WOOK (AM)

File:William P. Gottlieb 16181 original.jpg at the WINX microphone in 1940]]

WINX went on the air in 1940 at 1310 kHz as Washington's fifth radio station. The Federal Communications Commission had previously granted a construction permit to attorney Lawrence J. Heller on February 13, including a 50-watt synchronous amplifier to give the station full metropolitan coverage.{{cite news|date=February 15, 1940|work=Broadcasting|title=Washington Given New Local Outlet|access-date=December 4, 2019|page=12|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1940/1940-02-15-BC.pdf}} The amplifier was located at American University.{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-15-1940-1459169/|work=Washington American Eagle|date=October 15, 1940|title=Station WINX To Operate From Campus|page=1|access-date=December 4, 2019}} The station relocated the next year to 1340 when NARBA came into effect. In 1942, Heller sold minority stakes in WINX to Richard K. Lyon and Herbert M. Bratter.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1942/1942-04-13-BC.pdf|date=April 13, 1942|title=WINX Transfer Approved|page=22|work=Broadcasting|access-date=December 4, 2019}}

The Washington Post acquired WINX in 1944 for $500,000; it was the highest price ever paid for a "local" radio station like WINX that broadcast with 250 watts.{{cite news|page=14|work=Broadcasting|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1944/1944-07-24-BC.pdf|date=July 24, 1944|title=Seven Station Transfers Granted By FCC|access-date=December 5, 2019}} The Post also got into the early days of FM radio when it acquired station W3XO, later WINX-FM, from Jansky and Bailey in 1945.{{cite news|url=https://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1945/1945-07-09-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=July 9, 1945|title=Actions of the FCC|access-date=December 5, 2019|page=83}} The Post owned the station until 1948, when it contracted to buy a majority share in WTOP (1500 AM) from CBS; the deal would require the newspaper to sell WINX and its two boosters but allowed CBS to gain full ownership of KQW (today's KCBS) in San Francisco.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-05-24-BC.pdf|date=May 24, 1948|work=Broadcasting|title=WTOP-KQW: CBS Sells 55% D. C.; Planning TV|access-date=December 5, 2019|pages=27, 105}} William Banks, owner of Philadelphia station WHAT, bought WINX AM for $130,000 in 1949; the Post retained WINX-FM.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1949/1949-01-24-BC.pdf|date=January 24, 1949|work=Broadcasting|title=WINX AM, FM: FCC Asked to Okay Sale to Banks, 'Post'|page=50|access-date=December 5, 2019}}

In 1951, Richard Eaton, whose United Broadcasting Company owned radio station WOOK (1590 kHz) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and newly signed on Washington FM outlet WFAN (100.3 FM), bought WINX from the Banks Independent Broadcasting Company for $115,000.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1951/BC-1951-11-12.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=November 12, 1951|title=Transfers: Bids Filed; FCC Acts|page=105|access-date=December 4, 2019}} WOOK, established in 1947, was Eaton's first radio station;{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/06/03/richard-eaton-pioneer-in-black-radio-with-station-wook-dies-at-age-81/34ed196a-3019-42d3-b03a-37bd96fa0a82/|work=Washington Post|date=June 3, 1981|title=Richard Eaton, Pioneer in Black Radio With Station WOOK, Dies at Age 81|access-date=December 5, 2019}} Eaton had previously been a commentator with WINX and then with the Mutual Broadcasting System.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40126702/|title=Wartime refugee set to buy Honolulu TV station|agency=Associated Press|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|date=February 21, 1966|page=B-2|access-date=December 5, 2019}} In order to retain both stations and meet multiple ownership rules, the Silver Spring station license was relocated to Rockville, Maryland—which under pre-1950 Census Bureau guidelines was not part of the Washington metropolitan area—on 1600 kHz. Additionally, Eaton switched the two stations' call letters, resulting in WOOK as the new 1340 in Washington, D.C., and WINX as the station at 1600 in Rockville.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1951/BC-1951-11-12.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=November 12, 1951|title=Closed Circuit|page=6|access-date=December 4, 2019}} The local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers asked the FCC to reconsider approving the WINX-WOOK swap because United's non-union staff had replaced the former WINX's union technicians.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1951/BC-1951-12-03.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=December 3, 1951|title=WINX Transfer: IBEW Asks Reconsideration|access-date=December 4, 2019}}

WOOK, both on 1590 before 1951 and on 1340 thereafter, broke ground in Washington radio. While Eaton had initially intended to make WOOK a talk outlet, the African-American printer of Eaton's suburban newspapers suggested that he cover Washington's growing Black population.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/71-OCR/1971-06-29-BC-OCR-Page-0059.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=June 29, 1971|page=59|title=Richard Eaton: colorful past, colorful present|access-date=December 5, 2019}} It was just the second such station aimed at a Black audience, after WDIA in Memphis, Tennessee, which then had an all-white air staff.{{r|facility|p=13}} Hal Jackson, who had started his career at WINX{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40128099/|title=Hal Jackson Birdland M.C.|work=Pittsburgh Courier|date=August 8, 1953|page=18|access-date=December 5, 2019}} with a show titled "The Bronze Review" and was laughed at when he proposed to the Post that it cover Homestead Grays Negro league baseball, launched the first regular African American-hosted program in Washington over WOOK (when it was at 1590{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40128237/|page=19|title=Dee Cee DJ Now on N. Y. Air|access-date=December 5, 2019|work=Pittsburgh Courier}}).{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/voiceovermakingo00barl/page/95 95]|title=Voice Over: The Making of Black Radio|first=William|last=Barlow|date=1999|publisher=Temple University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/voiceovermakingo00barl|url-access=registration}}

In 1956, WOOK relocated its transmitter to several lots purchased by Eaton in the Chillum Castle Manor subdivision, at 1st Place, NE.{{cite web|url=https://mdsoar.org/bitstream/handle/11603/2248/JRRP2014_Grad_Sparenberg.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|date=April 18, 2013|first=Jennifer|last=Sparinberg|title=WOOK-TV TELEVISION PRODUCTION FACILITY: PROPERTY HISTORY AND EVALUATION|access-date=December 5, 2019}}{{rp|7}}

{{main|WOOK-TV}}

The success of WOOK as the radio station for black Washington led Eaton to expand into television. In 1962, WOOK moved into a new, purpose-built radio and television studio at 5321 1st Place NE, and WOOK-TV channel 14 took to the air on March 5, 1963.{{r|facility|p=8}} Channel 14 was, like WOOK radio, primarily oriented at an African-American audience; it became WFAN-TV in 1968. The station ceased broadcasting on February 12, 1972, as United faced mounting legal challenges to its various licenses and consequent financial reverses.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1972/1972-02-14-BC.pdf|date=February 14, 1972|work=Broadcasting|title=Another leg goes out from under Eaton|page=42|access-date=December 5, 2019}} United asked the FCC to keep the WFAN-TV license active while it tried to sell it. Still, because United itself had no intention of restoring service, the stations' licenses were deleted in 1974{{cite news|page=7|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1974/1974-04-29-BC.pdf|title=FCC lifts licenses of two Eaton UHF's|date=April 29, 1974|work=Broadcasting|access-date=December 5, 2019}} after United was ordered to return them to air itself.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1973/1973-04-09-BC.pdf|date=April 9, 1973|work=Broadcasting|title=Eaton told to light up two U's now off the air|page=42|access-date=December 5, 2019}}

{{see|WYCB}}

Early in 1966, the FCC renewed WOOK's license but assessed a $7,500 fine for various technical violations.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1966/1966-05-09-BC.pdf|title=Examiner wants fine for Eaton's WOOK|access-date=December 4, 2019|work=Broadcasting|date=May 9, 1966|page=60}} However, United's troubles deepened when, on August 31, a competing application was filed for the 1340 frequency by Washington Community Broadcasting.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1966/1966-09-05-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=September 5, 1966|title=Three-way fight for WOOK-TV|access-date=December 4, 2019|pages=49, 52}}

In 1969, the Federal Communications Commission designated Washington Community's challenges alongside WOOK's and WFAN-TV's license renewals for hearing.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1969/1969-06-09-BC.pdf|date=June 9, 1969|access-date=December 4, 2019|work=Broadcasting|page=9|title=Hearing set on D.C. stations}} For WOOK radio, the FCC's questions revolved around the broadcast of false advertisements; the group also charged that WOOK was used in a numbers racket using fake Bible citations read over the air by ministers who bought air time on the station.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1969/1969-06-30-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=June 30, 1969|title=Was WOOK used in numbers racket?|pages=61–62|access-date=December 5, 2019}} In one program, broadcast over WOOK on June 8, 1969, a preacher was cited as saying, "I know the Lord blessed through the 82nd Psalm and the 7th verse", when 782 had been the winning number in the local undercover lottery on May 26. That same minister had previously promised to send listeners a "Bible scripture that is a sure blessing" in exchange for $2.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40126645/|work=Akron Beacon Journal|agency=Washington Post|title=Claims This Radio Station Gives The Wrong 'Numbers'|first=William H.|last=Jones|date=June 24, 1969|page=A-2|access-date=December 5, 2019}}

Hearings for WOOK stretched until September 1975, when the FCC denied its license renewal but did not resolve the Washington Community Broadcasting application status so that the group could cure financial deficiencies in its application.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1975/1975-09-15-BC.pdf|date=September 15, 1975|work=Broadcasting|title=FCC denies renewal to Eaton's WOOK, adding another jeopardy to woes of broadcast group|access-date=December 4, 2019|pages=30, 32}} Eaton defended WOOK, saying the FCC's principal witness was a disgruntled former employee and a convicted felon.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1970s/1975/RR-1975-09-26.pdf|work=Radio & Records|date=September 26, 1975|page=1|title=Eaton Defends WOOK|access-date=December 5, 2019}} It would not be until August 24, 1976, that Washington Community Broadcasting Company's ten-year-old competing application for the 1340 frequency was granted.{{Cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1976/1976-09-06-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=September 6, 1976|access-date=December 4, 2019|page=60|title=In contest}}

When it became clear that 1340's license was doomed, Eaton opted to sacrifice the Spanish-language programming airing at 100.3 FM to move WOOK's intellectual unit there.{{r|tangled}} On December 24, 1976, WOOK became WFAN and the FM station became WOOK.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=82500 |title= History Cards for WOOK FM 100.3|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) Attorneys for Washington Community Broadcasting, the group set to take over the 1340 frequency, called the switch a "flimflam" and rued it was out of their control.{{r|tangled}} However, as April 22, 1978—the final day of broadcasting for the WFAN license—loomed, Hispanic leaders in metropolitan Washington were left to evaluate their options; they attempted to purchase WGTB, which Georgetown University was selling at the time, but the University of the District of Columbia acquired the station, rendering the backup offer from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington—which would have run the station as a Spanish-language outlet—moot.{{r|tangled}}

After WFAN left the air, the new station at 1340 AM, WYCB, began operations on August 15.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/10/21/eight-resignations-at-wycb-radio/ef6bb6da-be95-4f19-8b73-087beff826f2/|work=Washington Post|date=October 21, 1978|access-date=December 5, 2019|title= Eight Resignations At WYCB Radio |first=Don|last=Shirley}}

{{reflist}}

{{Washington Radio}}

OOK

Category:Radio stations established in 1940

Category:1940 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.

Category:Radio stations disestablished in 1978

Category:1978 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.

Category:African-American history of Washington, D.C.

Category:Defunct radio stations in the United States

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