logo under ESPN Radio affiliation, used until August 16, 2020.

WKJG began broadcasting November 15, 1947[3] under the ownership of Northeastern Indiana Broadcasting, itself controlled by William Kunkel.[4] Kunkel was also the publisher of The Journal Gazette; the call letters are derived from both entities.[1] Initially a Mutual affiliate,[4] WKJG joined NBC Radio in 1956, after WOWO dropped NBC to go independent;[5] this brought the station in line with sister station WKJG-TV (channel 33), which had been an NBC-TV affiliate since going on the air in 1953. The WKJG stations were sold to the Truth Publishing Company of Elkhart in 1957;[6] in 1963, the stations came under the Communicana banner.[7]

After WKJG-TV was sold in 1971 (albeit to an entity controlled by the Dille family, which also controlled Communicana), it was decided to change the call letters of the radio stations, citing the perceived difficulty in saying "WKJG".[8] As a result, on October 1, WKJG, by then a top 40 station, became WMEE, with sister beautiful music station WKJG-FM (97.3 FM) becoming WMEF.[9] The following year, WMEE ceased its NBC Radio affiliation.[10] The station's owner became Federated Media in 1977.[11]

The station changed its call letters to WQHK and adopted a country music format in 1979, with WMEE and the top 40 format being moved to WMEF's former 97.3 FM facility (where it remains to this day as a hot adult contemporary station).[12] In 1991, the station moved to emphasizing classic country, carrying the ABC Radio/Satellite Music Network (now Cumulus Media Networks)-distributed Real Country network;[13] two years later, Federated Media launched WQHK-FM with a more contemporary country music format.[14] The AM station continued with classic country until 1995, when it changed to a talk format.[15] The station became adult standards station WHWD (reflecting its branding, "Radio Hollywood") on March 26, 1996, with most programming being provided by ABC's Stardust service; some of WQHK's talk shows were moved to sister station WOWO.[16][17]

WHWD adopted the current sports format, initially provided by One on One Sports, in September 1998.[18] To reflect the One on One affiliation, the call letters were changed to WONO in November 1999;[19] however, the following August, the station switched to ESPN Radio.[20] The WONO call letters were nonetheless retained until November 3, 2003, when the WKJG call letters, which had been dropped by channel 33 (now WISE-TV) a few months earlier, were restored.[21]

From 2012 to 2018, the station was simulcast on then-sister FM station WFGA. This arrangement ended in May 2018 with the station's sale to Swick Broadcasting Company, and subsequent switch to classic country.[22][23]

On August 15, 2020, the station announced that beginning August 17 that they would switch to Fox Sports Radio.[24][25]

Programming

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Most programming on WKJG is provided by Fox Sports Radio; the station also carries Fort Wayne TinCaps baseball games, as well as Indianapolis Colts starting in 2020 [26]PFW, and Purdue University sports. Local game broadcast time is purchased by local sports team. Outside of the game broadcasts, the station has a few local sports shows, including "Caleb and Kenny in the Morning" with Caleb Hatch and Justin Kenny on weekday mornings, "The Sports Rush with Brett Rump" on weekday afternoons, and "Talkin' Sports with Jim Shovlin" on Saturday mornings.[27]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Call Letter Origins". Radio History on the Web.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WKJG". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ Thompson, Blaine (May 27, 2019). "WKJG". The Indiana Radio Archive. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Broadcasting Yearbook 1948 (PDF). 1948. p. 124. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  5. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1957 (PDF). 1957. p. 108. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  6. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1958 (PDF). 1958. p. A-280. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  7. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1964 (PDF). 1964. p. B-53. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  8. ^ "History". Federated Media. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  9. ^ Thompson, Blaine (May 26, 2010). "WMEE". The Indiana Radio Archive. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  10. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1973 (PDF). 1973. p. B-67. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  11. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1978 (PDF). 1978. p. C-72. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  12. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1980 (PDF). 1980. p. C-75. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  13. ^ Kilbane, Kevin (February 5, 1992). "WQHK tries new approach". The News-Sentinel. Retrieved February 25, 2012. (preview of subscription content)
  14. ^ Kilbane, Kevin (June 28, 1993). "New radio station to hit airwaves with country flair". The News-Sentinel. Retrieved February 25, 2012. (preview of subscription content)
  15. ^ McDonald, Rob (August 30, 1995). "WQHK-AM goes all-talk". The News-Sentinel. Retrieved February 25, 2012. (preview of subscription content)
  16. ^ Thompson, Blaine (March 26, 1996). "Fort Wayne RadioWatch". Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  17. ^ "WQHK changes format". The Journal Gazette. March 13, 1996. Retrieved February 25, 2012. (preview of subscription content)
  18. ^ Thompson, Blaine (September 2, 1998). "Indiana RadioWatch". Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  19. ^ Thompson, Blaine (November 6, 1999). "Indiana RadioWatch". Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  20. ^ Thompson, Blaine (August 26, 2000). "Indiana RadioWatch". Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  21. ^ Thompson, Blaine (November 8, 2003). "Indiana RadioWatch". Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  22. ^ "Sold: Ohio FM, Idaho AM, Oregon FM, Alabama Translators". All Access. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
  23. ^ "WFGA Flips To Real Country". RadioInsight. 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  24. ^ @1380thefan (13 August 2020). "Effective at 12am on Monday, August 17th, WKJG Is excited to announce a new sound for Fort Wayne's Sports Station!…" (Tweet). Retrieved 2020-08-25 – via Twitter.
  25. ^ "WKJG Drops ESPN For Fox Sports; Rebrands As 1380 The Fan". RadioInsight. 2020-08-24. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  26. ^ @1380thefan (13 August 2020). "WKJG will continue to cover Local HS Football/Basketball and will remain Fort Wayne's home of the @TinCaps, @Pacers…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ^ 261380 The Fan Daily Schedule
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