WIKX (92.9 FM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

Charlotte Harbor, Florida Charlotte Harbor is a census-designated place (CDP) in Charlotte County, Florida, United States. The name Charlotte Harbor also refers to Charlotte Harbor (estuary) and Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park, a preserve with of shoreline alon ...

, and serving Charlotte County in

Southwest Florida Southwest Florida is the region along the southwest Gulf coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is known for its beaches, subtropical landscape, and winter resort economy. Definitions of the region vary, though its boundaries are genera ...

. It broadcasts 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 format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

branded as "Kix Country". On weekday mornings, veteran DJ Todd Matthews is heard. Overnight, the station carries '' After Midnite with Granger Smith'' from co-owned

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It is th ...

. The station is owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

with studios on Tiseo Boulevard, off Kings Highway in Port Charlotte. WIKX is a Class C1 FM station. It has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 100,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, the maximum for most FM stations. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is near Redwood Road in Rotonda Lakes.Radio-Locator.com/WIKX
/REF> The signal stretches from

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

to the north, down to

Fort Myers A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

to the south.

History

The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on . The original

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was WCCF-FM, the

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

to WCCF

1580 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 1580 kHz: 1580 AM is a Canadian clear-channel frequency. See List of broadcast station classes#AM, list of broadcast station classes. Argentina * LT ...

. WCCF-FM transmitted at 92.7 MHz and its

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

was Punta Gorda. It broadcast at 3,000 watts, a fraction of its current output. With the low power, WCCF-FM could only be heard in Punta Gorda and nearby communities. At first, WCCF-FM

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

the same programming as WCCF 1580 AM. But after a few years, it had its own format. It was

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

and played beautiful music, consisting of quarter-hour sweeps of soft instrumentals. In the late 1970s, the station began adding some mellow vocals to the instrumental music and made the transition to

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

. It changed its call letters to WQLM but was still co-owned with WCCF. The 1990s brought some big changes to WQLM. It flipped to

as WIKX. It moved up the dial to 92.9 MHz, which also brought a substantial boost in power to 50,000 watts. And in 1999, WIKX and WCCF were acquired by

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

-based

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

.''Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2000'' page D-101. Retrieved Feb. 24, 2025.
/ref> In the early 2000s, WIKX doubled its power to 100,000 watts and changed its city of license to Charlotte Harbor. In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia, Inc.

References

External links

Official website
* IKX Country radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations 1970 establishments in Florida Radio stations established in 1970 {{Florida-radio-station-stub