WCKS-AM 860
Cocoa
Original call Letters: WKKO
Originally Licensed: Jan 1952
Origination of Call Letters: (Sounds like) KKO=Cocoa
Original Power: 1,000 watts
Original City of License: Cocoa
Original Format: Pop
Location: South Burnett Road
Owner(s): 1952-Brevard Broadcasting Company
1962-Marvin Rothschild
1970-Theodore Eiland
1975-Emcom Associates
1986-Fox Radio Inc. (Alan Dickson)
1985-Capitol Broadcasting Co.
1992-Walker Broadcasting
1993-Brevard Broadcasting, Inc. ($90,000)
1998-Carl Marcocci
-Walker Info & Ed Institute Inc
History Of Call Letters and Formats: WKKO-1951-
WKKO-1981-MOR
WJZX-1984-Urban "Fox 86"
WCKS-1986-Top 40 ''Brevard's No. 1 Hit Music Station''
WCKS-1986-'50s and '60s
WCKS-1987-Top 40
WCKS-1987-Silent
WWKO-1989-Urban Contemporary "KO 860 Knockin' Out The Hits"
WWKO-1991-Urban Contemporary "RHYTHM 86"
WRFB-1993-News/Talk
WRFB-1998-Nostalgia
WRFB-2000-Silent
WCKS-AM History
When Capitol Broadcasting Co. of Raleigh, N.C., took control in 1985, of Cape Canaveral's WJZX-AM 860 it became WCKS-AM 860 and adopted the slogan ''Brevard's No. 1 Hit Music Station.''
WCKS-AM began life as WKKO-AM here is the history of WKKO from Mr. Davis E. Wilson.
"Since I was the original chief engineer and co owner of WKKO-AM 860, I thought I might bring you up to date a bit on the
beginning of the station. Carl Collins and I were at WDLP-AM in Panama City in 1951 when we decided to build a station
in Cocoa. The station was actually located about three miles west of downtown Cocoa and about 2 miles south of SR 520. Carl and I found that Emerson Browne (then at WTRR-AM 1400 in Sanford) had also applied to the FCC for a station in Cocoa, so rather than fight, we joined in a partnership as Brevard Broadcasting Company. We finally received our construction permit in the summer of 1952. We had hoped to be on the air by Christmas, but didn't get our final OK from the FCC until after Christmas. Our first day on the air was Sunday, January 4, 1953. (I still think of that as the most hectic day of my life), Carl (Collins) and I later bought Emerson's interest in the station and became the owners in 1954. Carl was General Manager and I was Chief Engineer. We were Cocoa's first radio station and Brevard County's second, after WMMB-AM 1240. We were a very small-time operation at first, with only five of us as full time personnel. We were daytime only, which was the way we wanted it. We started out at 250 watts, with an old 1935 Gates transmitter that had been used in Toccoa, Georgia. Around 1954 (we) decided to go to 1,000 watts. I designed the new transmitter (a modified version of the Collins kilowatt of the day), obtained FCC approval, and built it to fit into the existing 250 watt transmitter rack. One night we removed the 250 watt chassis and replaced it with the 1000 watt chassis. For about ten years or so the station must have been one of the few in this country with a "home made" transmitter.
From Brian Douglas; "...This station was WCKS (using CK-101's former call letters) playing Top 40 in 1987. By 1993, WWKO was an R&B station. Alan Dickson was the GM through this time. The Owner Contact was Keith Walker..." "...It became a Nostalgia station soon after, before going dark in a buyout (to enable WGUL, Dunedin [also on 860] to improve its coverage)."