City Knoxville, Tennessee Slogan "UT's College of Rock" Format Variety | Broadcast area Metro Knoxville Frequency 90.3 FM MHz | |
Branding "Volunteer Radio 90.3 The Rock" | ||
WUTK-FM is a Variety formatted non-commercial broadcast radio station licensed to Knoxville, Tennessee and serving Metro Knoxville. WUTK is owned and operated by the University of Tennessee. WUTK-FM signed on in 1982 from studios in P-103 of the Andy Holt Tower with an antenna on the roof of the building generating just over 100 watts. WUTK now broadcasts with over 800 watts, and streams worldwide at www.wutkradio.com.
Programming
All music, news, and sports shows are volunteer or student-produced. In 2007, WUTK began cooperated with Comcast to produce TV programs featuring local and visiting musicians who were interviewed at the station live on-air, and recorded on video for later broadcast on Comcast channel 194 on the University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus. Many of these performances can now be viewed on WUTK's You Tube channel, since UTTV is no longer airing "The Rock Unplugged." The WUTK sports show, "Rock Solid Sports," aired live on UTTV on Monday and Friday nights at 7, during this time when WUTK and UTTV worked together.
WUTK has a wide variety of specialty shows covering specific genres, including funk (The Mothership), hip-hop/rap (Edutainment Hip-hop Show and Gold Standard Hip-Hop), jamband (Fire On the Mountain), international music (Simmer Down), Shoegaze (Daydream Nation) and music from the Knoxville area (Locals Only), in addition to shows focusing on classic rock (Kill Ugly Radio), heavy metal (The Funeral Directory), and Americana music (Y'allternative). Specialty shows publish their playlists on their own individual Facebook pages or The Rock's Facebook page.
WUTK currently receives no funding from the University, relying on donations from listeners and area businesses. The station has received numerous awards and honors from various media outlets, including Metro Pulse [1] and CMJ(College Music Journal) [2].
WUTK's nickname is "Volunteer Radio 90.3 The Rock." Previous names associated with WUTK are "Album 90," "New Rock 90", "The Last One Left," "The Torch", and "Knoxville's Alternative". Upon sign-on in 1982, WUTK had a college rock/alternative and jazz format.
A popular new wave rock program aired on Sunday nights from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. entitled "NEW AIRWAVES" (Title borrowed from an article of the same name that appeared in a local community magazine at the time). The idea for the show was inspired by Charlie Lytle's Show entitled "Music for a Different Society" in 1982.
NEW AIRWAVES began with broadcast student D.J.s Vik Moore (Q) and Mike Moore (Zero)- no relation and featured "college rock" "punk" "British Invasion New Wave" and was heavily invested in the local music scene featuring "The Out-House Tapes" a segment of the show that only played local artists. One such artist Todd Steed (Clutch Cargo),(Smokin' Dave & The Premo Dopes, Sons of Phere), later became co-host of the show with Vik Moore in 1984 who also hosted with Kevin Latham (Echo) before Steed.
The show was wildly popular. Moore and Moore would often get in the show's official roving vehicle "The Quadmobile" (1962 Chevy Impala with spray painted graffiti) and record "live" breaks up and down the UT strip that they later aired in between the music. The show's theme music was supplied by a fictional band "The William Tanner Orchestra" (named after the sound effects library at the station) and "Willard" their leader.
The show also featured hardcore punk sets with the likes of Dead Kennedy's, JFA, TSOL, Black Flag, & Butthole Surfers. One evening Henry Rollins and his band Black Flag came to the station for an interview, Vik gave the band a ride back to their van parked outside Vic & Bills on the Cumberland Avenue strip concert locale in his Quadmobile. New Airwaves was on the air from 1982 until 1984 every Sunday night (Every Song was played from the stations twin turn tables using vinyl LPs). Some early mornings Vik would stay on the air after 2:00 a.m. (traditional sign off time) and continue the show!
Vik also contributed to WUTK with his weekly space adventure series "THE CAPTAIN SPACE SHOW". First created and aired in 1978 on Local Top 40 Hits (at that time) station WOKI-FM 100, the show told the antics of a cosmic super hero, his crew, robot 'Biti', and Starship Eagle-1. The 4 minute show ran for ten episodes and starred various WUTK staffers including: Mike Moore (Sargent Aimes),Jeff Cutshaw (Commander Samson), Gary Carr ( The Evil Zobar), Tom Rutledge, Sharon Haigh, Tony Stoutt, Kay Manley, Bill Ottinger, Edwin Arnold, Gene Westburg, Charlie Lytle, Kevin Latham, and Greg McMurray.