Tidewater Communications, controlled by Richard A. Myers, was granted a construction permit for a radio station on 102.9 MHz in California, Maryland, on May 23, 1991;[2] the permit was soon issued the call sign WBEY.[3] In 1993, Tidewater sold the permit to Somar Communications, owner of WMOM and WSMD, for $130,000.[4] Somar signed the station on in December 1994[5] as country music station WRFK.[6]
The station's call sign was changed to WKIK-FM on January 1, 1997.[7] The "-FM" suffix was dropped on April 4, 2023; this followed the shutdown earlier in the year of WKIK (1560 AM),[8] the former WMOM, which had simulcast WKIK-FM[9] since 2000.[10]