WRKO-FM was unique in that it began as one of America's
FIRST FM stations, undertaken as a joint project between
John Shepard III,
owner of WNAC, and Edwin Armstrong, the creator of FM Radio.
On May 27, 1939, the station signed on as W1XOJ, a 20,000-watt
station on 43.0 megaHertz listed as "The Yankee Network,"
and licensed to Paxton, Massachusetts, about 60 miles west
of Boston. On July 24, 1939, W1XOJ began operating
16 hours a day from 8 AM to midnight with 250 Watts on 133.03
mHz. WIXOJ would become WEOD as the station moved out of
"experimental" status. On January 15, 1941, the station
was given authorization to boost its power to 50,000 watts.
On April 29, 1941, WEOD became WGTR, as in its owners, General
Tire & Rubber, broadcasting 8 AM to midnight on 101.7 mHz,
with 31,000 watts. On May 26, 1941, The first commercials
exclusively for FM were broadcast. The commercials were
bought by the Socony Vacuum Oil Company, today's Exxon-Mobil.
WGTR was licensed to Boston, Massachusetts.
In November, 1943, WGTR moved to 103.1 mHz, as part of a
nation-wide switch to the new FM band. On February 29, 1944,
WGTR station was purchased by the Winter Street Corporation,
owners of the John Shepard III's Yankee Network, based in
Boston.
In 1948, WGTR moved again, this time down the dial to 99.1
mHz. Later on that year, WGTR changed its call letters to
WNAC-FM, moving to 98.5 mHz.
Owner John Shepard III died in 1950, and on May 2, 1951,
WNAC-FM and WNAC (AM) were sold to Thomas S. Lee Enterprises,
Inc. On December 12, 1955, the stations were purchased by
RKO Pictures, Inc, as RKO Teleradio.
In 1960, WNAC-FM became WRKO-FM, simulcasting with WNAC
full-time. But in 1963, To satisfy an upcoming FCC regulation
banning full-time AM/FM simulcasts, WRKO-FM adds 12 hours
of its own programming — Middle of the Road music — while
continuing to simulcast with WNAC through the remaining
hours.
On Monday, October 3, 1966, WRKO-FM split away from WNAC,
and becomes automated Top 40 "Arko-matic," in mono, from
6 PM to 6 AM. (General Manager Perry S. Ury said that the
station might upgrade to stereo, depending on the amount
of content released in stereo by the record labels). This
unique format was developed by WRKO-AM Program Director
Bob Henabery, who assigned Mel Phillips to program the station.
WRKO-FM began its music format at midnight on October 12,
1966. According to then-WRKO-FM Operations manager
Mel Phillips, Franki Valli's
I've Got You Under My Skin
was the very first song played on the station. WRKO-FM flipped
to Top 40 the same day as its live sister station in New
York City, WOR-FM. Rick Devlin was WRKO-FM's General
Manager at the time, who eventually moved on to WOR-FM.
(In mid-1968, WCFL/Chicago DJ, Jim Stagg, told a meeting
of student broadcasters at the 29th annual convention of
the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System in Chicago, "almost
overnight the teenagers bought up just about every FM transistor
in town simply because (WRKO-FM) gave them 5 more songs
in every hour,")
In November, 1968, WRKO-FM upgraded its signal to stereo,
becoming WROR, breaking away completely from WRKO with its
own Drake-Chenault-syndicated programming,
Hit Parade 69.
That updated to
Hit Parade
'70 in 1970,
Hit
Parade '71 in 1971, etc. until some time in the 1970s
when it became a live station.
On November 1, 1970, WROR switched to Bill Drake's
Solid Gold Rock and Roll
format, a 50/50 mix of current music and oldies. In the
Spring of 1973, WROR switched to an all-oldies format, first
using Drake/Chenault and then in December of 1973, WROR
Program Director John Long created his own oldies format
for the station.
Under new ownership of Atlantic Ventures, on February 12,
1991, WROR became WBMX.