WERK 990 AM was a 250-watt daytimer for most of its early history. But, according to The Star-Press, the station had dynamic personalities like Gil Hole, Bill Shirk, John Irwin, Larry McCabe, Bruce Munson, Gary Demaree, Tom Cochrun and a Ball State University student named David Letterman, the station was the that one every teenager and young adult insisted on listening to.
The antics of the "The Men at WERK" were must-hear-radio before must-see-TV existed.
When WERK, which was founded by the Poorman family, started broadcasting on Valentine's Day, 1965, the nation's musical tastes were undergoing a transformation. Pop and rock were still considered aberrations by many adults but increasingly found mainstream acceptance beyond just teenagers. The Beatles released "Rubber Soul" in 1965 and the Top 40 pop chart was dominated by the group as well as the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits and other "edgy" bands.
Radio in the Muncie area had long been typified by WLBC, an AM station that debuted in 1926. But when Robert Poorman created WERK in 1965, the Top 40 format quickly appealed to a young audience that wanted not only popular music but quick-witted air personalities.
For most of its life as an AM station, WERK was a technological molehill that sounded like a mountain. Because it shared airwaves with another station, WERK could only broadcast during the daylight hours and was limited to 250 watts.
"We had a tiny station, a daytime station, in Muncie, Indiana, that had a sound just as big, just as urgent, just as popular, as WLW, WLS, all the big-time stations," said former personality Gary Demaree, who worked as a newscaster in 1969 and stayed for four years. "The 50,000-watt stations had nothing on our sound."
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Today...99AM is the home of Oldies WRFM. and the WERK call signs lives on at 104.9 FM playing Classic Hits.
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