For the Fort Wayne, Indiana, radio station that held the call sign WXKE at 103.9 FM from 1976 to 2002 and from 2006 to 2014, see
WWFW
.
Radio station in Indiana, United States
WXKE
(96.3
FM
) is a
radio station
licensed to
Churubusco, Indiana
and serving the nearby
Fort Wayne, Indiana
area. The station airs a
classic rock
format
.
History
[
edit
]
The station began operations as WKQM in April 1994, featuring an
easy listening
/
adult standards
music format. In September 1995, WKQM changed its format to
modern rock
and adopted the moniker "The Edge". with new call sign WEJE. "The Edge" was consulted by noted rock radio consultant Fred Jacobs, but after Jacobs Media and WEJE parted ways in January 1998, WEJE rebranded as "Extreme 96.3".
In March 2001, the "Extreme" format and WEJE call sign moved to 102.3 FM in
Auburn, Indiana
(now
WGBJ
), and on March 12, 2001, 96.3 debuted a new
country music
format as WWWD, originally tagged "Big Red Country" but then changed to "Red Hot Country" after
Artistic Media Partners
notified 96.3's then-owner, Frank Kovas, that the name "Big Red Country" was already service-marked for their station in
Ellettsville
.
On March 1, 2002, following Kovas' sale of his stations to Travis Broadcasting Corporation the previous December, "Red Hot Country" was blown up in favor of WHTD "Hits 96", a
CHR/Pop
station. On April 5, 2004, after
stunting
with "
Wild Thing
" by
Tone Loc
for a day, 96.3 flipped to an
urban-leaning Rhythmic CHR
format, branded as "Wild 96.3", and changed its call sign to WNHT. The station was purchased by Summit City Radio Group in July 2004.
In March 2014, Adams Radio Group entered an agreement to purchase Summit City's cluster (which includes WNHT). Days later, Adams announced they would purchase Oasis Radio Group's stations. To meet ownership limits, Adams will retain WNHT,
WGL
and
WXKE
, as well as acquiring Oasis Radio Group's
WJFX
and
WBTU
, while selling off
WHPP
to Fort Wayne Catholic Radio, and selling
WGL-FM
to Calvary Radio Network.
WLYV
and two translators (on 96.9 FM and 103.3 FM) will also be acquired by Adams. The purchase, at a price of $6.4 million, was consummated on June 2, 2014. As a result, Adams plans on massive format restructuring. WNHT's entire airstaff were released on May 30, leading to rumors of a format change. On June 2, Adams announced that WXKE will move to the stronger 96.3 signal on June 11. At first, WNHT's format was speculated to move to the 96.9 FM translator, but on June 5, the station announced via Facebook that its format will be merged into WJFX, a top 40 station that had previously been formatted as urban contemporary and rhythmic contemporary. On June 13, 2014, the station took on the WXKE call sign.
Effective June 9, 2023, Adams Radio Group's portfolio of eighteen stations and translators, including WXKE, was sold for $12.6 million.
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
41°06′13″N
85°10′44″W
/
41.1037°N 85.1789°W
/
41.1037; -85.1789