Technical Profile: WRKH

FM Technical Profile: WRKH

Station Name:: 96.1 the Rocket
Frequency:: 96.1
Format:: Classic Rock
Transmitter Location:: [map] On the WKRG-DT tower and co-located with several FMs: WMXC, WABD and WHIL.
Power (ERP):: 77 kW
Antenna:: Omnidirectional
Antenna HAAT:: 1755 feet
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.; Artist Experience (album or artist art and station logos) - Active, all channels; :

PS-Rocket The Home of Classic Rock [artist / song title]
Time-Present
Text-Rocket [song title/artist] The Home of Classic Rock
PTY-Classic Rock
PI-KAZN-FM
Radiotext+ Song Title/Artist-Yes
Radiotext+ Station Short Name-Rocket
Radiotext+ Station Long Name-Rocket The Home of Classic Rock

HD-2: Sports
"Sports Talk 99.5"
* HD2-PTY-Talk; // W258AY Mobile

HD-3: Christian Religious
"Radio By Grace"
// W266CM Mobile; :

PS-WRKH-HD3
Time-[?]
Text-(show title/episode information) radiobygrace.c…
PTY-Religious Talk
PI-[?]
More Information:: [FCC]; [FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
[Facebook] For "The Rocket"
[Facebook] For "Sports Talk 99.5"
[Facebook] For Radio By Grace

[Picture] Image showing the HD PAD data for the station's HD-1 broadcast, from September 2015.
[Picture] Image showing the HD-1 PAD data on a Toyota HD radio, showing album art, from March 2016.; [Picture] Image showing the HD-1 PAD data on a Toyota HD radio, showing the station logo, from March 2016.; [Picture] Image showing the HD-2 PAD data on a Toyota HD radio, showing a placeholder for album art or station logo, from March 2016.
[Picture] Image showing the HD-2 PAD data on a Toyota HD radio, showing the station logo, from March 2016.
[Picture] Image showing the HD-2 PAD data on a Toyota HD radio, showing the old "99.5 The Jag" logo and information in the text, from March 2016.
[Picture] Image showing the HD-2 PAD data on a Hyundai OEM HD radio, showing the "Sports Talk 99.5" logo and information in the text, from December 2022.
[Picture] Image showing the HD PAD data for the station's HD-2 simulcast of AM 710 WNTM, from September 2015.
[Picture] Image showing the HD PAD data from a Mazda sedan's radio, with the simulcast of AM 710 WNTM, from September 2015.

[Picture] Image showing the HD PAD data for the station's HD-3 Freedom Radio FM broadcast, from May 2017.
[Picture] Image showing the RDS information for translator W266CM, from a Hyundai OEM car stereo, from October 2022.
Owner:: iHeartMedia
History:: Was Mobile's first independent FM. WLPR were the calls, which stood for Living Presence Radio -- a term to describe the stereophonic sound. Went on the air in 1964. Likely started off from a short tower off Schaub Avenue in west Mobile, off Airport Boulevard. Later moved to the First National Bank building downtown, with a small antenna atop the building and studios on the 12^th floor. Stayed with those calls and the beautiful music format until 1987, when new owners re-named the station WAVH, The Wave. The format was vocal based easy listening. Within two years the station went to the oldies format. In the mid 90's the station changed to WMYC -- Mobile's Young Country -- as a strategic move against a sister station's competitor. At this point the WAVH calls and oldies format went to 106.5 FM. Once the competitor was bought out, 96.1 underwent more changes, this time to WRKH calls with a classic rock format.; The start of September saw a change on the station's HD multicast channel. They've dumped CHR "Hot Spot" programming for a simulcast of WNTM-AM, Clear Channel's Mobile-based news/talker. This gives the station a substantial boost in coverage over the AM, especially at night. The HD multicast fell silent in January 2012, but returned in March of that year, then fell silent again in August, only to return sometime in January 2013.; Although this station is listed as a full class C, it does not actually have the maximum facilities. Clear Channel had a permit to raise the power to 100 kW at an even greater antenna height, but that permit was dismissed in March 2012. It is believed they dropped the boost so WBBN in Taylorsville, Mississippi, could improve its coverage area. In November 2015 the station added graphical station logo capability to the HD-1 and HD-2 channels.

In the winter of 2016 it was revealed that iHeart Radio signed a deal with the University of South Alabama to create a Jaguar-themed sports channel, to be hosted by WRKH-HD2 and fed to a translator at 99.5 MHz. The format, which officially debuted on 2 April 2016, includes a mix of sports play-by-play for the university, as well as talk shows and the Uncle Henry show from News Talk 710 WNTM.

The station later added a third subchannel, relaying Radio By Grace's "Freedom Radio FM" Christian Religious format. That branding was discontinued in 2021, with the name of the format reverting to "Radio By Grace", and the parent station of Freedom Radio FM (WLOG Markleysburg, Pennsylvania) being deleted. That broadcast appears to have ceased as of late July 2022; it's unclear how the translator in Mobile is being fed.

In late July 2022, it appears both the HD and RDS were shut off on the station, which does not explain how the Sports Talk station or the Radio By Grace translators are being fed. In late September 2022 the Radio By Grace translator was shut off and an STA filed saying that WRKH was operating on an auxiliary transmitter without HD capability. In late September 2022, the HD was back, but only with an HD2 channel feeding the Sports Talk format. In October 2022, the HD was back off again, although the Radio By Grace translator was reported to be back on with an unknown station of origin. It seemingly was all sorted out by December 2022, when everything was back on and operating as per normal.