WJOK

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WJOK (1050 AM) is a Roman Catholic Christian formatted radio station licensed to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, that serves the Green Bay and Appleton-Oshkosh areas. The station is owned by the Green Bay-based Relevant Radio network.

The station originally signed on as WKAU in a Top 40 format. In 1984, the station was sold to Quinn Martin of Milwaukee who changed the call letters to his initials, WQWM, and made it an oldies music format. The station changed hands again in 1993 to a new ownership who changed the calls to WSGC and the format to "Positive Country" music. Another sale in 1999 resulted in the station becoming all-sports "1050 The Jock, WJOK," which carried programming from the national Sports Fan Radio Network as well as local broadcasts of Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball. WJOK was purchased by Starboard Broadcasting in 2000, and the station joined Starboard's Relevant Radio network on November 26 of that year.

Previous incarnations[]

WJOK was also the call sign of a small radio station in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in the early 1980s, broadcasting on the 1150 AM frequency. It was unique at the time for having been the first radio station to broadcast comedy routines from comedy albums^{[citation needed]} recorded by Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy and older radio programs such as "The Great Gildersleeve" and "Baby Snooks". Lesser known, older artists were also aired such as Shelley Berman, Henny Youngman, Hudson & Landry and the Duck's Breath Mystery Theater. Music by "Weird Al" Yankovic was commonly played. From 10:00 PM until its midnight sign-off, the station featured "Unexpurgated Comedy", material containing profanity and indecent language.

Originally envisioned by Robert "Bob" Cobbins, WJOK was launched in 1983 out of the shell of an old rock and roll party station of the late '60s and early '70s, with the help of some of his old radio buddies including Tomcat Reeder, and Ron Rubin who hired the airstaff and developed the programming for the World's first all-comedy radio station.

The disc jockeys of WJOK provided patter in between selections and played interactive radio games with the audience for prizes such as tickets to comedy shows at comedy clubs in Washington, DC, including the Comedy Cafe and Garvin's, a comedy club chain with three branches at its height.

Their first year's DJs included Brad Krantz, Uncle Walt Howard, Mike Morin, K. Michael Silva, Evan Haning, Steve Willett, and Ron Rubin as the Program Director. In the second year, with advertising down, the original staff left for greener pastures and stronger signals and WJOK was run by Mike Kelly (PD) and Eric Lynch as (Operations Manager) with Eddie "The Kat" Katz, Max Garner, Mike Mahaffie, Dana Cloud, Charlie Kendall, Jack Taylor, Marita McGill, Tony DeNardo, Mac Clift, Tom Jackson, and more (Please forgive me and add your name if I've forgotten you) (I know there was Danny (?) our youngest DJ at 15, and Bobby (Miller?) Jack's partner in internship and crime. And Neil. Neil was there, too.

-)

Some recurrent listeners (notably redneck "Jee-im (Jim) from Poolesville") were integrated into some games.

WJOK went off the air due to insufficient growth in ratings. A very weak signal (1000 watts during the day, 500 watts at night), was partially to blame and no other format lasted longer before the station was permanently closed at midnight on 12/31/1984.

WJOK began broadcast before comedy cable TV stations such as HA! went on the air, followed by the successful establishment of Comedy Central.

External links[]

• Official website
• WJOK in the FCC AM station database
• WJOK on Radio-Locator
• WJOK in Nielsen Audio's AM station database

Coordinates: 44°14′51″N 88°18′00″W / 44.24750°N 88.30000°W / 44.24750; -88.30000

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