WRKY (1490

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

, "Rocky 98.5") is a

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

station licensed to

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster ( ) is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, eighth-most populous ci ...

. The station is owned by Forever Media and

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) ...

s the

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

programming of

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 ...

98.5 WYCR. WRKY is one of Pennsylvania's oldest radio stations. WRKY is powered at 600 watts, using a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle to the axis (elevation angle), declining t ...

. Its

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 off Fruitville Pike in Lancaster.

History

The station first

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 in June 1922. It is one of Pennsylvania's earliest stations. 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 WGAL. The station was once housed in the historic Jasper Yeates House. ''Note:'' This includes WGAL was owned by the Steinman family, which also owned two local newspapers, the ''

Intelligencer Journal The ''Intelligencer Journal'', known locally as the ''Intell'', was the daily, morning newspaper published by Lancaster Newspapers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is the seventh-oldest newspaper in the United States, and was one of the oldest new ...

'' and the ''

Lancaster New Era LNP Media Group owns and publishes '' LNP'', a daily newspaper based in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and ''LancasterOnline'', its online affiliate with monthly readership of over one million. ''LNP'' traces its roots to ''The Lancaster Journa ...

''. In 1947 an FM sister station went on the air, WGAL-FM, now

WROZ WROZ (101.3 MHz) is a non-commercial FM radio station licensed to Lancaster and serving South Central Pennsylvania. The station is owned and operated by the Educational Media Foundation and carries its Air1 Christian worship music radio form ...

. In 1949, the family added Pennsylvania's first television station outside

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The TV station is now owned by The Hearst Corporation and still has the

WGAL WGAL (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Columbia Avenue ( PA 462) in ...

. For most of its history, WGAL/WLPA was a full service radio station, airing middle of the road music, news, talk and sports. It was a long-time

affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...

of the

NBC Radio Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

. In the early 1990s, WLPA simulcast the audio of

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by CNN Worldwide, the network primarily carries true-crime programming, recently drifting away from limited live news programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982, by Tur ...

and WGAL's local newscasts, before switching to One-on-One Sports, then Sporting News Radio (both forerunners of

SportsMap SportsMap was a sports radio network that was distributed by Gow Media. The SportsMap Radio Network supplied its network affiliates with a 24-hour schedule of sports programming, including call-in shows and sports updates. Over its history, thro ...

). It also broadcast

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

games. In July 2005, WLPA changed to a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

format, first affiliating with

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

. On August 1, 2013, WLPA became an affiliate of

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

. The station had attempted to affiliate with ESPN Radio for some years beforehand, but was unable to do so due to its geographic proximity to another ESPN affiliate, WGLD in Manchester Township. However, that station joined

CBS Sports Radio Infinity Sports Network is an American sports radio network. It debuted as CBS Sports Radio with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013. Infinity Sports Network is programmed by Audacy, Inc ...

in early 2013, making the ESPN affiliation available to WLPA. On April 1, 2015, WLPA changed format from ESPN sports to

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

, supplied by

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

's '' America's Best Music'' service, returning the station to the music it once played decades ago. WLPA ESPN92

On April 4, 2016, WLPA reverted back to a sports radio format, with a simulcast of the ESPN Radio programming of sister station WONN-FM, now WPPY. WLPA adopted that station's ''ESPN Radio 92.7'' branding at that time. On July 23, 2021, it was announced that Forever Media would purchase WLPA and its translator along with WONN-FM for a total of $400,000. This signals Hall Communications' withdrawal from the market, as the sale of 101.3 WROZ to religious broadcaster

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest contempor ...

was announced earlier that month. The sale consummated on October 15, 2021. WLPA and its translator subsequently switched to a simulcast of the classic rock programming of sister station WYCR. The station's call sign was changed to WRKY effective November 1, 2021.

Translator

WRKY programming is broadcast on the following

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

References

External links

* ( Guide to reading History Cards) ;FM translator * * {{Classic Rock Radio Stations in Pennsylvania RKY (AM) Radio stations established in 1922 1922 establishments in Pennsylvania Classic rock radio stations in the United States

History

Translator

See also

References

External links