
WKIS-740
AM
Orlando
Original Call Letters: WORZ
Originally Licensed: Feb
8, 1947
WKIS
logo Courtesy of Pete Simonson
Original City of License: Orlando
Original Power: 1,000
watts
Original Format: Pop
Network Affiliation(s): CBS
Owner(s):
1966-Tom Cassel
1971-Susquehana
Radio
1988-Guy Gannett
Broadcasting
1994-Paxson Broadcasting
1997-Clear Channel
Communications
2007-Aloha
Station Trust, LLC, as Trustee
History Of Call Letters and Formats: WORZ-1947
WKIS-1960's-Adult
Contemporary
WKIS-1979-News/Talk
"NewsTalk 74"
WWNZ-1988-News/Talk
WQTM-2001-Sports
Talk formerly on 540 kHz
History of WKIS
WKIS took to the air as WORZ
on Feb. 8, 1947, with 1,000 watts of power as another NBC affiliate at
740 on the AM dial. Offices and studios were located at 790 N. Orange Ave., and
the station's transmitter was on Old Winter Garden Road. In those days, NBC
had two radio networks, called the red and
the blue networks. In 1949, you
could listen to the Dean Martin and
Jerry Lewis show on Friday evenings on WORZ.
WKIS Personalities
Mark McKibben-1974-1977-From
Mark's email: "...I started
out doing the all night show. After a couple of years on air, I shifted
over to become Gene Burns' engineer. In the spring of 1977, we worked 90
straight days without a day off to help boost the station's ratings during
the sweeps. Bob Poe was Gene's producer in those days. He later
went on to become the GM. I enjoyed
working with Gene tremendously. He is a fantastic talk show host. We were
a great team. We used to celebrate from time-to-time at Freddie's Steak
House in Fern Park. Gene loved good food and he taught me a lot about wine. Another
person that helped make WKIS successful was John Loving. John
was the Chief Engineer of the station and he became my mentor. It's
because of John that I was able to make the transition to engineering. I left
WKIS in 1977 to work as Chief Engineer of WRMF-FM
98.1 in Titusville. I
was only there about a year and then moved to WPLP-AM 570 in Pinellas Park.
While at WPLP, I was "discovered" by Ray Rask of the Mutual Broadcasting
System. I moved to Washington in 1979 and took over as the "Assistant
Director of Satellite and Corporate Engineering."
Tony Gerard

Larry Shannon (Larry
Roberts)-1971-1974-Program
director and afternoon personality. Biography


Marty Stebbins-Biography
Russ Wheeler-1966-1969, 1972-1975-mornings.
Biography
Stan
Savran-1973-1976-sports
talk show on Sunday nights from 7-10. Sports and news on the morning show with
Russ Wheeler. Stan also did play by play for the Florida Blazers of the World
Football League the one season they were in existence in 1974.
Hal Murray
Phil Hendrie
Doris Ashwell-1970-1976-Talk
show host Biography
Doris with Larry
Shannon (Roberts) and Larry
King (Bessler) on the WKIS mid-day
show.
Richard
King-News director
Buzz Lawrence-1974-program director. From Steve
Schiffman; "...His sign off was: "Buzz Off, Kiss On".
I heard that Buzz died sometime after leaving WKIS-radio
("Open the door, to '74, Orlando).

Steve Mitchell-1974-1975-Weekends/Fill-in
Steve
Mitchell with
Guests Shari Lewis and Kirby "Sky King" Grant-1974 Courtesy
of Steve
Schiffman

Gene
Burns-1971-1985
Biography
Interview with Radio Phenomenon Gene Burns

Frank Reed-1972 Biography

Pete Forgione-1973-Mid
days. Biography

Jerry
Gordon-1972-1978-Middays, afternoon drive Jerry
was also the voice of Disney for ten years.
Bob
James-1982-"The Real Bob
James"-Bob came to Orlando
from WGAR in Cleveland (where he left in 1979). Prior to his stop at WKIS
he was involved in production work and wrote for TV's "Entertainment
Tonight". He also did some acting with small roles in "The
Deer Hunter" and "Those Lips, Those Eyes".
Bob replaced Steve Cannon.
Bob is currently a professor of broadcast journalism at Middle
Tennessee State University.

Bob Barnes Biography
Dick Norman-weekdays 9
a.m. to noon/3-6 PM
/ operations manager
Biography
Dr.
Marilyn Mason-1984-1985-"Practical
Psychology"-Noon-2PM- Dr. Mason began a similar radio-psychology in 1980
at KSTP-AM in Minneapolis. Her commitment to psychology stemmed from a
tragedy. Mason's husband, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, was
killed in 1966 by Charles
Whitman, the student who climbed into the University of Texas tower and
began a shooting rampage that killed 15 and wounded 31.
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Clive Thomas-Biography
Leslie Brewington-Producer
Biography

Jim
Philips-1972-1986
Biography
Lynn
Levine (Moira of
the "Philips Phile" on WTKS-FM
104.1) News anchor and host of “At Your Service” from 1
p.m. to 3 p.m.
Lynn also co-hosted the Morning News on WWNZ-AM 740
with Wayne
Trout in 1988.
(Note:
Program Director Kaye Barone made Lynn the host
of "At Your Service".
Lynn hade been a "street reporter".
Wayne Trout-1983-1990-News
Director
Biography
Wayne on George W. Bush
Chris
Russo-1984-1987-"Sports Talk"-6PM-8PM
Chris graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park in 1982. Before Orlando he
worked at WEXI and WOKV in Jacksonville. Chris would move to WMCA-AM
570 in New York in 1987. Now known as the "Mad Dog" on WFAN-AM
640 in New York City.
8-14-08-After 19
years at WFAN-AM 660, New York Chris leaves.

Bud Brewer-Biography
Harry
Cup-1982-7PM-11PM-Biography-
Harry's program would go statewide in 1983 on the Florida Radio Network.
FRN was owned by WKIS' parent company. Cup
was heard from 7-11Pm on; WKIS, WIPC-AM 1200,
Winter Haven, WEZY-AM 1350, Lakeland,
WNDB-AM 1150,
Daytona Beach, and WWFL-AM
1340, Clermont
Steve Kane-was a theater arts professor at
Rollins College when
he began as a fill-in host at WKIS
in 1977. He eventually took over late nights. His program called "Talk
About Life Klub" (T.A.L.K.). card carrying members would meet at the Golden
Corral restaurant. He would leave WKIS
and take his program to WLOF-AM
950. Today Steve Kane is heard on South Florida radio.
Pancho O'Hara-(Chico Ramos)-1977-1978, 1979-1984-Pancho
was a regular caller to local talk shows in Orlando. He was a gardener and
painter by trade. WKIS
found him so entertaining (or obnoxious) they offered him a job.







Randy Molnar-Production
Director

Chuck Harder-"For The People"
Sally Jesse-Raphael (NBC TalkNet)
Jim Bohannon
Robert Vincent Sims-"The Garden Rebel"
Jack Nelson-"Dollars and
Sense"
Tom Olson-1988-"Olson on the
Law"
When Radio Was
Dining Around-noon-to-2pm-hosted by Gene
Burns and, alternately, Peter Rocchio Myron
Stein-"The Auto Doctor"--10 a.m. to noon
Peter Lane- "Wine Line"-2 to 3
p.m.

Click for full sized view
Click for full sized view
Pete Simonson sends along this photo of Frank
Reed and Larry
Shannon at Disney's Grad night
and a promo for the Russ
Wheeler morning show
This full page ad appeared in the Orlando
Sentinel Star on April 14,
1978 celebrating the 30th anniversary. It was more the anniversary of the
frequency because the call letters WKIS were new to the station in the
1960's. The party was held at the "Rainbow
Ranch".
Thanks to Jeff D'Aurora
for the photo
Click photo for full sized view
This building
on Winter Garden Road was built to house WORZ-AM 740, WORZ-FM
100.3 as well as a planned TV studio as WORZ was granted a
license to transmit on channel 9. Seems they ran out of money and channel 9
became WLOF TV. The area in the back of the station which housed
the Sales dept. was to be the TV studio.
click photo for full sized view
Thanks to Jeff D'Aurora for the photo.
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