WJZX-AM 860 Cocoa

Original Call Letters: WKKO

Originally Licensed: Jan. 4, 1952

Original City of License: Cocoa

Original Frequency: 860

Origin of Call Letters:

Original Power: 1,000 watts daytime

Original Location: Burnett Road, south of State Road 520

Original Format: Urban

Owner(s):	1952-Brevard Broadcasting Company
	1959-Marvin Rothschild
	1970-Cocoa One Inc.
	1975-Emcom Associates
	1984-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.
	1984-Fox Radio Inc.
	1985-Capitol Broadcasting Co.
	1988-Christian Radio Communications, Inc.
	1992-Walker Broadcasting
	1993-Brevard Broadcasting, Inc. ($90,000)
	1993-Walker Info & Ed Institute Inc.
	1998-Carl Marcocci
	2005-Bible Broadcasting Network ($250,000)

History Of Call Letters and Formats:	WKKO-1952-Block Programming
	WKKO-1981-MOR
	WJZX-1984-Urban "Fox 86"
	WJZX-1985-Adult Contemporary
	WCKS-1986-Top 40 ''Brevard's No. 1 Hit Music Station''
	WCKS-1986-'50s and '60s
	WCKS-1987-Top 40
	WCKS-1987-Silent
	WWKO-1989-Urban Contemporary "KO 860 Knockin' Out The Hits"
	WRFB-1993-News/Talk "Radio For Brevard"
	WRFB-1998-Nostalgia
	WRFB-2000-Silent (4-4-2000)
	WRFB-2004-License Cancelled (2-1-2004)

History of WJZX
WJZX began as WKKO.
From Brian Douglas; "...This station was WCKS (using CK-101's former call letters) playing Top 40 in 1987. By 1993, WWKO was an R&B station. Alan Dickson was the GM through this time. The Owner Contact was Keith Walker..." "...It became a Nostalgia station soon after, before going dark in a buyout (to enable WGUL, Dunedin [also on 860] to improve its coverage)."

WKKO Moves To A New Sound
By Dave Hodges
Florida Today Feb 21, 1984
WKKO a Brevard radio station on the air since 1952, will acquire a new name and a different sound this weekend when two local broadcasters assume ownership of the business. Brevard residents Alan Dickson and Michael Fry are the principals in the Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc. which received Federal Communications Commission approval of the acquisition last week. WKKO had been owned by Emcom Associates Ltd. since 1975. The station will remain at 860 kilowatts on the AM band, but the new name will be WJZX. Listeners also will notice a change in programming as the station, switches from Its present popular music format to what Is referred to in the broadcasting Industry as "urban contemporary." Listeners won't hear that term used on the air. What they will hear is a blend of tunes chosen not by the recording artist but by the style of the music itself. "What we will be doing is a rhythm-and-blues musical base-about 70 percent-plus pop and applicable crossover music," said programming director Reggie Henry. Added to that will be contemporary Jazz and reggae. Fry, who previously worked for Zeta 7 and WEZY, said urban contemporary programming has been absent from Brevard's airwave. In the areas" where It has been introduced, such a format has attracted large audiences. The company's research on local musical tastes, for example, revealed "a phenomenal interest in progressive jazz and reggae here," said Fry, the firm's vice president. Making the programming successful depends on "the way It Is presented on the air," Henry said. Rather, than aim for listeners of one ethnic group, WJZX will strive to appeal to an adult age 18 to 34, "and the announcers will be reflective of that, too. We will have announcers who will be black and announcer who'll be white." Virtually gone are the day when a station having a rhythm-and-blues format had to be content with a minor share of a community's listening audience. A contemporary music has developed, public perceptions have changed. "Black music" and "white music" stereotypes are crumbling because the artist are crossing racial and ethnic lines in their work. Virtually gone are the day when a station having a rhythm - and - blues format had to be content with a minor share of a community's listening audience. A contemporary music has developed, public perceptions have changed. "Black music" and "white music" stereotypes are crumbling because the artist are crossing racial and ethnic lines in their work. WJZX. likewise, "will be a reflection of the times," Henry said. In a larger sense, the acceptance of urban contemporary stations "is the fulfilling of the dream. Dr. Martin Luther King's dream," Henry said. "You can't expect to socialize with members of other races without an exchange of cultures and ideas" Dickson, company president, and Fry are planning another change in the sound of their product this summer. The advent of AM stereo broadcasting. Dickson said that move will give WJZX's signal greater clarity, wider frequency response and the channel separation that drew listeners to FM stereo stations years ago. AM stations are buying the transmitting hardware now in anticipation of AM stereo receivers being available to consumers the coming year. WJZX will continue to be a daytime only station, operating from sunrise to sunset, but Fry said the chances are good that the in station eventually will be authorized by the FCC to broadcast 24 hour day. Despite the limited hours It has compared to its FM competitors, the 860 spot on the AM dial affords WJZX a stronger signal, one that listeners can pick Up In outlying cities. For marketing purposes, WJZX will be known as "Fox 86." and a likeness of that animal wearing sunglass and headphones Is painted on the station's van and will appear on bumper stickers being printed now. The station will be a local affiliate of the Sheridan Broadcasting Network, a national news service that has Its studios In Cocoa and distributes its programming via satellite to more than 100 stations. Bill and Jane Maschmeier and Tom McArdle II are the Emcom partners who have owned and managed WKKO the past 8 1/2 years. They will remain on the station's staff. "We are very excited over the fact that the purchasers are a local firm," Bill Maschmeier said, noting that most acquisitions are by out of state companies unfamiliar with the communities their stations serve. "We feel they (Dickson/Fry) are exr perienced, competent radio people and will bring: to this market which Is the county a very exciting format," he added.
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St. Petersburg Independent Apr 24, 1984

WJZX Personalities

Reggie Henry-1984-Program Director-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Robert Orlando-1984-News Director-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Maurice Jackson-1984-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc. In Memory

Thomas McArdele II-1984-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Scott Stover-1985-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc. Biography

Sam Shannon-1985-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Ray Scott-1985-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Gary Matthews-1985-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Scott Williams-1985-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Sammie Martin-1985-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Maureen Wood-1985-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Jack Moore-1988-8:30AM Sat and 2:30PM Sundays-Christian Radio Communications, Inc.

David Jones-"Dr. Dave's Blues Show"-David was a sociology/anthropology professor at the University of Central Florida

Other Names In WJZX History

H. W. "Bill" Maschmeier aka "Prince William,"-1975-President/General Manager-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc. In Memory

Alan Dickson-1984-President-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Michael Fry-1984-Vice President/General Manager-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Tom Collins-1984-Operations Manager/Chief Engineer-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Dan Deaton-1984-ProgramDirector/Music Director-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Jane Maschmeier-1984-Promotions Manager-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Mike Walker-1984-General Sales Manager-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Dawn Farley-1985-Sales-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Dave Temens-1985-Sales-Dickson/Fry Broadcast Group, Inc.

Network Affiliation(s):	Mutual Broadcasting System
	Sheridan Broadcasting Network (A Black owned satellite news network based in Cocoa)