WZQS

WZQS is a radio station on 90.5 FM in Cullowhee, North Carolina, broadcasting to Jackson and Haywood counties in the western part of the state. It is owned by Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR).

WZQS
Currently silent
CityCullowhee, North Carolina
Broadcast areaJackson and Haywood counties in western North Carolina
Frequency90.5 MHz
Ownership
OwnerBlue Ridge Public Radio
(Western North Carolina Public Radio, Inc.)
History
First air date
1977 (1977)
Former call signs
WWCU (1977–2021)
Former frequencies
91.7 MHz (1977–1981)
Call sign meaning
Variation of WCQS, WYQS
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID71766
ClassA
ERP240 watts
HAAT289.0 meters
Transmitter coordinates
35°26′23.00″N 83°7′11.00″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS

The facility is currently silent as a result of its acquisition by Blue Ridge, effective February 1, 2021, from Western Carolina University, under which it had operated as WWCU from 1977 to 2021. The university is in the process of rebuilding WWCU on a newer and higher-power license at 95.3 MHz. WZQS is being relocated to a new site.[1]

History
Further information: WWCU

In 1977, Western Carolina University, which had maintained a carrier current station on campus since 1947, built and signed on WWCU at 90.5 FM. This student radio station broadcast from a main site on Cutoff Mountain, but the region's rough terrain impeded any expansion of the station's coverage area. After applying in 2010, WCU was awarded a construction permit to build a 95.3 FM station, licensed to Dillsboro and broadcasting from Brown Mountain, in 2015. This station began temporary service as WWOO, a simulcaster of WWCU, using a temporary 90-foot (27 m) fiberglass mast, in 2018, and work began on the construction of a new permanent tower after that.[2]

The 95.3 frequency had been used by a translator of BPR's WCQS, which was forced to move to another frequency.[3] The university sold the WWCU facility to BPR in 2020 for $97,000, excluding the station's former booster.[4]

References
  1. "Silent STA". Federal Communications Commission. February 2, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  2. "Turn It Up - WWCU-FM has growth spurt". WCU Stories. November 19, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  3. Johnson, Becky (September 9, 2015). "WCU moving up on the dial: Winners and losers in the shifting world of radio frequencies". Smoky Mountain News. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  4. "Asset Purchase Agreement". Federal Communications Commission. July 16, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
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