Branding "K97.5" | First air date 1960 | |
City Carrboro, North Carolina Broadcast area Raleigh/Durham
Research Triangle Slogan "The Triangle's Hip Hop & R&B" Frequency 97.5 MHz(also on HD Radio) | ||
WQOK is an Urban Contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Carrboro, North Carolina, serving the Raleigh/Durham area. WQOK is owned and operated by Radio One. Its studios are located in Raleigh and its transmitter tower is in Oak Grove, just east of Durham.
WQOK broadcasts in the HD radio format.
History
97.5 FM signed on the air in 1960 as a small market 3,000 watt FM station serving South Boston, Virginia. In 1987, Radio entrepreneur and morning jock Tom Joyner purchased the station and moved the transmitter tower closer to Raleigh and upgraded its licensed power from 3000 watts to 100,000 watts, though keeping the city of license in South Boston. The new tower and coverage area would maintain a "city grade" signal over South Boston as required by the FCC, but also put a strong signal to the Triangle as well. Closing down the original South Boston facilities, the station later signed on from brand new studios in Raleigh under its current calls, and by Winter 1991, claimed the number one spot in the ratings.
Joyner later sold the station to US Radio (Ragan Henry Broadcasting), who was eventually purchased by Clear Channel in 1996. In 2000, as a result of the Clear Channel/AMFM merger, WQOK was sold to current owner Radio One, along with current sister stations WFXC, WFXK, and WNNL.
In 2007, WQOK asked to move its city of license to Carrboro, decrease from Class C1 to C2, and build a new tower near Durham. This eliminated all coverage of Virginia, though it will reduce a short-spacing issue with Charlottesville's WWWV. The station's new tower is shared with WFXC.
WQOK was home to The Russ Parr Morning Show. In January 2016, it would be replaced by The Rickey Smiley Morning Show.