History
The station signed on the air on December 1, 1982 and ran as an adult contemporary station as WIBQ (B-93.5) until 1992 when it switched format and callsign to WKDY to become "Hot Country KDY 93.5". KDY Country stayed on 93.5 until a frequency swap between WKDY and WUUU which ran an oldies format and WUUU became "Oldies 93.5" in 1993. More than a year later, Norma Eilenberg changed WUUU's format to easy listening and became "Warm 93.5" . In 1996, "Warm 93.5" switched its callsign to WRFM. It adopted the slogan "not lite, just right" posing itself a rival to longtime AC Station WLZW (Lite 98.7). In 1997, Norma Eilenberg sold WRFM along with sister station WSKS to Dame Media and WRFM rebranded as "93.5 Warm FM", but retained the format. A year later, the station began to switch to a Christmas music format between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
In 1999, Dame Media was brought by Clear Channel Communications. WRFM continued with "93.5 Warm FM" until December 26, 2002 when it flipped to "Kool 93.5". Kool 93.5 played an oldies format hence the slogan "Superhits Of The 60's and 70's" posing as a competitor to Oldiez 96 (WODZ). Shortly afterward, the station changed calls to WUCL. Clear Channel attempted to boost coverage in the Utica area with adding translator W231BI which was installed on the Smith Hill tower that primarily serves WOUR in Deerfield, New York. Despite the signal boost for downtown Utica, Kool 93.5 was no match for WODZ and in December 2004, WUCL changed format to classic hits/adult contemporary and became "93.5 The River" with the slogan "It's All About The Music". One month after the format change Clear Channel changed the station's callsign to WOKR which were from Rochester's WHAM-TV, which was also owned by Clear Channel Communications. The format served as a compliment to then-sister station WOUR.
In 2007, Clear Channel decided to exit the small markets such as the Utica-Rome market. Galaxy Communications which WRCK (ironically, a somewhat competitor) bought the Clear Channel Utica-Rome cluster. 93.5 The River along with WRCK was spun off by Galaxy Communications to Educational Media Foundation. WOKR faded out to the Air 1 satellite feed.
In June 2008, EMF and God's Country Radio Network formed a Local marketing agreement allowing the latter to put its own on WOKR and its translator. If God's Country Network can satisfy the terms of the LMA (the length of the LMA contract term has not been made public), it will eventually assume ownership of both.
In July 2008, EMF requested permission to move WOKR's primary translator to a new site in East Floyd, New York. This would allow WOKR to provide a city-grade signal covering Utica without the need for a translator.
God's Country and EMF severed ties and terminated all existing LMAs in November 2010, resulting in God's Country being pulled from WOKR and all other EMF stations that were carrying the network. WOKR resumed airing the Air 1 feed at that time while WRCK, which had taken over the Air 1 affiliation while WOKR was affiliated with God's Country, was sold off to the owners of WUTQ and WADR to become a simulcast of that station in March 2012 (becoming WUTQ-FM).
Read more about this topic: WOKR
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