WWRK is a

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 ...

radio station located in

Florence, South Carolina Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropol ...

. The station is licensed by the

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

(FCC) to broadcast on 970 AM with 10,000 watts of power during the day, and 31 watts at night, both non-directional. WWRK 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 ...

History

WWRK

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 ...

as WJMX on July 13, 1947. This station also covered

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

races in the past like the

1955 Southern 500 The 1955 Southern 500, the sixth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event. The event was held on September 5, 1955, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. This race spanned 500 miles on a paved oval track. ...

that took place in nearby

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

.Stock Cars of 50s & 60s - Stock Car Memories: Darlington-Southern 500 -- 1955, 1956 (DVD) The station featured local as well as national programming from the

ABC Radio Network Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which ...

. By the 1980s, WJMX was

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

under the handle "97X" but was beat out by new upstart WPDZ (now WJMX-FM). The format migrated to its newly acquired 106.3 FM frequency (now

WYNN-FM WYNN-FM (106.3 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting a mainstream urban format. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to serve Florence, South Carolina, and broadcast with an effective radiated power Effective ...

) and the station switched to

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 ...

before transitioning to

News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

/ Talk. Qantum Communications Inc. purchased Florence's Root Communications Group LP stations in 2003. On July 16, 2012, WJMX announced that after carrying

The Rush Limbaugh Show ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' was an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' became the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States. At i ...

for over twenty years, the station would replace him with The

Mike Huckabee Michael Dale Huckabee (, born August 24, 1955) is an American diplomat, political commentator, Baptist minister, and politician serving as the 29th United States Ambassador to Israel, United States ambassador to Israel since 2025. A member of ...

Show. At the time, the station manager said that the distributor wanted too much money to air the show. Limbaugh was then picked up by

WFRK WFRK (95.3 FM broadcasting, FM), known as "Live 95", is a talk radio, talk formatted radio station licensed to Quinby, South Carolina. The station is owned by Community Broadcasters, LLC and is simulcast on WHYM and WTQS. History Originally, Fr ...

. The station changed its

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 ...

to the current WWRK on October 30, 2013, swapping calls with its sister station at 1400 AM. At that time, WWRK began

simulcasting 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) ...

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

WRZE, which was branded as "Swagga 94.1 & 105.9". On May 15, 2014, Qantum Communications announced that it would sell its 29 stations, including WWRK, to

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 ...

(now iHeartMedia), in a transaction connected to Clear Channel's sale of WALK AM- FM in

Patchogue, New York Patchogue ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 12,408 at the time of the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Patchogue is an incorporated community in the Town (New ...

Connoisseur Media Connoisseur Media LLC is an American media company. It is based in Westport, Connecticut and led by Jeff Warshaw. As of May 2024, Connoisseur operates 13 radio stations and digital assets in four U.S. markets: Frederick, MD, Nassau-Suffolk, NY, Ne ...

via Qantum. The transaction was consummated on September 9, 2014. In August 2017, WRZE, WWRK and the translators began simulcasting WDAR-FM, which took over the urban contemporary format. On September 14, 2017, WRZE, WWRK and the translators dropped the simulcast with WDAR-FM and switched to

, branded as "Rock 94.1 - 97.9 - 105.9". The stations air the syndicated "Rover's Morning Glory" in mornings from 6 to 10 am. As of 2021, the simulcast on 105.9 FM had ended, as W290CD began simulcasting WJMX. and that translator was used by WJMX.

Translators

In addition to the main station, WWRK is relayed by a

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 ...

to widen its broadcast area.

References

External links

* ( Guide to reading History Cards) ;FM translator * * {{IHeartMedia Classic rock radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations Radio stations established in 1947 WRK