The station, owned and operated by Seven Mountains Media, is licensed to Brookville, Pennsylvania, the seat of government for Jefferson County.

First issued a construction permit on June 6, 1980; WMKX first went on the air at the frequency of 95.9 in 1981, and became the second FM station in Jefferson County, as WPXZ, 15 miles southeast in Punxsutawney had been the first eight years before.

In the mid-1990s, another frequency of 103.3 was assigned to Brookville through the efforts of WPXZ licensee Renda Broadcasting, which had been looking to gain a foothold in the county seat.

The shuffling would enable WMKX to take WPXZ's frequency of 105.5 as its own, and with the move of that frequency northwest, it also enabled WMKX to petition the FCC for an effective radiated power increase from 3,000 to 25,000 watts (something that wasn't possible at 95.9 due to the presence of an FM station on 95.9 in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, now WAKZ), thus taking the station from a local to more regional listenership base, allowing it to also serve the communities of Clarion and DuBois.

The Johnsonburg station, WJNG, allowed WMKX's signal to expand into the northcentral portion of Pennsylvania, serving listeners in St. Marys, Ridgway, Smethport, and Kane.