Knight Quality Stations' WWKS 101.3 "KISS" FM has been chosen ABC Radio Network's international affiliate of the year for 1999.
"We're highly honored," Knight Quality Stations Vice Chairman Randy Knight said Tuesday. "ABC has a lot of affiliates and it's highly prestigious. We were really surprised."
KISS 101.3 FM, as Knight describes it, is an urban adult contemporary station. It carries several local programs, featuring reggae, calypso and other locally-inspired music.
The Tom Joyner Morning Show's two highly successful live broadcasts from St. Thomas in the past year were apparently one of the primary reasons 101.3 won the award.
"From its sign-on just over two years ago, WWKS KISS 101.3 FM has demonstrated its commitment to deliver professional broadcasting to the Virgin Islands," ABC Radio International Sales Manager Oscar Ramos said in a statement. "Of significance was the flawless coordination of two of the Tom Joyner morning show's most successful remote broadcasts."
Joyner's first live broadcast took place last winter at the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort. The second was during the Sinbad Soul Music Festival in May, when the show was broadcast from Marriott's Frenchman's Reef.
Locally, both shows drew packed audiences.
Knight said Joyner's obvious affinity for the Virgin Islands were part of what made the broadcasts such hits.
"Tom Joyner has really embraced the Virgin Islands. It's like he considers it a second home," Knight said. "Sometimes a day doesn't go by when he doesn't mention the Virgin Islands at least once."
Broadcasting the Tom Joyner show in the territory is an achievement for local radio.
"Tom Joyner brings a lot of prestige to broadcasting in the Virgin Islands," Knight said.
KISS 101.3's award was presented at ABC's fifth annual affiliate conference held in Dallas from June 25-27. ABC has more than 3,000 affiliates in the U.S. and abroad.
Knight Quality Stations also operates WVWI Radio One AM l000 and WVIZ 105 JAMZ 105.3 FM.
"We're very pleased with the success we have in such a short time, from starting from scratch a little over two years ago," Knight said. "Any award the stations gets goes to everybody at Knight Quality Stations."
