WKAF

Main article: WAAF (FM)

WKAF

City	Brockton, Massachusetts
Broadcast area	Greater Boston
Branding	97.7 and 107.3 WAAF
Slogan	Boston's Rock Station
Frequency	97.7 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date	July 21, 1948^[1]
Format	Mainstream rock (WAAF simulcast) HD2: WEEI-FM simulcast HD3: WRKO simulcast
ERP	2,050 watts
HAAT	173 meters
Class	A
Facility ID	19633
Transmitter coordinates	42°12′42.00″N 71°6′51.00″W / 42.2116667°N 71.1141667°W / 42.2116667; -71.1141667 (WKAF)
Callsign meaning	similar to WAAF
Former callsigns	WBET-FM (1948–1976) WCAV (1977–1999) WBOT (1999–2005) WILD-FM (2005–2006)
Owner	Entercom (Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stations	WAAF, WEEI, WEEI-FM, WRKO
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.waaf.com

WKAF is a radio station in the Boston, Massachusetts market licensed to Brockton, Massachusetts, simulcasting the mainstream rock format of WAAF. It broadcasts on 97.7 MHz, and serves the Metro Boston and South Shore areas of Massachusetts, which are unable to receive WAAF's main 107.3 MHz signal. The station's studios are located in Boston's Allston district and the transmitter site is atop Great Blue Hill.

History

WKAF first went on the air in 1948 as WBET-FM, the sister AM station of WBET/990 (now WATD/1460) in Brockton (WBET would buy WBKA/1450 & WBKA-FM/107.1 & shut down 990 and 107.1 and move from 1450 to 1460). The two stations almost always simulcast programming for the next 28 years. On November 1, 1976, WBET-FM went Stereo and broke away from the AM to broadcast a Top-40 format. On January 1, 1977, the call letters were changed to WCAV. In July 1982, the station switched to country music and targeted the South Shore of Massachusetts. This format continued until 1999. For some of that time, WCAV was the only country-music station on the FM dial in the Boston area.

In 1999, WCAV was purchased by Radio One, a company that owns and operates radio stations which target African American communities. Radio One made many transmitter improvements and established new studios in Roxbury, a largely African American section of Boston. After weeks of dead air and a week-long stunt of a loop of Tone Lōc's "Wild Thing", the station was relaunched on December 6, 1999 as WBOT, "Hot 97.7", targeting the Greater Boston area with a Mainstream Urban format.

From the very beginning, WBET-FM/WCAV/WBOT had been plagued by a poor signal in Boston and points north. However, after the relocation of the transmitter to Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts in summer 2005, the station's signal improved dramatically.

WBOT had never made any significant strides against its main competitor, WJMN "Jam'n 94.5", a station which had no signal problem and depended chiefly on the region's large Caucasian population for success. At the same time, Radio One had been experiencing great success with the Urban Adult Contemporary/Urban Oldies format of WILD 1090, a weak AM radio station that was prohibited by FCC regulations from operating at night.

On October 20, 2005, Radio One moved the format and intellectual property of WILD to WBOT's FM signal. This move eliminated WBOT from the Boston radio dial, and created the new "97.7 WILD FM". WILD-FM had retained the Urban Adult Contemporary programming of the old WILD/1090 during the day, and aired the old WBOT's Mainstream Urban format during the late afternoon and early evening hours. The station officially changed call letters to WILD-FM on October 26.

There was speculation that the format of the old WBOT would be reborn if Radio One acquired a second FM station in the Boston area, but there was nothing to suggest that such a move would occur. The former "Hot 97.7" format was now airing on 97.5, before moving to 87.7 as a pirate radio station, until it was shut down in 2010.^[2] The group now maintains a web-only presence.

Entercom buys WILD-FM

On August 21, 2006, AllAccess.com reported that Entercom had purchased WILD-FM and would change the format to rock (a simulcast of WAAF 107.3). The end of WILD-FM came after "Wild Thing" by Tone-Loc at about 7:00 pm EDT on August 21, and the station began a stunt of a computerized voice counting down to 5:30 pm EDT the following day, August 22. At that time, the simulcast of WAAF began with the song "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" by AC/DC. The station changed its calls to WKAF on August 30, 2006, reflecting the new simulcast.

The move has expanded the signal reach of WAAF to more of the urban areas of Boston and the South Shore cities and towns of Massachusetts. However, both WAAF and WKAF have signal issues in the South Coast and Taunton areas.

References

↑ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 (PDF). 1999. p. D-209. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
↑ http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2003/DOC-296841A1.html

External links

WAAF website

Query the FCC's FM station database for WKAF

Radio-Locator information on WKAF

Radio stations in Boston, including Eastern Massachusetts

By AM frequency	590 650 680 740 800 850 890 950 980² 1030¹ 1060² 1090 1120 1150 1200 1230² 1260 1300 1330 1360 1390² 1410 1430 1460² ³ 1470 1490² 1510 1550 1570² 1600

By FM frequency	88.1 88.9 89.7 90.3 90.9 91.5 91.5 91.5² 91.5 91.7 91.9 92.5² 92.9 93.7 94.5 95.3 95.9² 96.9 97.7 98.5 99.1² 99.5 99.9 100.1 100.7 101.7 102.5 103.3 104.1 104.5² 104.9² 104.9 105.7 106.7 107.3² 107.9

Via FM subcarrier	67 kHz Radio Maria Estados Unidos (Spanish) Talking Information Center (radio reading service) TNT Radio Boston (Vietnamese) 92 kHz Radio Voie du Salut (Haitian Creole/English religion)

By NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.425 162.475

Digital radio by frequency & subchannel	1030 1430 88.9-1 89.7-1 89.7-2 89.7-3 90.9-1 92.9-1 92.9-2 94.5-1 94.5-2 96.9-1 96.9-2 97.7-1 97.7-2 97.7-3 98.5-1 98.5-2 98.5-3 100.7-1 100.7-2 100.7-3 102.5-1 103.3-1 104.1-1 104.1-2 104.1-3 104.1-4 105.7-1 106.7-1 106.7-2 107.3-1 107.3-2 107.3-3 107.9-1 107.9-2

By callsign	KHB35 WAAF² WAMG WATD² WATD-FM² WAZN WBIX WBMX WBNW² WBOQ² WBOS WBQT WBRS WBUR-FM WBWL WBZ WBZ-FM WCAP² WCEC² WCRB WEEI WEEI-FM WERS WESX² WEZE WGBH WHHB WHRB WILD WJDA WJIB WJMN WKAF WKLB-FM WKOX WLYN WMBR WMEX WMFO WMJX WMLN-FM WMVX² WMWM WNG574 WNTN WODS WPLM² WPLM-FM² WQOM WRBB WRCA WRKO WROL WROR-FM WSRO WUMB-FM WUML² WUNR WWDJ WXLO² WXKS WXKS-FM WXRV WZBC WZBR WZLX WZLY

Internet stations	WBCN RadioBDC

Defunct stations	WDIS WFNX WGI/WARC

Massachusetts radio markets Boston Cape Cod New Bedford–Fall River Springfield Worcester Other Massachusetts radio regions Pittsfield See also List of radio stations in Massachusetts Manchester Radio ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage. ² = A station from a neighboring market that serves Boston and area, and is considered a "Boston station" by Nielsen Audio. ³ = Station is silent.

Entercom

AM radio stations	KCSP KEZW KFH KFXX KIFM KJCE KMBZ KMTT KNSS KWOD KYYS WAXY WBEN WBT WBZU WEAL WEEI WGR WILK WKZN WMC WMFS WORD WPET WQXI WRKO WROC WSSP WVEI WWKB WWL WWWL WWWS WXNT WYRD

FM radio stations	K242CC KALC KAMX KBLX-FM KBZT KDGS KDND KEYN-FM KFBZ KGMZ KGON KHTP KISW KKDO KKMJ-FM KKWF KMBZ-FM KNDD KNRK KNSS-FM KOIT KQKS KQMT KQRC-FM KRBQ KRBZ KRSK KRXQ KSEG KSON KSOQ-FM KSWD KUDL KUFX KWJJ-FM KXSN KYCH-FM KZPT WAAF WBEE-FM WBT-FM WBZA WCMF-FM WDAF-FM WEEI-FM WEZB WFBC-FM WGGI WGGY WILK-FM WJMH WKAF WKBU WKRF WKRZ WKSE WKTK WLFP WLKK WLMG WLNK WLYF WMC-FM WMFS-FM WMHX WMMM-FM WMQX WMXJ WMYX-FM WNTR WNVZ WOLX-FM WPAW WPTE WPXY-FM WQMG WROQ WRVR WSFS WSKY-FM WSMW WSPA-FM WSTR WTPT WTSS WVEI-FM WVKL WWDE-FM WWEI WWL-FM WXSS WYRD-FM WZPL

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