By day, WTKS is powered at 5,300 watts. At night, power drops to 5,000 watts. The station uses a directional antenna with a four-tower array. Programming is simulcast on an FMtranslator station, 97.7 W249BS. The station uses this FM frequency in calling itself "NewsRadio 97.7 and AM 1290".
The station signed on the air on October 15, 1929. Its call sign was WTOC and it was the first broadcasting station in the Savannah area.[5] It was an enterprise of the civic group Junior Board of Trade that was the forerunner of the Savannah Jaycees. WTOC broadcast on 1260 kilocycles with 500 watts day and night, non-directional. Later, the power increased to 1,000 watts daytime, and later to 5,000 watts days and 1,000 watts at night. With the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) nationwide frequency shift in 1941, the station moved to 1290 kHz. Shortly thereafter, a four tower array was built in Garden City, and power increased to 5,000 watts at night using a directional antenna.
WTOC ("Welcome To Our City"), was owned for many years by the Knight family, with William T. Knight serving as president of the Savannah Broadcasting Company. It was a CBS RadioNetwork affiliate, carrying its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the Golden Age of Radio. One of its rivals, WSAV, was an network affiliate of NBC Radio.
WTOC added an FM station in 1946.[6] It first broadcast at 97.3 MHz, later moving to 94.1 MHz (today WQBT). In 1954, WTOC-TV (channel 11) came on the air. Because WTOC radio was a longtime CBS affiliate, WTOC-TV also carried CBS TV programming and news.
Switch to MOR
As network programming shifted to television in the 1950s, WTOC became a full servicemiddle of the road (MOR) music station. WTOC aired many features, both network and local, as well as having significant news programming. It was not until the mid-1970s that WTOC became much more contemporary with its programming. For a while, the station called its sound "The Love Rock," primarily playing what would today be called adult contemporary music. WTOC used TM's "Sound Of Chicago" jingle package, which had been created for WMAQ.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, WTOC-FM used BPI's beautiful music format. In the mid-1970s, it switched to BPI's country music format, and became "Country 94".
Great American Country
In 1979, the Knights sold WTOC radio and television to the American Family Life Assurance Company from Columbus, Georgia. American Family spun the radio stations off to Bluegrass Broadcasting of Lexington, Kentucky. Bluegrass built a large studio-office complex adjacent to the AM transmitter site on Alfred Street, and renamed the AM WWSA ("Working With Savannah") and the FM became WCHY-FM. In 1987, the AM switched to the WCHY call letters. It flipped to classic country music, using the "Great American Country" syndicated service, while the FM continued with contemporary country.[7]
WCHY (AM) and WCHY-FM were sold by Roth Broadcasting in 1995 to WP Radio. When WP Radio decided to leave broadcasting, it sold the stations to Patterson Broadcasting.[8] In May 1998, WCHY switched to a children's radio format, becoming the Radio Disney affiliate in Savannah.
