WTKI

Infobox Radio station
name = WTKI


city = Huntsville, Alabama
area =
branding = "ProTalk 1450"
slogan =
airdate =
frequency = 1450 kHz
format = Talk
power = 1000 watts
class = C
facility_id = 30965
coordinates = coord|34|43|30|N|86|36|15|W|
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns = WFUN, WFIX, WKGL, WHOH
owner = Christian Voice of Central Ohio, Inc.
licensee =
sister_stations = WDPT
webcast = [http://www.protalk1490.com/protalk.asx Listen Live]
website = http://www.protalkradio.com/
affiliations =

WTKI (1450 AM, "ProTalk 1450") is a radio station licensed to Huntsville, Alabama, that serves central North Alabama and south-central Tennessee. The station broadcasts a mix of religious and conservative talk radio programming.cite web |work=Arbitron |url=http://www.arbitron.com/ |title=Station Information Profile] This programming is a simulcast of sister station WDPT (1490 AM) in Decatur, Alabama.

History

The station served Huntsville since the 1940s as WFUN, WFIX, WKGL, and WHOH. WFIX (1970s) was a full-service middle-of-the-road adult contemporary station, until the market upheaval of the 1980s when Arbitron expanded the survey area beyond Madison County and the FM stations began their rise to local market dominance. Since the mid-1980s the station has broadcast a number of formats, most notably talk radio and sports talk. The station was the radio flagship of the Huntsville Stars minor league baseball radio radio network until the 2007 station ownership and format change. WTKI also broadcast games of the Huntsville Channel Cats of the Central Hockey League from the team's inception in 1995 until it folded in 2000. [cite news |first=Brett |last=Friedlander |title=Force Games May Be On Radio |work=The Fayetteville Observer |location=Fayetteville, North Carolina |date=1997-10-12 |accessdate=2007-12-31 |quote=The Channel Cats' games have been carried by WTKI radio in Huntsville since the team's inception three seasons ago.]

The station was assigned the WTKI call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on September 1, 1992.cite web |url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=30965 |title=Call Sign History |work=FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database] It has held those call letters since then except for an eight month period in 2002 when it was known as WHOH, the "Heart of Huntsville."

Ownership

In November 2006, Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc, headed by President Dan Baughman, agreed to buy WTKI from Mountain Mist Media, LLC., headed by President David Barnhardt, for a reported $475,000. [cite news |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6398658.html |title=Deals |work=Broadcasting & Cable |date=2006-12-11] [cite news |work=Radio & Records |url=http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/SearchStoryPage.aspx?ContentID=qwUfzX6FmB0%3d&Version=0&Search=Huntsville |title=Transactions for Dec. 1, 2006 |quote=Mountain Mist Media, LLC's WTKI-AM/Huntsville, AL to Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc for $475,000. |date=2006-12-01 |accessdate= 2007-12-30] As a result, the station flipped formats from sports talk to religious programming in early January 2007. [cite news |title=1450 AM becomes religious channel |work=The Huntsville Times |location=Huntsville, Alabama |date=2007-01-10 |accessdate = 2007-12-31]

References

External links

* [http://www.protalkradio.com/ WTKI official website]
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