103.1 WRKA

WRKA History: WRKA originally was WSTM, a Class A FM licensed to St. Matthews, Kentucky. WSTM came on the air November 19, 1966 with 2950 watts at 135 feet height above average terrain near Westport Road and Hubbards Lane. (A Kroger store is there now.) The original format was Beautiful Music.

In 1977 the format switched to "Disco 103".

On August 28, 1978 the call letters were changed to WNUU, with the station airing Bonneville's AC/MOR format.

In 1979 a new transmitter site was built next to the VA Hospital. The slightly increased power and higher antenna (3 kilowatts at 300 feet) greatly improved the coverage.

The call letters became WRKA on January 1, 1980. (Robert Knowles was the General Manager. RKA stood for Robert Knowles and Associates.)

From 1980 to 1984 the station had an AC format with the slogan "Between Rock and the Rocking Chair". WRKA was the #1 station in the Louisville market 12+ Monday through Sunday 6AM-12PM in Spring of 1984.

In 1985 WRKA shifted to Hot AC with Glenn Beck in mornings, with a 9.0 share in the Spring 1985 Arbitron 12+ which made it #3 in the market.

WRKA bumper sticker

WRKA began playing all-oldies on weekends in 1987, promoting it as "A Way Back Weekend".

The format changed to oldies full time in 1989.

On February 4, 1992, the station's power was upgraded to 6 KW ERP with a directional antenna.

On July 11, 2008 the 103.1 frequency was upgraded to a class C2 FM, with 23 KW at 555 feet.

On July 18, 2008 the call letters were changed to WQNU, and the format switched to New Country. The WRKA call letters moved to 103.9.

On July 23, 2008 WRKA became "Country Legends 103.9".

Spooky fact: The official 2008 WRKA Kentucky Derby 139 Kentucky Derby poster had a hidden "RIP" on the horse’s nose, foretelling the demise of WRKA. This was intentionally done.

Here's Oldies 103 WRKA's last hour, 2pm-3pm July 18, 2008:

2:02 Top of the Hour Sweeper
2:02 Turn! Turn! Turn! - Byrds
2:06 Got to Give It Up -Marvin Gaye
2:10 Leaving On A Jet Plane - Peter Paul & Mary
2:14 Give Me Just A Little More Time - Chairmen of the Board
2:20 Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O'Sullivan
-Spots-
-Weather-
2:30 Never Can Say Goodbye -Gloria Gaynor
2:33 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
2:36 One Less Bell To Answer - 5th Dimension
2:40 Hello, Goodbye - Beatles
-Spots-
2:49 WRKA end montage
2:59 NewsRadio 103.1 stunt
3:02 Q103.1 opening
3:03 All Summer Long - Kid Rock

WRKA bumper sticker

WRKA Airchecks

Stevie Jansen (March 11, 1991)
4:43 - 3319 KB

Larry Miller with Muhammad Ali (December 17, 1991)
1:01 - 360 KB

All audio is in downloadable MP3 format.

WRKA Jingles

WRKA Mid-80s Jingles
1:43 - 1611 KB

We're guessing these WRKA jingles came from TM productions. The contributor wrote, "The nicknames of the seven jingles are (in order): Floorboard, Gallop, 3rd Power, Earl & Chicos, Remember, Eddie, and Earl 1."