History Of WKOS
Thanks to Marc Tyll for this history of WKOS.
WKOS began operations in 1957 as WHYS, a variety formatted station. Two years later the station switched to "Urban Contemporary" under the calls letters WKOS until the FCC revoked the station license due to an incident that happened one afternoon. "The Zodiac", as he was called, made a statement over the air regarding then Marion County sheriff in which the "Zodiac" was basically going to kill the sheriff and cut him into pieces and place the remains in a plastic bag. He then further said he would place the plastic bag over the studio control console. That way, the Zodiac claimed, the sheriff would no longer be a problem for him. The FCC happened to be in town that day, heard the comments, recorded them, and suspended WKOS’ operations. The station went silent for two years until a buyer could be found. Robert Hauck and his partners, who also owned WKKE-AM 1380 Asheville, North Carolina, formed the Greater Ocala Broadcasting Corporation, who purchased WKOS, changed the call letters to WWKE - to reflect the slogan "Key Radio" - and changed the format to top 40.