WOOK was a radio station that operated on 1340 AM in Washington, D.C., United States, from 1940 to 1978. Owned by Richard Eaton's United Broadcasting, the station was known for its programming for the African-American community in the Washington metropolitan area; before that, in the 1940s, it was an independent station owned for several years by the Washington Post.

WOOK, which spawned an FM station (WFAN) and a TV station (WOOK-TV channel 14, later WFAN-TV), had its license revoked by the Federal Communications Commission in 1975 for an illegal numbers racket. In 1976, with the station's fate nearly sealed, WOOK became Spanish-language WFAN, in a format swap that allowed the Black-formatted WOOK intellectual property to stay alive. WFAN ceased operating on April 22, 1978; on August 15, WYCB began broadcasting on its frequency.

WINX went on the air in 1940 at 1310 kHz as Washington's fifth radio station. The Federal Communications Commission had previously granted a construction permit to attorney Lawrence J. Heller on February 13, including a 50-watt synchronous amplifier to give the station full metropolitan coverage. The amplifier was located at American University. The station relocated the next year to 1340 when NARBA came into effect. In 1942, Heller sold minority stakes in WINX to Richard K. Lyon and Herbert M. Bratter.

The Washington Post acquired WINX in 1944 for $500,000; it was the highest price ever paid for a "local" radio station like WINX that broadcast with 250 watts. The Post also got into the early days of FM radio when it acquired station W3XO, later WINX-FM, from Jansky and Bailey in 1945. The Post owned the station until 1948, when it contracted to buy a majority share in WTOP (1500 AM) from CBS; the deal would require the newspaper to sell WINX and its two boosters but allowed CBS to gain full ownership of KQW (today's KCBS) in San Francisco. William Banks, owner of Philadelphia station WHAT, bought WINX AM for $130,000 in 1949; the Post retained WINX-FM.

In 1951, Richard Eaton, whose United Broadcasting Company owned radio station WOOK (1590 kHz) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and newly signed on Washington FM outlet WFAN (100.3 FM), bought WINX from the Banks Independent Broadcasting Company for $115,000. WOOK, established in 1947, was Eaton's first radio station; Eaton had previously been a commentator with WINX and then with the Mutual Broadcasting System. In order to retain both stations and meet multiple ownership rules, the Silver Spring station license was relocated to Rockville, Maryland—which under pre-1950 Census Bureau guidelines was not part of the Washington metropolitan area—on 1600 kHz. Additionally, Eaton switched the two stations' call letters, resulting in WOOK as the new 1340 in Washington, D.C., and WINX as the station at 1600 in Rockville. The local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers asked the FCC to reconsider approving the WINX-WOOK swap because United's non-union staff had replaced the former WINX's union technicians.

WOOK, both on 1590 before 1951 and on 1340 thereafter, broke ground in Washington radio. While Eaton had initially intended to make WOOK a talk outlet, the African-American printer of Eaton's suburban newspapers suggested that he cover Washington's growing Black population. It was just the second such station aimed at a Black audience, after WDIA in Memphis, Tennessee, which then had an all-white air staff. Hal Jackson, who had started his career at WINX with a show titled "The Bronze Review" and was laughed at when he proposed to the Post that it cover Homestead Grays Negro league baseball, launched the first regular African American-hosted program in Washington over WOOK (when it was at 1590).

In 1956, WOOK relocated its transmitter to several lots purchased by Eaton in the Chillum Castle Manor subdivision, at 1st Place, NE.

The success of WOOK as the radio station for black Washington led Eaton to expand into television. In 1962, WOOK moved into a new, purpose-built radio and television studio at 5321 1st Place NE, and WOOK-TV channel 14 took to the air on March 5, 1963. Channel 14 was, like WOOK radio, primarily oriented at an African-American audience; it became WFAN-TV in 1968. The station ceased broadcasting on February 12, 1972, as United faced mounting legal challenges to its various licenses and consequent financial reverses. United asked the FCC to keep the WFAN-TV license active while it tried to sell it. Still, because United itself had no intention of restoring service, the stations' licenses were deleted in 1974 after United was ordered to return them to air itself.