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WLKO (102.9 FM broadcasting, "The Lake") is a commercial radio station licensed to Hickory, North Carolina, and serving the Charlotte metropolitan area. It airs an adult hits radio format that leans toward classic hits. It also identifies itself as "The Carolina's Home For The Holidays", where they play Christmas music from November to December. It is owned by iHeartMedia, with studios in the South End neighborhood of Charlotte.
WLKO is a Class C1 station, with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 31,000 watts. The transmitter is on Omega Lane, off North Carolina Highway 27 in Iron Station. WLKO broadcasts in the HD Radio format. On its HD2 subchannel, it carries Pride Radio, iHeart's LGBTQ contemporary and dance music service.
WHKY-AM-FM aired mostly Christian radio programming in their early history. They primarily carried fundamentalist Baptist and Southern gospel such as The Blackwood Brothers and the Oak Ridge Quartet. Listeners were mostly over 55.
The FM station broke away on October 16, 1982. It began airing a Top 40 format that leaned toward album rock. Many of WKHY-FM's previous listeners protested the change with letters to the local newspaper, and a pile of letters to the station described as one foot high, 95 percent opposed. The Top 40 format targeted the 18 to 30 audience, which attracted many more advertisers.Jane Jeffries,"Top-40 Manager Raves About Format's Success," The Charlotte Observer, July 14, 1983, Catawba Valley Neighbors page 8.
WRLX promoted itself with images of a pair of Senior citizen , intended to humorously illustrate how the competition apparently viewed the station's target audience. In March 1989, the station changed its call sign to WEZC (after WKQC gave up those letters). The EZ call letters represented easy listening music.Jeff Borden, "WBCY Lands Morning Deejay, " The Charlotte Observer, March 25, 1989, p. 23A. The station began calling itself "EZ 102.9", gradually adding more vocals during the summer to make the transition from beautiful music to MOR. Some of the announcers include Bob Brandon, Jim Davenport, Catherine Lane, Jon Robinson and Todd Edwards.
WLYT featured a "70's Flashback Weekend" every weekend since late 2004 through 2005, but discontinued this tradition after the slogan changed from "Continuous Lite Favorites" to "The Best Variety of Yesterday and Today". The station played Christmas music annually, with 'preview weekends' from early November through Thanksgiving, then a 24-hour Christmas format from Thanksgiving through Christmas Day. WLYT's main competitor was CBS Radio's WKQC. WLYT had changed its slogan from The Best Variety of Yesterday and Today to The Bright New Sound of Lite 102.9 in 2011.
In late January 2008, WLYT changed its morning show. It wanted to resemble the Today show on NBC, with more talk geared toward women 25 to 54. During the first hour, the talk was more hard news, becoming lighter as the morning show progressed and adding more music during work hours.Mark Washburn, "Morning hosts will double up with afternoon gig," The Charlotte Observer, January 26, 2008. The program schedule was altered as well. The show was discontinued in early 2010 with morning hosts Jim Shafer (who had moved to the station from WHQC in 2004) and Jen Byrum (morning host since 1999) being released. On April 13, 2010, Valentine in the Morning, a syndicated show from sister station KBIG-FM in Los Angeles, made its debut. A local host was planned for local segments of the show.Mark Washburn, "Jen Byrum and Jim Shafer ponder life without WLYT-FM," The Charlotte Observer, April 10, 2010.
Steve Geofferies, operations manager for the Charlotte cluster of station owner Clear Channel, said, "If it was a hit song, we're going to play it," explaining that the format was based on WARH in St. Louis, and more "tempo-oriented" than nearby WSMW. The name "Lake" meant "fun, unique, connecting with friends and families. That's life on the lake," specifically Lake Norman and Lake Wylie. The playlist was 4,000 songs compared to 400 for a typical station. Also, the station would not have DJs. That meant morning hosts Heather Flynn and Phil Harris were let go.Mark Washburn, "Station dumps 'Lite' in favor of 'Lake'," The Charlotte Observer, July 14, 2012. On July 9, 2012, WLYT changed its call letters to WLKO to go with the "Lake" branding.
The format change delivered immediate results. While WLYT ranked 15th with 3 percent share of the total audience in its final ratings report, WLKO was ranked 7th with five percent share in its first one.Mark Washburn, "Ratings update: Big surge at 'Lake' radio," The Charlotte Observer, August 8, 2012. After two years, WLKO was up 52 percent to 4th place for the most successful format change in the market in 25 years. The playlist primarily features hit music from the 1970s, 80s and 90s with some 2000s music played. With this, the station more closely resembles a classic hits station than the adult hits format the station started out with, though the "We Play Anything" slogan is still promoted.
On September 16, 2014, WLKO's owners Clear Channel Communications officially changed its name to iHeartMedia, Inc.
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