[IRCA] WKY 930 OKC Spanish again

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

** OKLAHOMA. The once-venerable WKY-930 OKC, has gone Spanish --- again, after another failed format in English, sports talk. Tnx to a tip from Bill Eckhart, who first noticed it the afternoon of January 7. I`ve yet to monitor the details, but the last time they did this, it only lasted a few months, and was an FM simulcast. The following rant, originally aired on KWTV-9 in 2006, might as well have been written today, January 8, 2009:

MY TWO CENTS: RADIO STATION ENDS ERA
By Kelly Ogle, Published: January 25, 2006
http://masterweb1.newsok.com/my-two-cents-radio-station-ends-era/article/1742552

I'm deeply saddened by the demise of an Oklahoma Legend that has played an important part in my family for nearly 50 years. 

WKY Radio signed on in 1922, but now the first station west of the Mississippi, has gone south of the border. The station recently dropped its talk format and is now simulcasting a Spanish Language station. 

It may make more sense on the bottom line, but it seems strange to longtime Oklahoma residents. E.K. Gaylord bought WKY in the '20s and into the '70s, it was THE station. Walter Cronkite and Curt Gowdy were on WKY early on. My dad did the news and OU football at WKY in the '60s and '70s, me and my brother both anchored there. 

But starting in the '70s you couldn't win with music on the AM dial so WKY underwent a series of facelifts from Top 40 to Country, to Christian to Talk never with much success. 

They went TALK way too late - should've when I worked there in the '80s before KTOK grabbed the market with Rush Limbaugh and other nationally syndicated talkers. 

WKY's recent attempt to counter program with LOCAL talk was admirable, but too little too late. So now it's gone Spanish. Will it work? I don't know, can't blame them for trying, being nostalgic doesn't pay the bills. 

But in my mind this marks the end of a radio era in Oklahoma City, and maybe the beginning of another. I'm Kelly Ogle and that's My 2 Cents (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)



      
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