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WKCS is one of only
a small number of high school radio broadcast stations in the country.
The call letters, WKCS, were originally chosen to stand for Knoxville
City Schools. Now that the school system has merged with the Knox
County Schools, the call letters are still fitting. WKCS went on the
air during the 1952-53 school year. This was the second year for
students at the new Fulton High School. The station originally began
under the direction of Oma (Penny Wendham). Penny taught English and
one radio class daily.
With the retirement
of Penny Wendharn in 1963, the radio station and classes became the
responsibility of Joanna Huffman. The radio program also became a part
of the Vocational Department at Fulton High School. For the first
time, radio broadcast classes were offered throughout the school day.
Ron Cassady held
the duties of radio broadcast instructor from 1971-74. In 1974 he
turned the responsibilities over to Fulton graduate and local
broadcaster, Lynn Davis. Lynn held the position until 1976.
In the days of
radio’s block programming, the students wrote and produced their own
programs. As the industry changed, so did the programming at WKCS.
This block programming gradually gave way to the new type of
programming with music as its staple.
The station was
originally licensed to serve the community with 310 watts of effective
radiated power at the frequency of 91.1 Mhz. However, the station was
never able to operate at the maximum limits of its power because the
Gates transmitter, used from the early 1960’s until 1996, had only
250-watt capability.
In the fall of
1976, local air personality Allen Johnson, known locally and
nationally by the professional stage name Dr. Al Adams, took the
managerial and teaching position at Fulton High School. Johnson, who
has both a radio and television background as well as management
experience, remains the instructor and manager of WKCS.
In
1996, the old 250-watt transmitter was replaced with a modern state of
the art stereo transmitter with an 1100-watt capability. After the
recent renovation of Fulton High School, radio station WKCS is truly a
state of the art facility in every area except one - power! Presently,
an increase to 1000 watts of power is being sought to enable the
station to better serve the larger listening area that developed when
Knoxville City Schools and Fulton became a part of the larger Knox
County School System. |
