WRKT (104.9 FM, "Rocket 105") is an active rock

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

. The station is owned by iHeartMedia. WRKT's studios are located in the Boston Store building in downtown Erie while its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is located near NE Sherman Road and Miller Road in Chautauqua County, New York. It plays both old, new, and next rock songs plus an array of sports.

History

Launched on June 22, 1989, at 12:00 p.m., WRKT started as ''Rocket 101'' at , for 28 years before moving up the dial to and rebranding as ''Rocket 105'' at 12:00 p.m. on October 20, 2017. The final song as "Rocket 101" was "

Free Bird "Free Bird", also spelled "Freebird", is a song written by Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant and performed by American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. The song featured on the band's debut album in 1973. Released as a single in November 1974, "Fr ...

" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, while the first song as "Rocket 105" was "

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" is a song by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. The song was first released on AC/DC's eighth studio album ''For Those About to Rock We Salute You'' in 1981, and later as a single in 1982. The single' ...

" by AC/DC. The 100.9 frequency was to be reallocated to

Westfield, New York Westfield is a town in the western part of Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 4,513 at the 2020 census. Westfield is also the name of a village within the town, containing 65% of the town's population. This unique to ...

, and sold at auction. Rick Rambaldo, owner of WEHP, won the bid, but was late in getting his down payment sent to the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...

, leading to rejection of his bid. The frequency again went up for auction in April 2020 (later delayed to July 2021). Rambaldo held an agreement to restore the

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...

format that had previously been on WZTE until 2017 had he won the auction

Rambaldo sold WEHP in 2019, but re-entered the 2021 auction, winning the bidding for the 100.9 licens

In 2022,

Family Life Network The Family Life Network is a Christian radio network simulcasting via FM stations across Western and Central New York, as well as northern Pennsylvania from flagship station WCIK. It is owned and operated by the larger Family Life Ministries o ...

claimed that it had acquired the frequency and relocated the 100.9 allocation back to North East as WCG

On March 27, 2019, Connoisseur Media announced that it would transfer WRKT, along with its sister stations in Erie, to iHeartMedia in exchange for WFRE and

WFMD WFMD (930 AM) is a news/ talk/sports-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Frederick, Maryland, serving the Frederick/ Hagerstown area. WFMD is owned and operated by Connoisseur Media. Sale WFMD, along with its sister station WFRE, wer ...

in the

Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native ...

, market from the Aloha Station Trust. The sale closed on May 20, 2019. Since this time, the only remaining local air personalities on the station are Mojo McKay and Allan Carpenter. The remainder of Rocket 105's programming originates from the iHeartMedia

Premium Choice The majority of programming syndicated by iHeartMedia is distributed through its subsidiary, Premiere Networks, owned by the company since 1999 and purchased by antecedent Jacor in 1997. However, several music and talk shows originated on iHeartM ...

lineup. Notable past and present on-air personalities include Kris Earl Phillips, the original Program Director and architect of the "Rocket" format, Steve Bohen, Paul Spinley, Kevin August, Dave Sharp, Amy St. John, Ronnie "Ron Klinester" Kline, Mark O'Brien, Nat Massing, Mojo McKay, Allan "AC" Carpenter, Woody, with Chris Rodler, and "Static 'Stat' Boy".

References

External links

WRKT official website
* {{coord, 42.1976, N, 79.7525, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title RKT IHeartMedia radio stations Active rock radio stations in the United States