In June 1961, the Federal Communications Commission approved the grant of a construction permit to Herman Handloff for a new radio station to serve Newark, Delaware.
However, the station missed several announced start dates, including April,[4] May 15,[5] and June; the last delay was caused when the fabricator of a critical antenna component was forced to temporarily take it out of production to handle a top-priority Army contract.
That same year, Al Campagnone, who had been involved in Delaware broadcasting since the early 1960s, was named as the station's news director;[11] In the early 1980s, high interest rates forced Cook Broadcasting into financial trouble, resulting in the station being foreclosed upon in January 1984 by Heller-Oak Communications Finance Corporation of Chicago.
[16] In 2000, Campagnone elected to sell the WNRK tower site to a developer proposing a subdivision of 74 town houses, citing the need to reduce costs amid a consolidating industry.
[20] After reorganizing as East Coast Broadcasting in 2004, the station changed call letters five times in three years, being known as WNWK for one week in February 2004 and WRJJ for less than a month in 2006.
[21] The final transfer of ownership in the 1260 facility's history occurred in 2007, when José Roberto and Aida Esperanza Ekonomo acquired WNWK from East Coast for $200,000.
[23] The station's license was surrendered on March 8, 2012,[24] one day before WWRC began program test authority with its improved signal, per the terms of the Interference Reduction Agreement between Salem and WNWK.