WPKO-FM is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 in Bellefontaine

Bellefontaine, Ohio

Bellefontaine is a city in and the county seat of Logan County, Ohio, United States. The population was 13,069 at the 2000 census. It is the center of the Bellefontaine Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau in 2003...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. It is programmed in a Hot AC radio format, and is almost entirely locally produced. The station is owned by V-Teck Communications, and is the sister station to WBLL

WBLL (AM)

WBLL is an American radio station in Bellefontaine, Ohio. It currently broadcasts with Talk programming, along with certain sporting events...

.

History

WPKO originally signed on the air on June 1, 1969 with the call letters WOGM (for "Ohio's Good Music") before switching to WTOO-FM with a contemporary hit format on June 1, 1978 as "Stereo Too 98" . The station became WPKO-FM on February 19, 1988. For a time, the -FM suffix was required as part of the call letters to differentiate the station from its AM sister station, now known as WBLL. While this remains the station's official call letters, the station now is commonly known as WPKO.

On January 6, 2005, a major ice storm

Ice storm

An ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain, also known as a glaze event or in some parts of the United States as a silver thaw. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least of ice on exposed surfaces...

caused a loss of power to the broadcast facilities. As a result, WPKO was knocked off the air for several hours. V-Teck Communications has recently obtained emergency power generators to ensure this does not happen again.