WHTK (AM)

WHTK

City of license	Rochester, New York
Broadcast area	Rochester, New York
Branding	Sportsradio 1280
Slogan	Rochester's Sports Talk
Frequency	1280 kHz (also on HD Radio)
Format	Sports
Audience share	1.6, #14 (Fa'07, R&R)
Power	5,000 watts
Class	B
Facility ID	37549
Transmitter coordinates	43°5′54.00″N 77°35′1.00″W
Callsign meaning	Hot TalK, the station's former branding
Former callsigns	WPXY, WROC, WVET
Affiliations	Fox Sports Radio, Premiere Radio Networks, Westwood One
Owner	Clear Channel Communications (Citicasters Licenses, L.P.)
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	whtk.com

WHTK (1280 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a sports format. Licensed to Rochester, New York, USA, the station serves the Rochester area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications and features programing from Fox Sports Radio and Westwood One as well as New York Yankees, Rochester Americans and Rochester Red Wings games among other local and national sports. The station's weekday lineup includes Brother Wease, Dan Patrick, Jim Rome and John DiTullio. On weekends, the station carries a variety of sports programming including the Sunday Morning Bullpen (variety), the Canandaigua National Bank High School Sports Show (section V athletics), Pain Clinic (professional wrestling), Kick This! (soccer), Drop The Puck (hockey), The Golf Tee (golf), Answers for the Injured (law), What's Going On? (current events and issues), and more.

History

logo through 2008

In 2008, the station re-branded itself as "Sportsradio 1280". Prior to the change, WHTK had been known as "Hot Talk 1280".

Prior to that, the station was first known as WVET (AM), signing on in 1947 under ownership of a group of returning World War II veterans calling themselves Veterans' Broadcasting Company. It operated successfully for many years with a personality full service adult popular music format. It changed callsign from WVET to WROC (AM) when Veterans bought WROC-TV from Transcontinent Television Corporation in 1961. Simultaneously an FM sister station, WROC-FM, signed on, first playing classical music and later automated jazz and pop standards. Veterans Broadcasting sold all the WROC stations in the mid-1970s. The AM station continued with its full service format until late in the 1970s, when it tried an all-news format first as WROC and then as WPXN (AM). It would later change calls letters to WPXY and simulcast its FM sister station, by the early 1980s known as WPXY-FM and airing the personality contemporary hit music format which it still runs today. Late in the 80s, after changes in ownership, it would migrate to pop standards and then to mostly syndicated "hot talk", a lineup of talk and sports programming meant to appeal to young adult men—at that time it adopted the WHTK callsign (the "HTK" meant to stand for "hot talk") which it still uses today.

On September 9, 2009, at midnight WROO changed their call letters to WHTK-FM and changed their format from country music, as "Country 107.3" to sports, simulcasting WHTK 1280 AM as "1280 WHTK & FM 107.3" and is known as "Rochester's Sports Talk." The change was made to address nighttime signal limitations of WHTK (AM), which must protect co-channel signals in New York City and the midwestern US by directionalizing after sunset. The FM station fills in signal nulls which limited WHTK's nighttime and early morning reach in southeastern Monroe County, southern Wayne County and Ontario County. The FM simulcast ended on May 5, 2012.

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WHTK
• Radio-Locator Information on WHTK
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WHTK