WOKO

---

title: "WOKO" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1962-establishments-in-vermont", "country-radio-stations-in-vermont", "radio-stations-established-in-1962", "radio-stations-in-burlington,-vermont"] description: "Country music radio station in Burlington, Vermont" topic_path: "general/1962-establishments-in-vermont" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOKO" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Country music radio station in Burlington, Vermont ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox radio station"]

Field	Value
name	WOKO
logo	98.9 WOKO logo.png
city	Burlington, Vermont
country	US
area	Burlington–Plattsburgh
branding	98.9 WOKO
frequency	98.9 MHz
airdate
format	Country music
erp	100,000 watts
haat	94 m
class	C1
facility_id	25867
licensing_authority	FCC
coordinates
former_callsigns
affiliations
owner	Hall Communications
sister_stations	WBTZ, WIZN, WJOY, WKOL
webcast	Listen Live
website	woko.com
::

::callout[type=note] a Vermont radio station ::

| name = WOKO | logo = 98.9 WOKO logo.png | city = Burlington, Vermont | country = US | area = Burlington–Plattsburgh | branding = 98.9 WOKO | frequency = 98.9 MHz | repeater = | airdate = | format = Country music | power = | erp = 100,000 watts | haat = 94 m | class = C1 | facility_id = 25867 | licensing_authority = FCC | coordinates = | callsign_meaning = | former_callsigns = | affiliations = | owner = Hall Communications | licensee = | sister_stations = WBTZ, WIZN, WJOY, WKOL | webcast = Listen Live | website = woko.com WOKO (98.9 FM) is an American radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, the station serves the Burlington-Plattsburgh area. The station is owned by Hall Communications

History

WJOY-FM

WJOY-FM signed on the air on June 26, 1962. It was Vermont's first FM radio station and broadcast a classical format, programmed separately from its AM counterpart, WJOY (1230 AM). The station contracted with Heritage Music, a company based in New York and Bellingham, Washington, to provide its musical selections. To prepare for FM broadcasting, one studio was cut in half to add an FM control room, and another studio was converted to a transmitter room for WJOY's AM and FM operations. In 1967, WJOY-AM-FM broke ground on new studio facilities, including a new and taller 359 ft tower to replace the 220 ft tower being used. WJOY-FM began stereo broadcasting in 1969.

WQCR

In 1971, Frank Balch, who had joined WJOY as an announcer in 1951, and had become president of the Vermont Broadcasting Corporation, acquired majority control of WJOY-AM-FM. The next year, on August 14, 1972, WJOY-FM became WQCR; the call letters were said to stand for "Wonderful Queen City Radio". The station continued to have an easy listening sound.

There were two major developments for WQCR in 1975. In February, it flipped to a rock format; in July, it increased its effective radiated power from 3,200 watts to 33,000, doubling its coverage area. Balch served in the late 1970s, as director of the National Association of Broadcasters and on the University of Vermont Board of Trustees. WQCR's power was further increased to 50,000 watts in 1980. Despite having fully automated programming, "Q99" was a strong second overall in the market in 1981, and led among young adults.

After 35 years in broadcasting, Balch sold WJOY-WQCR to Hall Communications of Norwich, Connecticut, for $2.2 million in 1983. The new ownership switched WQCR from automated to live programming. The 1984 sign-on of WXXX put a massive dent in WQCR's ratings; the new contemporary hit outlet debuted at number one and dropped WQCR from a 21.2 share in the fall 1984 Arbitron book to a 9.4.

September 9, 1988, brought technical and format changes. The station rebranded as "The New Rock 99 FM" the same day it doubled its power to 100,000 watts.

WOKO

On April 1, 1990, after 16 years as a rock station, WQCR switched to country music and adopted new WOKO call letters, seeking to fill a void in the market, which only had one FM country outlet. Around the same time, under the guidance of former executive vice president and COO Dick Reed, Hall flipped stations it owned serving New London, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, to country. The move was described by general manager Dan Dubonnet in 1992 as a quest to "save" the station, which was gaining little traction as a rocker; it tripled its weekly audience in the two years after the flip and benefited from the increased popularity of country music in the early 1990s. The station's success earned it back-to-back station of the year honors from the Vermont Association of Broadcasters in 1993 and 1994; by 1995, WOKO was back on top of the Burlington radio ratings. Hall became Vermont's first FM duopoly owner with its purchase of WEXP-FM that same year.

References

References

1. "WOKO Facility Record". United States [[Federal Communications Commission]], audio division.
2. "WOKO Station Information Profile". [[Arbitron]].
3. (June 26, 1962). "WJOY-FM Will Go on Air Today". Burlington Free Press.
4. (May 17, 1962). "FM To Bring New Broadcasting Era". Burlington Free Press.
5. (June 23, 1962). "WJOY-FM Will Feature Serious Heritage Music". Burlington Free Press.
6. (October 23, 1967). "Ground Broken for New WJOY Studios". Burlington Free Press.
7. (April 14, 1969). "WJOY-FM To Add Stereo Broadcasts". Burlington Free Press.
8. (April 7, 1971). "Balch To Buy WJOY Radio". Burlington Free Press.
9. (August 14, 1972). "WJOY-FM Becomes WQCR Today". Burlington Free Press.
10. (October 29, 1973). "Music in the air EVERYWHERE...". Burlington Free Press.
11. "History Cards for WOKO". [[Federal Communications Commission]]}} ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards.
12. (July 3, 1975). "WQCR-FM Increases Power". Burlington Free Press.
13. (March 2, 1977). "Balch Named UVM Trustee". Burlington Free Press.
14. (April 20, 1980). "WQCR-FM Boosts Power". Burlington Free Press.
15. Abbey, Alan. (August 11, 1981). "Radio Ratings Shake Up Area Stations". Burlington Free Press.
16. Eley, Bob. (September 2, 1983). "Connecticut Company to Buy Two Burlington Radio Stations". Burlington Free Press.
17. Eley, Bob. (January 29, 1984). "Giant firms buy into area's high tech rec". Burlington Free Press.
18. (August 9, 1985). "WXXX Ratings Top Area Radio Market". Burlington Free Press.
19. (September 9, 1988). "Q-99 FM doubles its power to 100,000 watts". Burlington Free Press.
20. (September 8, 1988). "It's Only Rock N Roll". Burlington Free Press.
21. Donoghue, Mike. (March 1, 1990). "WQCR-FM to switch its format". Burlington Free Press.
22. Helton, Lon. (June 30, 2005). "Doing What's Right, And Doing It Well". Radio & Records.
23. (May 28, 1992). "WOKO rides the new country wave". Burlington Free Press.
24. Graff, Christopher. (June 12, 1994). "Greene named top broadcaster". Burlington Free Press.
25. Blackburn, Maria. (February 3, 1995). "Country WOKO clobbers on-air competition". Burlington Free Press.
26. Donoghue, Mike. (February 23, 1995). "WEXP sold to owner of WOKO". Burlington Free Press.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::