WQLR (94.7 FM) is a non-commercial

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

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 radi ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Chateaugay, New York Chateaugay is a town in Franklin County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 2,155. The name is derived from a location in France, which was applied to a local land grant. Within the town is a village also ...

owned by the Educational Media Foundation airing the EMF's K-Love

Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

format. The station is a

border blaster A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually associated with Mexican AM station ...

, predominantly serving

Greater Montreal Greater Montreal (french: Grand Montréal) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with ...

and the Seaway River Valley, including

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry and is Ontario's easternmost city ...

and

Massena, New York Massena is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. Massena is along the county's northern border, just south of the St. Lawrence River and the Three Nations Crossing of the Canada–United States border. The population was 12 ...

. WQLR has an

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 h ...

(ERP) of 11,000

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 ...

s. Its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is on Old Hill Road in Ellenburg, New York, approximately southwest of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. Its city-grade signal reaches the southwestern portion of

, while its C2 class signal covers most of Montreal proper. In the eastern part of Montreal, the signal receives strong interference from co-channel CHEY-FM,

Rouge FM Rouge FM is a network of French-language adult contemporary radio stations broadcasting throughout Quebec, Canada. Established in 1990 as RockDétente, they are owned by Bell Media. All "Rouge FM" stations broadcast in the same markets as Bell's ...

's signal based in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...

History

The station was built by the Martz Communications Group, and signed on as WXEB in 1992, before changing its call letters to WEEP the same year, and then WYUL in 1993 (a nod to its listeners in Montreal; YUL is the IATA code for

Montréal–Trudeau International Airport Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (french: Aéroport International Montréal-Trudeau) or Montréal–Trudeau, formerly known and still commonly referred to as Montréal–Dorval International Airport (''Aéroport international Montré ...

). The station was originally a simulcast of CHR/Top 40-formatted WYSX in Ogdensburg until 2002, when the station segued to its own "94.7 Hits FM" branding and format. WYUL became Montreal's first English-language contemporary hit radio station since

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, when CHTX ("990 Hits") left the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

format. Under Martz ownership, WYUL's sister stations were WVNV and

WICY WICY (1490 AM) is an American radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Malone, New York, United States, the station is owned by the Martz Communications Group. WICY is known on-air as ''102.7 103.5 WICY'' (after its FM tran ...

, both licensed to

Malone Malone is an Irish surname. From the Irish "''Mael Eóin''", the name means a servant or a disciple of Saint John. People * Gilla Críst Ua Máel Eóin (died 1127), historian and Abbot of Clonmacnoise, Ó Maoil Eoin * Adrian Malone (1937–2 ...

. As a U.S.-based station licensed by the

Federal Communications Commission 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 jurisdicti ...

, WYUL was exempt from Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regulations regarding

Canadian content Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (includ ...

and the language of broadcast. To that end, and because of the signal's penetration into the Montreal area, WYUL's slogan was "Montreal's Hottest Music". Though it primarily broadcast in English, this allowed the station to accept French-language advertising, which is not permitted on Canadian-licensed English-language stations. It also targeted

. Because WYUL was not a Canadian station,

BBM Canada Numeris (formerly the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, or BBM Canada) is a Canadian audience measurement organization. Established on May 11, 1944 as a division of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, Numeris is the primary provider of viewers ...

did not measure WYUL's audience. On June 28, 2021, Martz announced that it is selling WYUL and co-owned WVNV to the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), which runs two national Christian radio music services, K-Love and Air1. This would give EMF its first entry into the Montreal radio market albeit on an American radio signal. The last song played on "94.7 Hits FM" was "

In The End "In the End" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It is the eighth track on their debut album, ''Hybrid Theory'' (2000), and was released as the album's fourth and final single. "In the End" received positive reviews by music critics, ...

" by Linkin Park on September 30, 2021. The station went silent at midnight, followed by K-Love programming starting the next day. The station changed its call letters to WQLR on October 5, 2021. With this move,

CJFM CJFM-FM (95.9 FM) is a commercial English-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned and operated by Bell Media, the station broadcasts a Top 40/CHR format branded as ''95.9 Virgin Radio''. CJFM-FM broadcasts with an eff ...

and French-language CKOI remain as the last two contemporary hit radio stations that are able to be received in

References

External links

* QLR K-Love radio stations Educational Media Foundation radio stations Radio stations established in 1997 1997 establishments in New York (state) Contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States {{NewYork-radio-station-stub