WGKC (105.9 FM, "U.S. 105.9") is a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

licensed to

Mahomet, Illinois Mahomet is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States, along the Sangamon River. The population was 9,434 at the 2020 census. Mahomet is located approximately northwest of Champaign at the junction of Interstate 74 in Illinois, Inter ...

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 Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (; February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965. He previously served as the 31st governor of Ill ...

, in 1990. WHZT was later owned and operated by Odyssey Communications, Inc. Oddyssey ran the syndicated

Z-Rock Z Rock was a nationally Broadcast syndication#Radio syndication, syndicated radio network based in Dallas, Texas, that, from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, played Heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock music. The format was one of ...

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 WCKG (1530 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Elmhurst, Illinois, and serving the Chicago metropolitan area. It broadcasts a sports radio format and is owned by DuPage Radio, LLC. WCKG is a Fox Sports Radio Network affiliate. ...

in Chicago, which was a classic rock station at the time. The first song played on WGKC was "

Start Me Up "Start Me Up" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album '' Tattoo You''. Released as the album's lead single, it reached number one on Australian Kent Music Report, number two in Canada, number two on the ''B ...

" by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

. 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 Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) *Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II *Bob the ...

from sister station,

WZNF WZNF (95.3 FM, "95-3 Gorilla") is a commercial radio station licensed to Lumberton, Mississippi and serving the Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, ...

"Rock 95-3", to WGKC. In March 2000 Liberty Radio II, Inc. sold WGKC along with sister stations WQQB,

, 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 The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

, as they took over from

WDWS WDWS (1400 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Champaign, Illinois, calling itself "Newstalk 1400 & 93.9FM DWS." It airs a talk radio, news/talk radio format and is owned by ''The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urban ...

, who had been broadcasting the Cubs for one year. On January 14, 2013, WGKC changed their format to country, branded as "US 105.9".

References

External links

* GKC Country radio stations in the United States Champaign County, Illinois {{Illinois-radio-station-stub