WGRQ (95.9
FM) is a
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
formatted
broadcast
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...
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 ...
licensed to
Fairview Beach, Virginia
Fairview Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in King George County, Virginia, United States. The population was 391 at the 2010 census, which was up significantly from the 230 reported in 2000.
Geography
Fairvie ...
, serving
Fredericksburg,
Spotsylvania Courthouse
Spotsylvania Courthouse is a census-designated place (CDP) and the county seat of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, located 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Fredericksburg. Recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census designated place (CDP), t ...
, and
Bowling Green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...
in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
.
WGRQ is owned and operated by Telemedia Broadcasting, Inc.
Programming
WGRQ broadcasts a
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
music
format
Format may refer to:
Printing and visual media
* Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements
* Paper formats, or paper size standards
* Newspaper format, the size of the paper page
Computing
* File format, particular way that informatio ...
to the
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...
, area.
, weekday on-air personalities include Dave Adler on
morning drive
Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
, Paula Kidwell on mid-days, Brad Majors on afternoons, Throwback Nation Radio with Tony Lorino in the evenings
and Casey Kasem's American Top 40 on Sunday evenings. Each year, around
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
, WGRQ flips to all-
Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...
programming and becomes "The Christmas Station." This format flip completed its 15th year in 2020.
In addition to its music programming, WGRQ also broadcasts
Washington Commanders
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...
games as a member of the Washington Commanders Broadcast Network.
History
Launch
After an application was filed in March 1983, the original
construction permit
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
for this station was granted by the FCC on December 7, 1984.
This would be a new station broadcasting on 95.9
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 ...
with 3,000
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s of
effective radiated power
Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...
from an antenna in
height above average terrain
Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site is above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is ...
. The new station's
city of license
In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.
In North American broa ...
was to be
Colonial Beach, Virginia
Colonial Beach, Virginia (CBVA) is a river and beach town located in the northwestern part of Westmoreland County on Virginia's Northern Neck peninsula. It is bounded by the Potomac River, Monroe Bay and Monroe Creek. It is located from Washingt ...
.
The still-under construction station was assigned
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
WPOT on February 25, 1985.
In November 1985, original permit holder Colonial Beach Broadcasting, Inc., applied to the FCC to transfer the permit to Potomac Broadcasting, Inc.
The call sign was changed to WGRQ on December 1, 1985, and has remained stable for more than 25 years.
The sale to Potomac Broadcasting was finalized in March 1986.
Telemedia era
WGRQ began broadcasting under
program test authority {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot)
In broadcasting, program test authority (PTA) is an authorization to conduct on-air testing of broadcast station facilities authorized to be built under a construction permit. Once this testi ...
on May 3, 1986, with an
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 ...
music format.
The station received its
broadcast license
A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...
from the FCC on November 16, 1987.
Just days later, Potomac Broadcasting applied to the FCC to transfer the license to Telemedia Broadcasting, Inc.
The FCC approved the transfer on January 4, 1988, and the transaction was consummated on January 20, 1988.
Previously known as "Virginia's Rockin' Oldies 95.9", the station flipped formats from
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 ...
to
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
on January 17, 2005.
WGRQ had broadcast
Virginia Tech Hokies football
The Virginia Tech Hokies football team represents Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the sport of American football. The Hokies compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...
games as a longtime member of the Virginia Tech Sports Network before transitioning to
Virginia Cavaliers football
The Virginia Cavaliers football team represents the University of Virginia in the sport of American football. Established in 1888, Virginia plays its home games at Scott Stadium, capacity 61,500, featured directly on its campus near the Academi ...
broadcasts in September 2009.
Studio controversy / facilities changes
The station was involved in controversy when a rival broadcasting company complained to the FCC in July 2001 that WGRQ's main studios were located too far from the station's
city of license
In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.
In North American broa ...
, a violation of FCC regulations which required the distance be or less.
WGRQ acknowledged that its studios were from the center of
Colonial Beach, Virginia
Colonial Beach, Virginia (CBVA) is a river and beach town located in the northwestern part of Westmoreland County on Virginia's Northern Neck peninsula. It is bounded by the Potomac River, Monroe Bay and Monroe Creek. It is located from Washingt ...
, but successfully asserted that it was in compliance with the law because "unique terrain" kept the studio location within the station's "principal community contour".
In August 2005, Telemedia Broadcasting applied for a "main studio waiver" which would have allowed them to relocate their broadcast studios even farther from the center of Colonial Beach.
The new site, farther from the city center, would have allowed the station to eliminate a 100-foot tower built for the studio-transmitter link, a point of contention with the Spotsylvania County Planning Commission.
The FCC denied this application on September 20, 2005.
In January 2010, Telemedia Broadcasting applied to the FCC to change WGRQ's city of license from Colonial Beach to
Fairview Beach, Virginia
Fairview Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in King George County, Virginia, United States. The population was 391 at the 2010 census, which was up significantly from the 230 reported in 2000.
Geography
Fairvie ...
.
Fairview Beach is a census-designated place in
King George County, Virginia
King George County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 26,723. Its county seat is the town of King George.
The county's largest employer is the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center ...
, roughly WNW of Colonial Beach and significantly closer to the primary market of Fredericksburg. The FCC authorized the change on April 27, 2010.
On April 2, 2013, WGRQ received approval to begin transmitting from a tower located off
U.S. Route 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...
just south of Fredericksburg.
References
External links
Super Hits 95.9 Online*
{{Classic Hits Radio Stations in Virginia
1986 establishments in Virginia
Classic hits radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1986
GRQ
Westmoreland County, Virginia