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WOKD AM & FM - A History
WOKD-AM 1480 & WOKD-FM 98.3 Arcadia – WOKD-FM went on the air in the spring of 1977, co-owned with Arcadia’s WAPG-AM by Arcadia-Punta Gorda Broadcasting (Murray Benton, president/GM/sales manager/chief engineer). It was a 3-kilowatt stereo FM and aired a country format from studios at the transmitter/tower site at 201 W. Asbury Street in Arcadia.
Dakos Broadcasting, Inc. (William Dakos, president) acquired the AM/FM combo in 1981, and then Gulf Dunes Broadcasting, Inc. (Dennis Hedlund, president) in 1989.
In 1990, the FM’s country format moved to WAPG-AM, which adopted new calls as WOKD-AM. The FM became classic rock WXKT. The calls turned out to be short-lived, however, and the station reverted back to WOKD in 1991.
Dakos Broadcasting re-acquired the WOKD combo in 1993 and the calls flipped to WKGF AM & FM. Both stations aired a simulcast contemporary Christian format.
Other names in WOKD history include Ruth Benton (music director-1978), Charles Burkhart (music director-1978), Dixie Dakos (GM-1983; sales manager-1988), Karl August (PD-1983), Jack Welch (PD-1987; GM-1990), Little Jimmy Shirah (PD-1990), Wendy Lee (music director-1990), Suzanne Whitman (sales manager-1990), Bruce Michaels (music director-1992), Bill Fowler (GM-1993), Richard Holdsworth (operations-1993), and Quick Coddington (chief engineer-1993).
(Please contact us if you have additional information to share about WOKD.)
Station History
1977 - 1993 Other Central Florida Stations (History)
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