WHKF

WHKF
City Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Branding 99.3 Kiss FM
Slogan "Harrisburg's #1 Hit Music Station!
Frequency 99.3 MHz
First air date July 1965
Format Top 40
ERP 1,350 watts
HAAT 207 Meters
Class A
Facility ID 23464
Transmitter coordinates 40°11′30.0″N 76°52′5.0″W / 40.191667°N 76.868056°W / 40.191667; -76.868056 (NAD27)
Callsign meaning W Harrisburg Kiss F M
Former callsigns WSFM
WHIT
WIMX
WWKL-FM
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Clear Channel Broadcasting Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations WHP, WKBO, WTKT, WRBT, WRVV
Website 99.3 KISS-FM

WHKF (99.3 FM, "KISS-FM") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and broadcasts a Top 40 format. WHKF is one of the many "KISS-FM" branded stations owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.

History

The station first signed on the air in July 1965 by Hudson Broadcasting Corp. as WSFM. The studios and transmitter were co-located with WCMB on Poplar Church Road (40°15′45.10″N 76°54′37.155″W / 40.2625278°N 76.91032083°W / 40.2625278; -76.91032083) in Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania. Through the 1960s and early 1970s it was MOR like its sister station, but it did not duplicate WCMB. In 1978 it was changed to ROCK 99 CHR (AKA Top 40) and began competing head to head with WKBO AM 1230 and WQXA Q-106 (in York, PA). In 1981, the format changed to Adult Contemporary, and is first called WSFM-99, and then Sunny99-FM. For a short time in the mid-1980s, it was a CHR station known as 99 HIT-FM. Through the early 1990s as WIMX it was known as MIX 99.3 a rhythmic CHR. WIMX became WYMJ but did not change format.

In 1995, then owner, Barnstable Broadcasting, swapped formats with its KOOL 94.9 and its 99.3 signal - moving the popular oldies format to 99.3, KOOL 99.3 WWKL-FM. The 94.9 signal became MAGIC 94.9 WYMJ, AC, a change that lasted exactly one year when it was flipped to Country as BOB 94.9.

Through the 1990s the station changed ownership several times during the radio ownership consolidations, first to Barnstable Broadcasting (in 1988), then to Dame Media in 1997 and finally to Clear Channel Communications in 1999. In 2001, Clear Channel dumped the legendary oldies station (KOOL 99.3) in favor of KISS-FM, a station aimed at teens.

Prior to launching, Clear Channel began stunting by playing a continuous sound effect of a small, noisy crowd. As the station's launch drew closer, the voiceover began announcing "Tomorrow at noon ... the talking stops." This was thought to be a direct shot at popular afternoon drive talk show host Bruce Bond, of Wink-104, who has since left that station.

References

  1. 1966 Broadcasting year book, pg C-145

    External links

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