and 105.3 fm slogan the k zone frequency 1280 khz translator s 105.3 w287bt fitchburg first air date october 6 1941 1 format news talk sports power wpkz 5 000 watts daytime 1 000 watts nighttime erp w287bt 150 watts class b facility id 71434 transmitter coordinates 42 35 40.00 n 71 50 12.00 w 42.5944444 n 71.8366667 w 42.5944444 ; 71.8366667 wpkz former callsigns weim 1941 2009 affiliations abc news radio cumulus media networks fox news radio premiere networks fox sports radio owner john morrison k zone media group llc webcast listen live website wpkz.net wpkz 1280 am is a 5 000 watt radio station broadcasting a news talk information format and licensed to fitchburg massachusetts usa . the station is currently owned by john morrison through licensee k zone media group llc and features programming from abc news radio citadel media fox news radio premiere radio networks and fox sports radio . contents 1 history 2 translators 3 references 4 external links history edit the station signed on in 1941 as weim a general entertainment station with a variety of shows ranging from dramas to talk to sports to popular music to news and information . by the mid 1950s weim was primarily a popular music station playing the hits of that time ; also included in the stations programming were sports and large amounts of local news . the station was sold to knight quality stations in 1959 . with the advent of rock and roll music weim evolved into a top 40 station by the late 1950s a format that would remain throughout the 1960s and 1970s . some of the weim djs in 1966 1967 included russ karon jerry olin phil dirkin gordy sinclair dick masterman and joe anthony as well as part timer jim bohannon now a nationally syndicated radio talk show host . during this period weim s main competitor for the top 40 audience was boston s 1030 wbz which left the format in 1968 . in 1969 weim facing competition from new boston area top 40 stations 680 wrko and 105.7 wkox fm now wror fm streamlined their sound becoming a much hipper sounding top 40 station with the addition of djs jim conlee mike ivers dan gifford danny lane and gil lawrence as well as adding a progressive rock hour late at night . the station sounded far more professional than what one would expect in a market the size of fitchburg leominster . during this era the station was known as fitchburg s famous and the famous 1280 . in the 1970s weim continued to be well known as a top 40 station with personalities such as ray c jack raymond tom st. john floyd wright gary berkowitz as dave gary thom whetston rip pallotta aka randy pierce rick williams john driscoll p.j. scott don russell and howard lapides as jay richards manager and production partner of dr.drew pinsky and broke the careers of many including jimmy kimmel adam carolla tom green paula abdul and more ; many of them went on to stations in larger markets . additionally the station had its music tracked by national publications such as radio and records giving the station an impact much greater than its size would dictate . by the early 1980s weim had evolved into more of a hot adult contemporary format with oldies mixed in on weekends ; nevertheless current music remained a significant part of the station s programming . although as a local radio station weim had aired local sports programming from the 1970s onward including joe white and sportstalk it added more sports programming in the 1980s as well . in 1987 knight quality stations sold weim to its longtime general manager frank fillipone . it continued as a hot adult contemporary station into the 1990s . more specialty shows such as evening sports talk local community focus programs more professional sports and news specials were added on weekends but the station continued to be relatively music intensive . by the mid 1990s weim evolved into more of a mainstream adult contemporary format and became more gold based by the late 1990s . in 2001 fillipone s weim corp. sold to david wang s liveair communications inc. liveair changed format to news talk sports and began 24 hour programming airing local regional and national talk . liveair sold the station in 2005 to central broadcasting company who returned music programming to the station and relaunched it as am 1280 the blend on october 2 2006 . 2 in 2007 longtime morning host ray chalifoux ray c concluded an over 30 year full time run with the station . ray c began a part time stint as public service director and co host of the saturday morning program smart shopper which he did from 2007 until his death on march 14 2016 . in november 2007 the station began airing a spanish tropical format during the evening hours branded mega 1280 . 3 on april 6 2009 after nearly 68 years as weim the call sign was changed to wpkz in anticipation of its new fm translator which went on the air march 28 2010 on a frequency of 105.3 fm . the station remains mostly a news and talk station with some sports programming . the station also discontinued its music programming including the nighttime spanish tropical format with fox sports radio being broadcast in the evening hours except when professional sports run . 4 wpkz became one of several radio stations in new england to carry the new york yankees in 2012 ; it had previously carried the boston red sox for 45 years 5 but entercom owner of red sox flagship station weei did not offer a renewal of wpkz s contract . however the red sox returned to the station the following season . an ownership change occurred in august 2015 when the station was purchased by an entity headed by john morrison a local businessman and owner of local baseball team the wachusett dirt dawgs . translators edit call sign frequency mhz city of license erp w class fcc info w287bt 105.3 fitchburg massachusetts 150 d fcc after the callsign change to wpkz the owners bought a gloucester translator w245cd at 96.5 fm and through a series of 13 location and frequency change filings moved it to fitchburg . 1 references edit broadcasting & cable yearbook 1999 pdf . 1999 . p. d 210 . retrieved march 3 2012 . fybush scott october 2 2006 . liu moves into tv arena . northeast radio watch . retrieved june 2 2009 . fybush scott november 26 2007 . entercom cbs deal gets fcc blessing . northeast radio watch . retrieved june 2 2009 . new radio station for central new england . leominster champion . april 24 2009 . retrieved june 2 2009 . hartwell michael march 2 2012 . say it ain t so fitchburg station swaps red sox for pinstripes . sentinel & enterprise . retrieved march 3 2012 . external links edit official website query the fcc s am station database for wpkz radio locator information on wpkz query nielsen audio s am station database for wpkz query the fcc s fm station database for w287bt radio locator information on w287bt template news talk sports radio stations in massachusetts retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wpkz & oldid 742281045 categories radio stations in massachusettsnews and talk radio stations in the united statesradio stations established in 1941fitchburg massachusettsmedia in worcester county massachusetts navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 2 october 2016 at 20 04 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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