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
Farmington, Maine
Farmington is a town in and the county seat of Franklin County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 7,592. Farmington is home to the University of Maine at Farmington, Nordica Memorial Auditorium, the Nordica Homeste ...
.Broadcast map area /ref> It is known on air as ''Big Hits 99-3 KTJ'', broadcasting a full-serviceadult hits format.
As the only commercial radio station located in Franklin County, WKTJ is widely listened to in the community, with live DJs throughout the day and local features and sports during the school year. (Two non-commercial radio stations also originate from the county: WRGY in Rangeley and
University of Maine at Farmington
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
baseball (the WKTJ website says the station is the longest-running Red Sox radio affiliate, dating back to 1962) as well as local high school sports.
History
WKTJ first came on air as an AM station (1380 on the dial) in 1959, with the co-owned FM signing on in 1973. The AM station played mostly a pop format (with a country and
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
influence) in the 1970s and 1980s, but left the air in the early 1990s.
In January 2005, WKTJ-FM relaunched as "Big Hits 99.3 KTJ" with a classic hits/
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music.
Since 2 ...
format, while continuing with local shows such as ''The General Store Variety Hour'' and ''The Maine Music Hour''. In September 2011, WKTJ shifted to its current adult hits format.