WQFS (90.9 FM) is

Guilford College Guilford College is a private liberal arts college in Greensboro, North Carolina. Guilford has both traditional students and students who attend its Center for Continuing Education (CCE). Founded in 1837 by members of the Religious Society of ...

's student-run

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 ...

, with both students and members of the community serving as disk jockeys. Broadcasting in a

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

format, it serves

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

and the greater

Piedmont Triad The Piedmont Triad (or simply the Triad) is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of North Carolina anchored by three cities: Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Winston-Salem, and H ...

area. It is also broadcast on the internet via streaming audio at

TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service delivering live news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the company TuneIn Inc. which is based in San Francisco, California. The company ...

. WQFS ranked 6th among college radio stations in 2016, according to The Princeton Review.

History

The station started as a student club, The Fine Music Broadcasting Society, in 1965. Guilford College obtained a license from the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

on October 26, 1966 and, once it had the necessary equipment and funds, WQFS began a daily broadcast schedule on January 6, 1970, broadcasting in 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 ...

or middle of the road format. By its second year of operation, some disk jockeys began to play what a decade later would become known as

college rock College rock was the alternative rock music played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream ...

. Others would play hybrid programming, which could feature

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...

, contemporary classical, bluegrass,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, and

Musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, ...

, sometimes all within the same program. One early experiment involved celebrating the second anniversary of the

Paul is dead "Paul is dead" is an urban legend and conspiracy theory alleging that English musician Paul McCartney of the Beatles died on 9 November 1966 and was secretly replaced by a look-alike. The rumour began circulating in 1967, gaining broad popular ...

hoax by playing not only

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

, but other rock, and even classical records backwards, or using the station's two turntables to play a Beatles song forwards and backwards at the same time. WQFS features a wide variety of genres. The main format is

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

. About one hundred DJs, half of them Guilford College students, work at the station at any given time. Students serve as station managers. Their leadership roles include general management, programming, promotions, news, and production. WQFS plays many local and North Carolina artists. Long-running shows include David Butler's "The Sunday Morning Rehab Show," Josh Neas' "J's Indie Rock Mayhem," DJ Midnightt's "Garden of Good and Evil," Chris Roulhac's "North Carolina Show." and Mad Dog's "Friday Night Rock Party."

Programming

All radio shows are independently produced and hosted by volunteer disc jockeys, unless otherwise noted. Some programs include: * Captain's World *

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

(produced by Democracy Now! and distributed by

Pacifica Radio Pacifica may refer to: Art * ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * Pacifica, a conceiv ...

) * DJ Props * Dr. Dave's Rocket Science * Dr. Jive * Jet Set Jazz Radio with Sergio * Friday Night Rock Party with Mad Dog * Garden of Good and Evil * Gate City Soul * Gospel Chariot * Hangin' with Higgs * J's Indie Rock Mayhem * Ernie's Jazz Show * Left of Center * Metropolitan Radio * Rock and Roll Revival * Rock and Roll Study Hall * Roots and Relics * Sunday Morning Rehab * Terri's Too Short Show * The Caravan with Chef Dave * The Flava Lab * The Goddess Flow * The Idiot and the Oddity * The Magic Bus with Driver Dale * The North Carolina Show * The Old Country Store * The Roots Cypher * The Stratosphere * The X Lounge * Track Blasters with DJ Clash * Uncle Bill's Basement * Weekend Beach Party

References

External links

WQFS
web site
Guilford College's WQFS page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wqfs Guilford College

QFS QFS (Quick File System) is a filesystem from Oracle. It is tightly integrated with SAM, the Storage and Archive Manager, and hence is often referred to as SAM-QFS. SAM provides the functionality of a hierarchical storage manager. Features QFS ...

Radio stations established in 1965