WRKW
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| City | Ebensburg, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Johnstown, Pennsylvania Ebensburg, Pennsylvania Somerset, Pennsylvania |
| Branding | Rocky 99 |
| Slogan | The Laurel Highlands' Rock Station |
| Frequency | 99.1 MHz |
| First air date | July 15, 1962 (as WEND-FM at 103.9) |
| Format | Classic rock |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| HAAT | 152 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 64845 |
| Former callsigns | WEND-FM (1962-1972) WIYQ (1972-1993) WQKK (1993-2000) WGLU (2000-2005) WYOT (2005-2006) |
| Former frequencies | 103.9 MHz (1962-1966) |
| Owner | Forever Broadcasting of Johnstown, LLC |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | http://www.foreverjohnstown.com |
WRKW (99.1 FM) is a commercially licensed radio station, licensed to Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Forever Broadcasting of Johnstown and maintains studios and offices at 109 Plaza Drive in Johnstown. WRKW operates at the federally assigned frequency of 99.1 Megahertz with an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts. A 175 watt subchannel W230BK is on 93.9 to serve Johnstown. There is a relation with WRKY in Altoona, Pennsylvania in that they are part of Forever Broadcasting.
For much of its existence, WRKW was known as WIYQ, first signing on the air as WEND-FM on July 15, 1962 from studios on Center Street in downtown Ebensburg, its licensed community. The station, along with its like-named AM sister station was founded by Cary H. Simpson, who also founded the Allegheny Mountain Network based in Tyrone just 11 years before. This station originally broadcast on the frequency of 103.9 FM, but moved to 99.1 in 1966, which brought a power increase to 10,000 watts.
Years later, as Johnstown's economy prospered, the station moved to 1240 Scalp Avenue in Richland Township, where it became more of a regional station serving West Central Pennsylvania.
Throughout its existence, WIYQ went through a series of different formats, from middle-of-the-road to a brief period of top-40 in the late-1980s programmed by John Harlow who also did mornings with Tor Michaels. Matt Swayne did middays, Brian Tercek did afternoons and Dave Snyder did nights.
What WIYQ particularly became well known for was a local polka show broadcast every Sunday afternoon.
"Jo-Jo's Polka Swing" debuted in 1972, and remained a staple of WIYQ's programming for twenty years, becoming one of the most successful programs on the station, with listeners calling in from as far away as Pittsburgh's eastern suburbs. Joe Vesnesky, a Glendale High School History Teacher by trade who also did sports play-by-play for another area station, hosted the show, gaining an especially strong following because of his mastery of the native Polish language and the powerful signal of WIYQ, which reached 27 counties in three states.
Air personality "Country Ron" took over the morning show at WIYQ in 1974 and soon developed a huge following among the areas Country Music fans and hosted several live broadcasts from the nearby Cambria County Fairgrounds. Ron Kauffman graduated from Glendale High School and had been a student of Joe Vesnesky. Ron once introduced Kitty Wells, the 'Queen of Country Music' to the stage at a local high school.
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