WQWK (AM)

WQWK (1450 AM) is a sports radio station broadcasting in State College, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by Forever Broadcasting and is an affiliate of ESPN Radio. Programs are also heard over FM translator W279DK (103.7 FM), offering a signal on the FM band in the immediate State College area.

WQWK
CityState College, Pennsylvania, US
Frequency1450 kHz
BrandingESPN Radio 103.7 & 1450
Programming
FormatSports
AffiliationsESPN Radio
Ownership
OwnerForever Broadcasting
WBHV-FM, WMAJ, WQCK, WRSC, WAPY
History
First air date
October 29, 1945 (1945-10-29)
Former call signs
  • WMAJ (1945–2009)
Call sign meaning
Parked from the former "Qwik Rock" at 103.1 FM
Technical information
Facility ID48923
ClassC
Power1,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
40°48′32″N 77°50′28″W
Translator(s)103.7 W279DK (State College)
Links
WebcastListen Live
WebsiteESPN Radio 103.7 & 1450

History

Centre Broadcasters, Inc., applied for a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new 250-watt radio station in State College on April 18, 1944. The application was approved on July 10, 1945.[1] Broadcasting of Centre County's first radio station began on October 29 of that year from studios in State College's Glennland Building and a transmitter site north of town in Ferguson Township.[2] The WMAJ call sign was submitted out of desperation; after various call signs to allude to Centre County and State College were rejected, Centre Broadcasters submitted scrambled versions of the initials of its various employees, including Alethea J. Mattern, the first program director,[3] and the other founding owner, Richard J. Kennard (the FCC originally assigned WKRJ).[1] The station was approved to upgrade from 250 to 1,000 watts in 1962 after having filed in late 1958 for the change.[1] In the 1960s, WMAJ programmed a Top 40 format aimed at the large student audience at Penn State University.[4]

The main owner of WMAJ was William K. Ulerich, who had previously transformed the weekly newspaper in State College into a daily publication, the Centre Daily Times; in the 1970s, he also served as a trustee of Penn State University.[5] Ulerich owned WMAJ and its FM spinoff, WMAJ-FM/WXLR 103.1, until 1988, when he opted to retire and sold the pair to Burbach Broadcasting of Pittsburgh.[6] The new ownership converted WMAJ to primarily automated programming focusing on adult standards music.[7] This was changed to a full news/talk format in 1990.[8]

Forever Broadcasting acquired the Burbach stations in 1998; by that time, WMAJ's talk format included such offerings as The Rush Limbaugh Show and the talk programs of Joy Brown and G. Gordon Liddy.[9] In 2002, Forever installed the current sports format on the frequency.[10] The call letters were changed to the present WQWK in 2009 after the previous WQWK, 103.1 FM, was flipped to conservative talk.[11]

Programming

The station is one of four Forever stations in State College that are local flagships of the Penn State Nittany Lions radio network.[12] It also is part of the Pittsburgh Pirates radio network.[13]

References
  1. FCC History Cards for WMAJ
  2. "Local Radio Station To Begin Broadcasts". The Daily Collegian. October 19, 1945. p. 1.
  3. "Good Evening! Swim Team Shows It's Small World Again". Centre Daily Times. State College, Pennsylvania. June 27, 1979. p. 1. Retrieved March 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Honig, Isadore (October 12, 1966). "5 FCC 2d 290 Initial Decision". Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  5. "A Tribute to W.K. Ulerich". Centre Daily Times. State College, Pennsylvania. January 23, 1979. p. 4. Retrieved March 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Hawkins, Lisa B. (January 6, 1988). "Pittsburgh group to buy State College radio stations". Centre Daily Times. State College, Pennsylvania. p. A-1. Retrieved March 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Keeney, Karen (May 26, 1988). "Station tunes in program, staff changes". Centre Daily Times. State College, Pennsylvania. p. B-1. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Format Changes & Updates" (PDF). The M Street Journal. December 3, 1990. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  9. Manns, Valerie (January 31, 1998). "WMAJ, B103 sold to Froggy owner". Centre Daily Times. State College, Pennsylvania. p. 1A. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "WMAJ switching to all-sports format". Centre Daily Times. State College, Pennsylvania. September 13, 2002. p. B1. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Malawskey, Nick (August 4, 2009). "QWK Rock changes its tune: Station shifts format to conservative talk". Centre Daily Times. State College, Pennsylvania. p. A1, A3. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Radio and Television Affiliates". gopsusports.com. November 16, 2020. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  13. "Pirates Radio Network Affiliates". mlb.com/pirates. Archived from the original on October 3, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.