WDRK (defunct)
WDRK (106.5 FM) was a small FM radio station which served Greenville, Ohio, and the surrounding Miami Valley. WDRK epitomized the role of local media. It super served the community. Colorful and local personalities such as John Hieby, Clancy Plessinger, Jim Short, Bill Booker, John and Jeffrey Kennedy, Frank and Greg Tantum provided local news, farm reports, coverage of high school sports and academics. A highlight each year was broadcasting live from the Great Darke County Fair. The rock group The McCoys made one of their first appearances on Frank Tantum's weekend show. It had a life of nearly two decades before the broadcast license was challenged and finally denied by the Federal Communications Commission.
Personnel
A unique aspect of the small 20 KW station was the quality of broadcast talent that began careers there. The station was launched by veteran broadcaster John Kennedy with the financing of a Dayton, Ohio, attorney, Lew Froikin. Kennedy's son Jeffrey's career includes broadcasting in the United States (KSCI, Los Angeles, 1974) and Europe (Rome, Radio Roma Uno, 1984). WDRK also helped launch a number of successful broadcast careers. Greg Tantum who after anchoring news for WING, WSAI, WIFE went on to program news and talk for such stations as KFWB in Los Angeles, KGO in San Francisco, WCAU in Philadelphia and helped create and launch Washington Post Radio in Washington D.C. After WDRK Jim Wood (Bob Marquitz)programmed radio stations in Indianapolis, Los Angeles and San Francisco and then went on to become a top executive at Malrite Broadcasting. Jim is now the CEO of a chain of radio stations in the south. Dave Steel had a successful radio and television career in Dayton, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Diego. Program Director Ron Rumley and General Manager Lee Rutherford were former newsmen at WIFE-AM, Indianapolis during the height of its 1970s success. The pair brought a major market quality to the sound of the small station, attracting talent from larger nearby markets such as Dayton, Ohio. Rumley and Rutherford were quite skilled at discovering and developing talent locally. Broadcasters such as Lee Riley (Dayton, Ohio country music radio personality), Dave Thomas (Denver, Colorado newscaster), Chris Graves (Columbus, Ohio broadcast executive), Doug Ritter (Doug Ritterling - San Francisco, California radio and TV broadcaster), Darrel Schick (30-year newscaster, Dayton, Ohio), Mark Bixler (Peoria, Illinois newscaster), Neil Schwanitz (Detroit, Michigan engineer) started their careers at WDRK.
History
The broadcast studios were located on the outskirts of Greenville, at 1625 Dayton Road. During the 1960s, the programming was decidedly small market fare, but after being purchased by Lewell Broadcasting in the early 1970s, Rumley chose Drake-Chenault's "Hit Parade" MOR automated format to significantly upgrade the sound. The equipment was bargain-basement, yet sounded much better than its humble price tag. The studios on South Dayton Rd. originally had a storefront look with a sign posted on the front of the building inscribed as "WDRK... 106.5 MC ..The Brightest Spark In Darke." After the studio building was renovated to an unusual window-less black house look, the sign was removed with a new logo...a huge pointy upper case "W" with a beaming spark above it with the remaining call letters "drk" in lower case resembling the logo of the former WIFE (AM) where Rumley and Rutherford were formerly employed. A black-and-white photo of the pre-renovated studios was on display in the waiting room to remind people of WDRK's humble beginnings.
The former WMER (now WKKI) in Celina was briefly owned by the business partners as a sister station in the late 60s and early 1970s.
Rumley and Rutherford's relationship faded during the late 1970s, about the time the FCC cited the station for a multitude of operating violations. The pair would mend their friendship during the early 1980s, but not in time to save the station's license. WDRK went off the air for the last time in 1989 after pleading with the FCC in 1983 to remain on the air indefinitely until a construction permit was granted for its successor WLSN. The 106.5 frequency remained silent until 1990 with the emergence of WLSN, (later, WBKI and WDJO) currently WRZX. The Dayton Road studios (now with the tower razed since 1989) currently houses a local insurance agency.
106.5 FM is now occupied by WRZX (FM) at first with a smooth jazz format with the callsign WDSJ, then to a short-lived Country music format and currently a 60s and 70s classic hits format as "Big 106.5.". Although still licensed to Greenville with the transmitter location moved to the north near the rural communities of Pikeville and Stelvideo, WRZX, currently owned by iHeartMedia, is now for all intents and purposes a Dayton station.
WTGR 97.5 FM licensed to and transmitting from Union City on the Ohio-Indiana state line remains locally originating with a studio in Greenville and a country music format.
The WDRK callsign is now used by an FM station licensed in Cornell, Wisconsin.