WRKS

For the New York City radio station which used the WRKS call letters from 1981 to 2012, see WEPN-FM.

WRKS (105.9 FM, "The Zone") is a radio station licensed to Pickens, Mississippi, although its studio is located in Ridgeland, Mississippi. Launched on July 2, 2009, the station's format is sports, with programming from ESPN Radio. WRKS is owned by Connoisseur Media through licensee Alpha Media Licensee LLC. Along with five other sister stations, its studios are located in Ridgeland, a suburb of Jackson, while the transmitter tower is in Canton.

WRKS

Pickens, Mississippi United States
Broadcast area	Jackson, Mississippi
Frequency	105.9 MHz
Branding	ESPN 105.9 The Zone
Programming
Format	Sports
Affiliations	ESPN Radio
Ownership
Owner	Connoisseur Media (Alpha Media Licensee LLC)
Sister stations	WJMI WJNT WKXI-FM WOAD WJQS
History
First air date	1980 (as WXMR)
Former call signs	WXMR (1980–1982) WLTD (1982–1995) WYJS (1995–2004) WOAD-FM (2004–2009) WZNO (2009–2012)
Call sign meaning	Previously used on the historical "98.7 Kiss FM" (now WEPN-FM) in New York City
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	29512
Class	C2
ERP	23,000 watts
HAAT	224 meters (735 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	32°38′53.5″N 89°59′20.3″W
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live
Website	www.thezone1059.com

History

The station started out in 1980 with the call sign WXMR. On June 1, 1982, the call sign was changed to WLTD, then to WYJS on December 15, 1995. On January 16, 2004, the call sign was again changed to WOAD-FM with an urban gospel format as "Power 105.9". On July 3, 2009, the urban gospel format was dropped for a sports format as "The Zone" with the call sign again changing to WZNO.^[2]

The station had been owned by Inner City Broadcasting of New York City until Inner City Broadcasting's bankruptcy in the early 2010s, at which time YMF Media took over the station.^[3] The WRKS callsign had been used for a New York station on 98.7 FM until its owner, Emmis Communications, flipped to a simulcast of ESPN Radio station WEPN and sold the rights to the WRKS name to YMF, which then transferred it to WZNO.^[2]

WRKS and five other YMF Media stations were sold to L&L Broadcast Holdings on September 24, 2013. The purchase price was $9.4 million. On July 1, 2014, L&L merged with sister company Alpha Broadcasting to form Alpha Media.^[4] Alpha Media merged with Connoisseur Media on September 4, 2025.^[5]