WKHT

For the radio station in Manchester, Connecticut which held the call sign WKHT from 1984 to 1989, see WNEZ. For the radio station in Lamar, South Carolina which held the call sign WKHT from 1992 to 2003, see WSIM.

WKHT (104.5 FM) is a rhythmic Top 40 station based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The SummitMedia outlet broadcasts with an ERP of 1.4 kW.

WKHT

Knoxville, Tennessee
Broadcast area	Knoxville metropolitan area
Frequency	104.5 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	Hot 104.5
Programming
Format	Rhythmic Top 40
Ownership
Owner	SummitMedia (SM-WKHT, LLC)
Sister stations	WCYQ, WNOX, WWST
History
First air date	November 1991; 33 years ago (1991-11)
Former call signs	WEMQ (1991–1993) WQBB-FM (1993–1998) WQIX (1998–2000) WBON (2000–2003)
Call sign meaning	We're Knoxville's Hot 104.5!
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	40854
Class	A
ERP	1,400 watts
HAAT	209.1 meters (686 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	36°0′10″N 83°56′40″W
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	hot1045.net

History

This station signed on in November 1991 as WEMQ, later on as WQBB-FM, airing the same programming as adult standards WQBB. Later the FM played "Young country" as WQIX.^[2]

Prior to its flip to Rhythmic Top 40 in July 2003, the station was a Classic Rock outlet as "104.5 The Bone".^[3] HOT 104.5 has enjoyed success. In less than two years on the air HOT 104.5 forced its competitor WILD 98.7/WYIL to change formats. Currently HOT 104.5's only competitor is sister station Top 40 Mainstream WWST.

The playlist of WKHT primarily consists of R&B/hip-hop plus some Rhythmic Pop hits; thus it is considered to be a rhythmic Top 40 station by Billboard as opposed to mainstream R&B. This is due to the fact that Knoxville does not have a large African-American population. Its target audience is females 18-34.

Journal Communications and the E. W. Scripps Company announced on July 30, 2014, that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E.W. Scripps Company name that owned the two companies' broadcast properties, including WKHT. The transaction was completed in 2015, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.^[4] Scripps exited radio in 2018; the Knoxville stations went to SummitMedia in a four-market, $47 million deal completed on November 1, 2018.^[5]