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I would like to see someone provide a reliable source that states that the reason for the format change from Top 40 to Country was because the Top 40 format was "a failed attempt" or an "unsuccessful attempt". Speaking from personal knowledge (which, yes, I understand can not be cited), the format change was a direct result of Hurricane Ivan and the destruction of WYOK's transmission tower. The resulting delay - some would say the intentional delay - by Cumulus in repairing the damage caused a significant decrease in the revenue that was coming into the radio station, due to a severely limited coverage area that was provided by the temporary arrangement (transmitting directly off of the STL antenna at the Dauphin Street studio location) that had the station back on the air. The Cumulus-Mobile General Manager at the time, Gary Pizzati, had been championing a "Country/Southern Rock hybrid" format for WYOK for quite some time and successfully lobbied Atlanta to try the format, using the decreased revenue stream - a direct result of Ivan - as his justification. This is key because of the fact that Cumulus' Jan Jeffries (aka THE man in charge when it comes to programming of CHR in that company, at the time) originally flipped WYOK to CHR as a result of Bernie Dittman's refusal to sell WABB-FM to Cumulus and a rather brash statement that Dittman made to Jeffries to the effect of, "You will NEVER beat my radio station, no matter what you put on the air". There is a significant amount more to the Top 40-to-Country flip than meets the naked eye. StrikerforceTalkReview me! 05:46, 31 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
