WLKU
Encyclopedia
WLKU is a radio station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois
, with a Christian contemporary format. The station's frequency is 98.9 MHz, and broadcasts at a power of 39 kW.
WLKU is owned by the Educational Media Foundation
.
Second, WHBF-FM became the area's first radio station to broadcast in stereo, implementing the technology in 1958. Stereo multiplexing
followed in 1961, with automation
coming a few years later.
WHBF-FM's first home was the Harms Hotel, where it broadcast alongside sister station WHBF-AM
. As with most FM stations of the era, WHBF either duplicated the AM station's programming or used a classical music/easy listening
format. WHBF-TV
joined the fold in July 1950, with all three facilities housed in the Telco Building in downtown Rock Island. All three stations were owned by the Potter family of Rock Island, the same family that published the Rock Island Argus.
In the early 1970s, WHBF moved away from its classical/easy listening format, and for a short while, shared WHBF-AM's middle-of-the-road (MOR) format. When WHBF-AM began its country music
format in 1974, WHBF-FM continued its MOR format for another decade.
, and soon became the area's No. 1 Top 40 station. Often, "Power 98.9" duked it out with country station WLLR-FM
for supremacy in the market.
In 1987 David Roth (uncle to David Lee Roth
of Van Halen
fame) bought the FM/AM and in the mid-1990s, WPXR station programmers tried "The New Sound", one featuring urban contemporary
and alternative rock
music. Listeners didn't like "The New Sound", and it wasn't long before the station reverted back to the tried-and-true Top 40/CHR format, this time with the slogan "All-Hit 98.9" . The callsign WHTS became effective in 1995. For several years, WHTS carried "The Bob & Tom Show
" during its morning programming block until the show moved to KUUL
in 2001 to make way for a local morning show.
operated All-Hit 98.9 under a joint sales agreement (JSA) with the station's owner, Mercury Broadcasting Company, for several years. Clear Channel no owns six stations in the Quad Cities market: WLLR-FM
, KUUL-FM
, KMXG-FM
, KCQQ-FM
, WOC, and WFXN. Because purchasing additional stations would have placed Clear Channel over Federal Communications Commission
ownership limits for the market, a JSA was used instead. (Clear Channel used to operate Mercury Broadcasting's other station in the market, WKBF
, in this manner.)
The FCC instituted new ownership rules in 2004. Under the new rules, a joint sales agreement is considered equivalent to station ownership, placing Clear Channel over the market limit. The JSA between Clear Channel and Mercury was due to be renewed in 2006, but both companies knew a renewal was not possible. In December 2005, it was announced that Mercury would be selling the station to the Educational Media Foundation for $3.5 million. EMF also announced its intentions to convert the 98.9 frequency to non-commercial status.
The FCC approved the sale on January 24, 2006, and the final day for the Top 40 format was February 3. The last song ever to be played on All Hit 98.9 was "American Pie" by Don McLean
, which was followed by a tribute medley produced by "Red Hot" Brian Scott. The final section of a song to ever be played on All Hit 98.9 was It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday
by Boyz II Men
. The 98.9 frequency went silent at midnight on February 3, returning to the air with the satellite K-Love
format the following evening. The station now uses the call letters WLKU.
Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island is the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,884 at the 2010 census. Located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities...
, with a Christian contemporary format. The station's frequency is 98.9 MHz, and broadcasts at a power of 39 kW.
WLKU is owned by the Educational Media Foundation
Educational Media Foundation
Educational Media Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that operates the K-LOVE and Air 1 radio networks. EMF is based in Rocklin, California....
.
Early history
The Rock Island allocation of 98.9 MHz represents many milestones in Quad-Cities' radio broadcasting. First, it represents the first FM station to originate in the area, having signed on as WHBF-FM in October 1947.Second, WHBF-FM became the area's first radio station to broadcast in stereo, implementing the technology in 1958. Stereo multiplexing
Multiplexing
The multiplexed signal is transmitted over a communication channel, which may be a physical transmission medium. The multiplexing divides the capacity of the low-level communication channel into several higher-level logical channels, one for each message signal or data stream to be transferred...
followed in 1961, with automation
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
coming a few years later.
WHBF-FM's first home was the Harms Hotel, where it broadcast alongside sister station WHBF-AM
WKBF (AM)
WKBF is a radio station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, and carries a Spanish Regional Music format. The station's frequency is 1270 kHz, and broadcasts at a power of 5 kW...
. As with most FM stations of the era, WHBF either duplicated the AM station's programming or used a classical music/easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
format. WHBF-TV
WHBF-TV
WHBF-TV, channel 4, is a television station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, which serves as the CBS affiliate for the Quad Cities television market...
joined the fold in July 1950, with all three facilities housed in the Telco Building in downtown Rock Island. All three stations were owned by the Potter family of Rock Island, the same family that published the Rock Island Argus.
In the early 1970s, WHBF moved away from its classical/easy listening format, and for a short while, shared WHBF-AM's middle-of-the-road (MOR) format. When WHBF-AM began its country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
format in 1974, WHBF-FM continued its MOR format for another decade.
Top 40-era (1987-2006)
By 1987, with tastes in radio listenership changing, the station management at WHBF-FM adopted a new "Top 40" format, in an attempt to draw a younger audience. The new station - now dubbed WPXR and known as "Power 98.9" - premiered in April 1987 and was an immediate success. The station quickly drew listeners away from the Quad Cities' market's established Top 40 station, KIIK 104WLLR-FM
WLLR-FM is a radio station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, whose format is modern country music. The station's frequency is 103.7 MHz, and broadcasts at a power of 100 kW....
, and soon became the area's No. 1 Top 40 station. Often, "Power 98.9" duked it out with country station WLLR-FM
WLLR-FM
WLLR-FM is a radio station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, whose format is modern country music. The station's frequency is 103.7 MHz, and broadcasts at a power of 100 kW....
for supremacy in the market.
In 1987 David Roth (uncle to David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
of Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
fame) bought the FM/AM and in the mid-1990s, WPXR station programmers tried "The New Sound", one featuring urban contemporary
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
and alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
music. Listeners didn't like "The New Sound", and it wasn't long before the station reverted back to the tried-and-true Top 40/CHR format, this time with the slogan "All-Hit 98.9" . The callsign WHTS became effective in 1995. For several years, WHTS carried "The Bob & Tom Show
The Bob & Tom Show
The Bob & Tom Show is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995....
" during its morning programming block until the show moved to KUUL
KUUL
KUUL is a radio station licensed to East Moline, Illinois, whose format is oldies. The station's frequency is 101.3 MHz, and broadcasts at a power of 50 kW. Its transmitter is located in Port Byron, Illinois....
in 2001 to make way for a local morning show.
Sale of station to EMF (2006-present)
Clear Channel CommunicationsClear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
operated All-Hit 98.9 under a joint sales agreement (JSA) with the station's owner, Mercury Broadcasting Company, for several years. Clear Channel no owns six stations in the Quad Cities market: WLLR-FM
WLLR-FM
WLLR-FM is a radio station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, whose format is modern country music. The station's frequency is 103.7 MHz, and broadcasts at a power of 100 kW....
, KUUL-FM
KUUL
KUUL is a radio station licensed to East Moline, Illinois, whose format is oldies. The station's frequency is 101.3 MHz, and broadcasts at a power of 50 kW. Its transmitter is located in Port Byron, Illinois....
, KMXG-FM
KMXG
KMXG is a radio station licensed to Clinton, Iowa, whose format is adult contemporary. The station broadcasts at a power of 100 kW. Its transmitter is located on 225th Street in rural LeClaire in Scott County....
, KCQQ-FM
KCQQ
KCQQ is an FM radio station licensed to Davenport, Iowa with a classic rock format. The station's frequency is 106.5 MHz, and broadcasts at a power of 100 kW, with transmitter located in rural LeClaire in Scott County....
, WOC, and WFXN. Because purchasing additional stations would have placed Clear Channel over Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
ownership limits for the market, a JSA was used instead. (Clear Channel used to operate Mercury Broadcasting's other station in the market, WKBF
WKBF (AM)
WKBF is a radio station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, and carries a Spanish Regional Music format. The station's frequency is 1270 kHz, and broadcasts at a power of 5 kW...
, in this manner.)
The FCC instituted new ownership rules in 2004. Under the new rules, a joint sales agreement is considered equivalent to station ownership, placing Clear Channel over the market limit. The JSA between Clear Channel and Mercury was due to be renewed in 2006, but both companies knew a renewal was not possible. In December 2005, it was announced that Mercury would be selling the station to the Educational Media Foundation for $3.5 million. EMF also announced its intentions to convert the 98.9 frequency to non-commercial status.
The FCC approved the sale on January 24, 2006, and the final day for the Top 40 format was February 3. The last song ever to be played on All Hit 98.9 was "American Pie" by Don McLean
Don McLean
Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
, which was followed by a tribute medley produced by "Red Hot" Brian Scott. The final section of a song to ever be played on All Hit 98.9 was It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday
It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday
"It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" is an R&B song written by Motown husband-and-wife songwriting team Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian for the 1975 film Cooley High. In the film, the song is performed by Motown artist G.C. Cameron, whose rendition peaked at number 38 on the Billboard R&B...
by Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than albums worldwide. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but original member Michael McCary...
. The 98.9 frequency went silent at midnight on February 3, returning to the air with the satellite K-Love
K-LOVE
K-LOVE is a Contemporary Christian music radio programming service in the United States operated by the Educational Media Foundation. As of January 2011, K-LOVE's programming is carried on over 440 FM stations and translators in 45 states. K-LOVE claims an audience of 250,000 people each week via...
format the following evening. The station now uses the call letters WLKU.
Sources
- Anderson, Frederick I, editor. "Joined By a River: Quad Cities." Lee Enterprises, 1982. ISBN 0-910847-00-2
- Upper Midwest Broadcasting news archive
- FCC Daily Digest listing approval of sale to EMF