[4] general manager, Hal Vester, designed the unique format based on his former experience with Top 40 stations in Asheville, Greensboro, Charlotte, Wilmington, and Washington, DC.

Chief Engineer, Larry Gardner (who later became CE of WCKY in Cincinnati) was responsible for many technical innovations that provided the distinctive WKIX sound.

As FM became more dominant, the WKIX-FM call sign was changed to WYYD, power was increased to 100,000 watts, and the station was programmed separately as easy-listening.

WKIX became the first significant country station in the Raleigh market, but with competitive pressures it changed to an "oldies" format in 1986.

[9] Unlike sister station WDNC, which relied more on network programming from ESPN, WRBZ's lineup consisted almost entirely of locally produced sports talk.

[13] On August 10, 2009, Curtis Media Group announced an intent to purchase WRBZ from McClatchey Broadcasting, with plans to convert the sports-talk station to a music format.

The brand extension reflected its status as a complement to sister station WPTF's increased emphasis on news programming.

On September 1, 2021, WPTK rebranded as "Oldies 104.7" (the frequency coming from its pair of translators, W284CD and W284CP), returning to the heritage WKIX call letters once again, now playing music from the 1960s and 1970s.

[21] On November 28, 2021, WKIX's towers at its old transmitter site on Towerview Court, in western Cary near its border with Morrisville, were felled.

WKIX resumed broadcasting on February 10, 2022, using a diplex antenna shared with WPTF and WQDR at their East Chatham Street transmitter site in Cary.

A realignment of Curtis Media Group's Raleigh stations on December 26, 2022, saw the 104.7 translators switch to carrying WWPL's programming.

Despite its very low frequency, WKIX routinely attracts more listeners than its 50,000 watt sister channel and Curtis Media Group flagship station WPTF 680-AM.