WKCS
91.1 FM
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Falcon
Radio
Fulton
High School is the home of one of only four high school radio stations
in Tennessee, and is one of only a small number of high school radio
broadcast stations in the country. The call letters, WKCS, were
originally chosen to stand for Knoxville City Schools. Now that the
school system has merged with the Knox County Schools, the call letters
are still fitting. WKCS went on the air during December, 1952. This was
the second year for students at the new Fulton High School. The station
originally began
under the direction of Oma (Penny) Wendham. Penny taught English and one
radio class daily.
With the retirement of Penny Wendham in 1963, the radio station and
classes became the responsibility of Joanna Huffman. The radio program
also became a part of the Vocational Department at Fulton High School.
For the first time, radio broadcast classes were offered throughout the
school day.
Ron Cassady held the duties of radio broadcast instructor from 1971-74.
In 1974 he turned the responsibilities over to Fulton graduate and local
broadcaster, Lynn Davis. Lynn held the position until 1976.
In
the days of radio’s block programming, the students wrote and produced
their own programs. As the industry changed, so did the programming at
WKCS. This block programming gradually gave way to the new type of
programming with music as its staple.
The station was originally licensed to serve the community with 310
watts of effective radiated power at the frequency of 91.1 Mhz. However,
the station was never able to operate at the maximum limits of its power
because the Gates transmitter, used from the early 1960’s until 1996,
had only 250-watt capability.
In
the fall of 1976, local air personality Allen Johnson, known locally and
nationally by the professional stage name Dr. Al Adams, took the
managerial and teaching position at Fulton High School. Johnson had both
a radio and television
background as well as management experience. Dr
Al became one of the most loved and respected instructors in the history
of the radio program. Johnson trained many successful broadcasters
such as Jeff Jarnigan, Randy Miller, Butch Johnson, and Chris Wade.
In
2004, Al Johnson turned over the reigns to Russell Mayes, one of his
former students. Mayes graduated from Fulton High School in 1995, and
after graduation worked at radio stations WLIL in Lenoir City and WKZX
in Maryville. Mayes hopes to continue training professional
broadcasters that will be very attractive in the job market, while
striving to make WKCS an attractive listening alternative and an active
member of the community. He believes that the two major strengths of
WKCS are the station’s diverse oldies format that has attracted many new
listeners, and the live broadcasts of Fulton High School football and
basketball games.
In
1996, the old 250-watt transmitter was replaced with a modern state of
the art stereo transmitter with an 1100-watt capability. After the
recent renovation of Fulton High School, radio station WKCS is truly a
state of the art facility in every area except one - power! Presently,
an increase to 1000 watts of power is being sought to enable the station
to better serve the larger listening area that developed when Knoxville
City Schools and Fulton became a part of the larger Knox County School
System.
East Town
