Broadcast area Huntsville, Alabama First air date 1953 Class C Frequency 1490 kHz Format Talk radio, Sports radio Branding 1490AM and 94.7FM - WEKI | Translator(s) 94.7 W234AD (Decatur) Power 1,000 watts Facility ID 70707 City of license Decatur Area Huntsville Slogan Talk Radio For Real Life | |
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Owner Focus Radio Communications | ||
WEKI (1490 AM, "1490AM & 94.7FM - WEKI") is an American radio station licensed to Decatur, Alabama, that serves the western Huntsville, Alabama, market. The station broadcasts a mix of news and talk programming, as well as CBS Radio News at the top of each hour.
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WEKI carries Austin High School football on Friday evenings during the fall. The station will also broadcast Troy University football for the 2013 season.
History
During the early 1960s to the early 1990s WAJF were the call letters and the format was mostly top 40. It was in main competition with WMSL across town. There were several local legends that worked there, including Hamilton Masters, George "The Cardboard" Carden, Bill and Dave, Thom Collins and more. WAJF also hosted the CBS Radio Mystery Theater each weeknight at midnight. With FM radio becoming more and more popular, AM stations began to suffer. The local talent moved on and advertising got virtually impossible to sell. Eventually, the station had only a handful of faithful sponsors but, not enough to hold.
Before switching to the current call letters, this station was known as WAJF. The station was assigned the WDPT call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on November 20, 2006. The 1490 frequency was re-allocated to Decatur after WHBS-AM/1490 in Huntsville moved from 1490 kHz to 1550 kHz in 1952.
In December 2002, the then-WAJF was sold to WAJF Inc. (Ira Littman, president) by Daniel L. Oppenheim for $150,000.
In June 2007, WDPT was sold to Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc. by WAJF Inc. (Troy Bryant, president) for a reported sale price of $167,500. The station, branded as "ProTalk 1490", was operated as a simulcast of sister station WTKI until both ceased operations and went temporarily silent on January 30, 2009, due to the late 2000s recession. Both stations returned to the air in November 2009 broadcasting a mix of talk radio and sports talk programming. The station's callsign was changed to WEKI on November 19, 2009, to better match its simulcast partner.
On December 23, 2009, Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc. applied to the FCC to transfer the broadcast license for WEKI to FRC of Alabama LLC, doing business as "Focus Radio Communications" (Frederick Holland, managing member). The Commission approved this application on February 16, 2010, and the transaction was consummated April 30, 2010. Focus Radio, which provided programming for both WEKI and WTKI under a local marketing agreement from November 2009, paid a total of $235,000 for the licenses and assets of both stations. Upon commencement of the local marketing agreement with Focus Radio, WEKI was originally a simulcast of sister WTKI Huntsville.
In 2010, WEKI broadcast at least 85 Southern League baseball games as a member of the Huntsville Stars Radio Network. The network also includes sister station WTKI and WWIC in Scottsboro.
In 2011, WEKI separated from the WTKI simulcast, catering to Decatur, Alabama, and the western part of the metro area - although the two stations carry much of the same programming throughout the week.
Programming
As of August 2013, weekday programming on WEKI includes local programs The Fred Holland Morning Show, The Small Business Hour, and The Rob Anthony Show, syndicated programs America Tonight with Kate Delaney, The Wall Street Journal This Morning, and America Now with Andy Dean, plus syndicated talk shows hosted by Herman Cain, Dennis Prager, Tom Sullivan, and Jason Lewis.