(88.5
FM ) is a 440 watt student operated
Radio Station in
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania , in northeastern
Pennsylvania . The station's signal is best listened to within inner
Luzerne County (Wilkes-Barre,
Kingston ,
Swoyersville ), but can also be heard in outer Luzerne County (
Pittston ,
Nanticoke ,
Dallas ).
Like many college radio stations, WRKC is run completely by students at
King's College , except for the general manager. The college has a fair mixture of contemporary rock, indie rock, punk rock and other assorted genres. Students must play at least 40% of their music from rotation, but sometimes this rule is voided if the genre of a show is unique (i.e., a reggae show would not require rotation to be played since there is very little reggae in rotation). WRKC was formerly a mixed news, talk and music station but in the last fifteen years went to a complete music format, save for the station's anchor program, the
Radio Home Visitor , a news program that reads the previous day's local newspapers to the blind. While a mixed format, the station aired some infamous segments such as a student interview with the
Ku Klux Klan .
The station is webcast. The station airs 24-hours a day on a 440 watt signal, playing a jukebox of CDs when student DJs do not do shows.
The general practice of WRKC, like many other college radio stations, is to play non-mainstream and underground bands. In recent years, bands like
Fallout Boy ,
Taking Back Sunday and
My Chemical Romance were played heavily on WRKC before they achieved mainstream attention. Many popular bands in previous decades have been played on WRKC before they reached mainstream popularity.
The station also airs broadcasts of
Football and
Basketball games for King's College, and is planning on airing baseball and lacrosse in the future.
