WTKI

This station signed on as WFUN on November 26, 1946,{{cite book |year=1950 |page= 71 |title=Broadcasting-Telecasting 1950 Yearbook |chapter=Directory of AM, FM, and TV Stations of the United States |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc. |location=Washington, D.C.}} and was acquired by the Huntsville Broadcasting Company in May 1948.{{cite book |title=Broadcasting Yearbook 1979 |year=1979 |page=C-5 |chapter=Directory of Radio Stations in the United States and Canada |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc. |location=Washington, D.C.}} The station has served Huntsville since under several callsigns: WFUN, WFIX, WKGL, WHOH, and now WTKI.

WFIX in the 1970s was a full-service middle-of-the-road adult contemporary station, until the market upheaval of the 1980s when Arbitron expanded the survey area beyond Madison County and the FM stations began their rise to local market dominance, as was the case elsewhere in the country. Since the mid-1980s, the station has broadcast a number of formats, most notably talk radio, classic country,{{cite news |work=The Huntsville Times |title=WTKI-AM 1450 going Classic Country |first=Chris |last=Welch |date=April 29, 2001 |page=G5}} "relationship radio," and in 2002, it flipped to sports talk as "ESPN 1450".{{cite news |work=The Huntsville Times |title=WTKI breaks off 'Relationship' with move to ESPN radio |first=Chris |last=Welch |date=November 24, 2002 |page=G6}} The station was the radio flagship of the Huntsville Stars minor league baseball radio network until the 2007 station ownership and format change.{{cite news |work=The Huntsville News |title=Huntsville Stars games to air on 'The Ump' |page=2E |date=January 31, 2007}} WTKI also broadcast games of the Huntsville Channel Cats of the Central Hockey League from the team's inception in 1995 through the penultimate 1998-1999 season.{{cite news |first=Brett |last=Friedlander |title=Force Games May Be On Radio |work=The Fayetteville Observer |location=Fayetteville, North Carolina |date=1997-10-12 |quote=The Channel Cats' games have been carried by WTKI radio in Huntsville since the team's inception three seasons ago.}}

The station was assigned the WTKI call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on September 1, 1992.{{cite web |url=http://liceinsing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=30965 |title=Call Sign History |publisher=FCC Media Bureau |work=CDBS Public Access Database |access-date=March 6, 2010}} It has held those call letters since then except for an eight-month period in 2002 when it was a "relationship radio"-formatted, female-oriented talk station under the call sign of WHOH, the "Heart of Huntsville."

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In November 2006, Christian Voice of Central Ohio, Inc., headed by Dan Baughman, agreed to buy WTKI from Mountain Mist Media, LLC., headed by David Barnhardt, for a reported $475,000.{{cite news |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6398658.html |title=Deals |work=Broadcasting & Cable |date=2006-12-11}}{{cite news |work=Radio & Records |url=http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/SearchStoryPage.aspx?ContentID=qwUfzX6FmB0%3d&Version=0&Search=Huntsville |title=Transactions for Dec. 1, 2006 |quote=Mountain Mist Media, LLC's WTKI-AM/Huntsville, AL to Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc for $475,000. |date=2006-12-01 |access-date= 2007-12-30}} As a result, the station flipped formats from sports talk to religious programming in early January 2007.{{cite news |title=1450 AM becomes religious channel |work=The Huntsville Times |location=Huntsville, Alabama |date=January 10, 2007 }} The station, branded as "ProTalk 1450", was operated as a simulcast of sister station WDPT until both ceased operations and went temporarily silent on January 30, 2009, due to the late 2000s recession.{{cite web |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |title=Application Search Details (BLSTA-20090223AAX ) |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1297488 |date=December 8, 2009}}{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Welch |work=The Huntsville Times |title=WTKI-AM shuts down operations |url=http://www.al.com/business/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/business/123391536071730.xml&coll=1 |date=February 6, 2009}} Both stations returned to the air in early November 2009 broadcasting a mix of political talk and sports talk programming.

On December 23, 2009, Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc. applied to the FCC to transfer the broadcast license for WTKI to FRC of Alabama LLC, doing business as "Focus Radio Communications."{{cite web |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |title=Application Search Details (BAL-20091222ANX) |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1349545 |date=December 23, 2009}} {{As of|2010|02|10|df=US}}, the Commission accepted the application for filing but took no further action. Focus Radio, which has contracted to provide programming for both WTKI and WEKI (the former WDPT) under a local marketing agreement since November 2009, would pay a total of $235,000 for the licenses and assets of both stations.

Focus Radio Communications sold WTKI and translators W243EP and W287DH to Mike Brandt's Southern Broadcasting, LLC effective January 31, 2023 for $700,000.

{{Reflist}}

{{AM station data|30965|WTKI}}

• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|200684|W287DH}}
• {{FXL|W287DH}}

{{Huntsville Radio}}

{{Adult Contemporary Radio Stations in Alabama}}

TKI

Category:Soft adult contemporary radio stations in the United States

Category:Radio stations established in 1946

Category:1946 establishments in Alabama