WBQT (96.9
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
"Hot 96.9") is a commercial
FM radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
in
Boston, Massachusetts. It is owned by the
Beasley Broadcast Group
Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Naples, Florida, is an owner/operator of radio stations in the United States. , the company owned 63 stations under the Beasley Media Group name.
History
The company was founded in 1961 by George G. Beasl ...
and airs an
urban-leaning rhythmic hot AC
Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adul ...
radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...
. WBQT's studios and offices are located in
Waltham. Its
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
is atop the
Prudential Tower
The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru,subscription required'The Pru' everyone calls it: a resigned shrug of a name, as flat and uninflected as the wan moue its pronunciation requires." is an Inter ...
in Boston's
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
neighborhood.
History
The station originated in 1945 as W1XHR (later WXHR), owned by Harvey Radio Laboratories and programming a
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
format. In 1966, WXHR was sold to a joint venture of
Kaiser Broadcasting
The Kaiser Broadcasting Corp. was an American broadcast media company that owned and operated television and radio stations in the United States from 1957 to 1977.
History Creating a broadcast chain
Kaiser's involvement in broadcasting began ...
and the ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'', and in 1967, became
beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
station WJIB (whose
AM successor operates out of the old Harvey Radio Labs building in Cambridge). WJIB's music and programming director was
Marlin Taylor
Marlin Raymond Taylor (born August 26, 1935) is an American former radio broadcaster, program director, and radio executive who is credited as the "father of beautiful music," an update of the older easy listening radio format popular from the 19 ...
who instituted the beautiful music format.
After several further ownership changes—first to
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
in 1972, then to
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
in 1983 (three years before the merger between NBC's parent company,
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
, and GE) and
Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for Truth (Emet) was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR and WQHT, which hav ...
in 1988—it flipped to
smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s.
History
Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...
as WCDJ, "CD96.9", on October 26, 1990. The first song under the new format was "
Breakout" by
Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister are a British pop group best known worldwide for the 1986 song " Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", " Twilight World", " Waiting Game", and a remake of the Eugene Record soul composition "Am I the Same Girl?"
Histor ...
.
After
Greater Media
Greater Media, Inc., known as Greater Media, was an American media company that specialized in radio stations. The markets where they owned radio stations included Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and the state of New Jersey. The compa ...
bought the station in May 1993, the station began
stunting with a simulcast of new sister station
WMJX
WMJX (106.7 FM) – branded Magic 106.7 – is a commercial adult contemporary radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. The WMJX studios are ...
at 1:00 p.m. on May 4 of that year. Two days later, at 4:00 p.m., WCDJ flipped to
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
as WBCS, "Country 96.9." The first song was "
Here We Are" by
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
. The station became WKLB-FM on August 24, 1996, after the previous WKLB-FM was bought by Greater Media and consolidated with WBCS, with its frequency being converted to
WROR-FM
WROR-FM (105.7 FM) – branded as 105.7 WROR – is a commercial classic hits radio station licensed to Framingham, Massachusetts. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, the station serves Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England, incl ...
. Smooth jazz returned at Noon on August 22, 1997, as WSJZ, after a format swap with what had been WOAZ (now
WCRB
WCRB (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts, which serves the Greater Boston area. It broadcasts classical music. Its studios are located in Brighton, and its transmitter is located west of Andover.
WCRB wa ...
).
WTKK: rise of talk
On September 7, 1999, WSJZ flipped to
talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
, completing a one-month transition to the format, and the station changed its call letters to WTKK. During its tenure as a talk station, WTKK used several monikers: "96.9 FM Talk" from its 1999 launch until 2007, "96.9 WTKK: Boston's Talk Evolution" from 2007 until 2010, "96.9 Boston Talks" from 2010 until September 2012, and "News Talk 96.9" from September 2012 until its January 2013 demise.
![WTKK969-112012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/WTKK969-112012.png)
In April 2007, WTKK management attempted to add ''
Boston Herald
The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...
'' columnist and talk-show host
Howie Carr
Howard Louis Carr Jr. (born January 17, 1952) is an American conservative radio talk-show host, political author, news reporter and award-winning writer.
He hosts ''The Howie Carr Show'' originating from his studios in Wellesley, MA and broadca ...
to its lineup, when the station's
syndicated morning show ''
Imus in the Morning
''Imus in the Morning'' was a long-running radio show hosted by Don Imus. The show originated on June 2, 1968, on various stations in the Western United States and Cleveland, Ohio before settling on WNBC radio in New York City in 1971. In Octob ...
'' was cancelled after
Don Imus
John Donald Imus Jr. (July 23, 1940 – December 27, 2019), also known mononymously as Imus, was an American radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. His radio show, ''Imus in the Morning'', was aired on various stat ...
' comments about the
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
Women's Basketball team got him fired by
CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
. But Carr's long-time radio employer and WTKK's chief rival,
Entercom
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...
-owned
WRKO
WRKO (680 AM) is a commercial news/talk
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly ho ...
, blocked that move by exercising a clause in Carr's contract allowing it to make a matching counter-offer. Carr held out until November 16, 2007, after which point Carr returned to WRKO. On December 3, 2007, WTKK resumed broadcasting Imus in the Morning when it was picked up by
WABC in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and syndicated by
Westwood One
Westwood One is an American radio network
There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...
. But over time, Imus' hours were cut back on WTKK, ultimately only airing for 2 hours every weekday morning. In January 2011, WTKK dropped Imus from the lineup completely in favor of an extended edition of the local late morning team of
Jim Braude
James Spencer Braude (born May 7, 1949) is a lawyer, former union official, Hoerr, John P.''We Can't Eat Prestige: The Women who Organized Harvard'' Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1997. Cfp.6-9, &c./ref> and Boston radio and television pe ...
and
Margery Eagan
Margery Eagan (born June 13, 1954) is a talk radio host and a frequent guest on CNN, ABC, Fox News, and the Imus in the Morning radio show. For many years she was a columnist for the ''Boston Herald''. Subjects of her commentaries include gender/ ...
.
WTKK fired the controversial
Jay Severin
James Thompson Severino III (January 8, 1951 – July 7, 2020), known professionally as Jay Severin, was an American political talk radio personality and Republican political consultant. Severin worked mostly in Boston, at WTKK (now WBQT) and a ...
, a host since 1999, in April 2011 after he said he had slept with female interns at a company he had owned, and defended the practice. He was officially replaced in June 2011 by radio host Doug Meehan. Two months later, when rival station WXKS hired Severin for afternoon drive, WTKK shuffled its lineup to place politics-heavy
Michael Graham in the 3:00 p.m. slot. The lineup at this point included Eagan and Braude, followed by various hosts in late mornings, then syndicated talker
Michael Smerconish
Michael Andrew Smerconish ( ; born March 15, 1962) is an American radio host and television presenter, political commentator, newspaper columnist, author, and lawyer. He broadcasts ''The Michael Smerconish Program'' weekdays at 9:00 a.m. ET ...
, followed by "The Daily Wrap", hosted by
Michael Castner
Michael Castner is an American journalist, television host and radio personality. He is the morning national news anchor for NBC News Radio. He formerly hosted ''The Michael Castner Show'' on KEX in Portland and The Daily Wrap for the Wall Street ...
and syndicated by the
Wall Street Journal Radio Network
The ''Wall Street Journal'' Radio Network was the radio arm of ''The Wall Street Journal'', owned by Dow Jones.
The radio news service served over 400 radio stations across North America and provided various programming.
On November 12, 2014, Do ...
, then the syndicated
John Batchelor
John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...
and Overnight America shows.
End of talk and the launch of Hot 96.9
In December 2012, Greater Media registered several web domains for WTKK, pointing that the future of the news/talk format was in serious doubt due to low ratings (in its last book as a talk station, WTKK had a 1.9 share of the market in the Boston Arbitron radio market ratings). Many of the domains included the word "Beat", pointing to an
urban contemporary
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
,
rhythmic CHR Rhythmic may refer to:
* Related to rhythm
* Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format
* Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format
* Rhythmic gymnastics, a form of gymnastics
* Rhythmic (chart)
The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, a ...
, or
rhythmic AC
Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adult ...
format. If this were to occur, this would have marked a return for either the Rhythmic AC format (which was last heard in 2005, when
WQSX flipped to
adult hits) or the urban format (which was last carried on a Boston station in 2006, when the former
WILD-FM
WZRM (97.7 FM, ''Rumba 97.7'') is a radio station in the Boston, Massachusetts market licensed to Brockton, Massachusetts, carrying a Spanish CHR radio format. Owned and operated by iHeartMedia, it serves the Metro Boston and South Shore are ...
flipped to a simulcast of
WAAF WAAF may refer to:
* w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner
* Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II
** Waaf, a member of the service
* WAAF (AM ...
) in the market; in either case, this would have caused the station to compete against long-dominant
WJMN. Other domains pointed to possible
adult hits,
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
,
all-news
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news.
All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...
,
sports talk
Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...
,
active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...
,
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...
,
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
,
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
,
mainstream rock
Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
Format background
Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...
,
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
,
adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
, or
CHR formats. Further fueling the rumors of a format flip, on December 17, 2012, morning host Doug Meehan left to pursue a television opportunity in Arizona, while afternoon host
Michael Graham left when his contract was not renewed. In addition, weekend hosts were told the last weekend of 2012 that their shows would not continue in the new year.
In compliance with a press release by Greater Media on January 1, 2013, the station flipped at 10:00 a.m. the next day, after Jim Braude and Margery Eagan's final morning show, starting its new incarnation as
Urban Contemporary
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
-formatted "Power 96.9", which began with "
Diamonds
Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...
" by
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...
. However, this would only turn out to be a stunt in a series of "micro-formats"; at 10:00 a.m. the following day, the station shifted to
Dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
as "Nova 96.9."
At Noon on January 4, the stunting shifted to
adult hits, branded as "96.9 Mike FM" (using the former moniker/format of
WMKK). At Midnight on January 6, the stunting would shift to
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
as "96.9 The Bone."
On January 8, 2013, at 11:00 a.m., WTKK debuted its new, permanent format:
Rhythmic AC
Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adult ...
, with the branding "Hot 96.9"; "
Run This Town
"Run This Town" is a song by American rapper Jay-Z. The song also features Rihanna and Kanye West. It was released on July 24, 2009. It was written by the performing trio, with assistance from Ernest Wilson and Jeff Bhasker. Production of the ...
" by
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
was the first song played. According to a press release from Greater Media, the station's direction will primarily be focused on current Rhythmic and Dance hits mixed in with recurrents from the 1980s and 1990s, as it targets an audience who grew up listening to WJMN in the 1990s and 2000s, but want an alternative to
Adult Top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...
WBMX
WBMX (104.3 FM, 104.3 Jams) is a commercial radio station in Chicago, Illinois, serving the Chicago metropolitan area and Northwest Indiana. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a classic hip hop radio format.
WBMX's studios and offic ...
, whose presentation is more Pop/Rock oriented. The flip brings the format back to Boston for the first time since WQSX flipped to WMKK in 2005. In addition, like WQSX, WTKK is also using "The Rhythm of Boston" as its on-air slogan (albeit briefly; the station adopted its "Today's Rhythm & All the Best Throwbacks" slogan a month later, which was modified to "Today's Hottest Music..." in July 2014, and then "Boston's New #1 For Throwbacks, Hit Music and The Best New Hip Hop and R&B!" in June 2016).
On March 20, 2013, WTKK changed its call sign to WBQT.
Clear Channel soon obtained the former call sign for use on their current
106.1 FM facility in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
.
In terms of staff announcements, Greater Media confirmed on January 3, 2013, that
Pebbles, former long-time morning co-host on
WJMN, will be WTKK's new morning show host. Also brought on from WJMN was Melissa, who became the afternoon drive time host from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. In addition, on January 4, 2013, Greater Media announced that Jackson "Cadillac Jack" McCartney has been hired as Director of Programming for all 5 stations in their Boston cluster. On February 20, 2013, it was announced that former WJMN DJ Roy Barboza was named Music Director and Mix Show Coordinator.
On March 1, 2013, it was announced that Baltazar, who co-hosted WJMN's morning show with Pebbles from 1995-2001, would become the new co-host of Hot 96.9's morning show beginning on March 4, 2013, reuniting him with Pebbles.
In August 2013, former WJMN personalities Deirdre Dagata and Hustle Simmons became weekend hosts at the station. On January 8, 2014, former
WXKS personality Jackson Blue became WBQT's new afternoon host, with Melissa moving to middays. In April 2014, former WJMN personality Bobby Blaze briefly became a Sunday afternoon/evening host (he would be replaced by Reggie Beas). On August 18, 2014, Baltazar was released from the station, and was replaced by former
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
player and
WBZ-FM
WBZ-FM (98.5 FM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, WBZ-FM is the Boston affiliate for Fox Sports Radio; t ...
host
Jermaine Wiggins
Jermaine Wiggins (born January 18, 1975) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at Georgia, and signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 1999.
Wiggins was also a member of the New England Patrio ...
. In addition, Melissa moved to morning drive, with Dagata replacing her in middays. On January 7, 2016, WBQT announced that Ramiro, former morning show host at WJMN from 2001 until he was let go in July 2015 (as well as the host of the Rhythmic edition of the syndicated Weekend Top 30), will host mornings with Wiggins, Pebbles and Melissa beginning January 14, 2016.
With the station having moved further to Rhythmic Top 40, and in effect on par with WJMN,
Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...
has moved the station to the Rhythmic panel in January 2015.
On July 19, 2016,
Beasley Media Group
Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Naples, Florida, is an owner/operator of radio stations in the United States. , the company owned 63 stations under the Beasley Media Group name.
History
The company was founded in 1961 by George G. Beasl ...
announced it would acquire Greater Media and its 21 stations (including WBQT) for $240 million. The FCC approved the sale on October 6, 2016, and the sale closed on November 1, 2016.
WBQT-HD2
WBQT-HD2 had programmed an all-Irish music format as "96.9 Irish", due in part to Boston's Irish history and influence. The HD2 subchannel had been on-air since 2006, when it debuted as "Classical 2.0." In late 2006, when Greater Media purchased classical station
WCRB
WCRB (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts, which serves the Greater Boston area. It broadcasts classical music. Its studios are located in Brighton, and its transmitter is located west of Andover.
WCRB wa ...
, 96.9-2 flipped to an all-Irish format.
From early May to July 4, 2017,
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
WRCA
WRCA (1330 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Watertown, Massachusetts, and serving the Greater Boston media market. The license is held by the Beasley Media Group, LLC, part of the Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. WRCA is simulca ...
simulcasted "96.9 Irish", while the station changed its branding to "Boston's Irish Channel". The station currently airs primarily
Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
programming, with local news cut into the national programming of Bloomberg.
In October 2019, WBQT-HD2 flipped to a current-heavy
urban contemporary
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
format as "96.9 the Vibe".
WBQT no longer carries any HD-2 programming as of February 2021.
References
External links
*
Station History*
{{Beasley Broadcast Group
BQT
BQT
Rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1945
Kaiser Broadcasting
1945 establishments in Massachusetts