WHKO

WHKO (99.1 MHz, "K99.1FM") is a commercial FM radio station in Dayton, Ohio. The station is owned by Cox Media Group and carries a country music radio format. Its studios and offices are co-located with the "Dayton Daily News", WHIO-AM-FM-TV and two more radio stations in the Cox Media Center building near downtown Dayton.
K99.1FM is considered a "Superpower FM" station. Because it signed on in 1946, it is grandfathered with a bigger signal than most FM stations in Ohio. Its power, 50,000 watts, is the same as several FM stations in Dayton. But its height above average terrain (HAAT) at 325 meters (1,066 ft.) is far above what would be allowed today, a maximum of 152 meters (500 ft) for that power. WHKO's transmitter is on Germantown Street in Dayton, on co-owned Channel 7 WHIO-TV's tower. The HD2 digital subchannel simulcasts WZLR's classic hits format. The HD3 subchannel plays urban oldies and feeds FM translator W254BA at 98.7 MHz.
History.
In 1946, the station signed on as WHIO-FM, the first FM station in Dayton and one of the first in Ohio. In its early years, it simulcast co-owned [[WHIO (AM)|WHIO]]; as network programming moved from radio to television, WHIO-AM-FM switched to a [[full service radio|full service]] [[Middle of the road (music)|middle of the road format]] of popular music, news and sports. 
In the 1960s, WHIO-FM switched to its own programming, a [[beautiful music]] format. It played quarter-hour sweeps of instrumental [[cover version]]s of popular songs, along with [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] show tunes. As more people acquired FM radios, WHIO-FM was the top-rated station in the Dayton market for many years, playing [[Reel-to-reel audio tape recording|reel to reel]] tapes of beautiful music provided by [[Bonneville International]] in [[Salt Lake City]]. It used a "live assist" system, where [[disc jockey|announcers]] listed the songs and gave news briefs and weather updates, but only talking briefly between the music.
In the 1980s, WHIO-FM's audience began to age, even though the overall ratings were strong. The 25-54 [[demographic]], most sought after by advertisers, were slipping, so management decided to add more modern vocals, in an attempt to find younger listeners. Songs from [[The Eagles]], [[Stevie Wonder]], [[Carly Simon]] and [[Jim Croce]] were added. When this tactic failed, Cox Broadcasting decided to research the market for a format that Dayton listeners would respond to. Many easy listening and beautiful music stations evolved into [[soft adult contemporary]] stations. But with [[WCHD|WVUD]] 99.9 already in the Soft AC format as "Delightful 100FM," Cox opted to instead change the format completely.
On March 17, 1989, the station switched its [[call sign]] to WHKO, and the format abruptly changed from [[Easy Listening]] to [[Country music]]. This was unexpected since the 12+ overall ratings still had WHIO-FM as the #1 station in the market. The last song played on WHIO-FM was [[Rick Astley]]'s "[[Together Forever (Rick Astley song)|Together Forever]]." The station then flipped to country music, although the announcer pre-sold another 30 minutes of easy listening favorites. The first song played under the new format was [[Barbara Mandrell]]'s "[[I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool]]". The first announcer on the station was Jim Manley who at that time moved from WHIO 1290 AM to mornings on the new K99.1FM. Nancy Wilson joined Manley short time later as co-host.
The previous format's audience, mainly older listeners, were very unhappy about the format change. The station received hundreds of complaint letters and numerous phone calls demanding to know why "FM 99" was playing country music. But after 2 ratings periods, K99.1FM was back to its number one ranking in its target demographic of 25-54. Prior to the switch, the top-rated country station in Dayton through the 1970s and 1980s was [[WONE (AM)]], which switched to a [[sports radio]] format.
At first, WHKO was "easy listening country" playing more soft crossover hits from [[Kenny Rogers]], [[Linda Rondstadt]], [[Rita Coolidge]], [[Gordon Lightfoot]] and other [[soft rock]] and [[adult contemporary]] artists with a country background. The [[disk jockey]] style was laid back, at times sounding almost like the previous easy listening format. Over the next several years the station slowly modernized the sound with tight rotations, upbeat DJs and community involvement.
WHKO is the Dayton Children's Radiothon station the market and has raised over $4 million dollars since 1998. WHKO won the National Association of Broadcasters Crystal Award in 2018 for outstanding community service. WHKO was only one of eight stations receiving the award. WHKO has also been nominated for several Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association awards.
In November 2006 the [[WHIO-FM]] call sign returned to the Dayton area at 95.7 FM in [[Piqua, Ohio|Piqua]] (formerly WDPT) as a simulcast of WHIO-AM's [[talk radio|news/talk]] format. Ironically when WHIO-FM abandoned the beautiful music format, WPTW-FM which was the station at 95.7 that tried to capture the former audience by flipping to "Clear 95" with the call letters WCLR.
HD Radio.
WHKO broadcasts using [[HD Radio]] technology. The HD2 [[digital subchannel]] airs a simulcast of classic hits "The Eagle" 95.3 [[WZLR]] [[Xenia, Ohio|Xenia]] along with translator W266BG at 101.1 MHz.
WHKO's HD3 subchannel is leased to BC Dayton Broadcasting as "The Soul of Dayton," a reference to the former [[WDAO]]-FM (now [[WMMX]]). It airs an [[urban oldies]] format. The service made its debut on Monday September 9, 2013 and is re-transmitted on FM translator W254BA at 98.7 MHz.
External links.
[[Category:Radio stations in Dayton, Ohio|HKO]]
[[Category:Country radio stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1946]]
[[Category:Cox Media Group]]
[[Category:1946 establishments in Ohio]]