WSTQ (97.7

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 ...

) is an 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 ...

broadcasting a

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

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 ...

. Licensed to

Streator, Illinois Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 censu ...

, United States, the station serves the

Ottawa, Illinois Ottawa is a city located at the confluence of the navigable Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The Illinois River is a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi Riv ...

, area. The station is owned by

Shaw Media Shaw Media was the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. Shaw Media owned the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally via 13 television stations, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice (TV channel), Sli ...

, through licensee Shaw Local Radio Co., after previously being owned by Studstill Media/Mendota Broadcasting Inc. until April 2023.

History

In 1965, the FCC licensed WIZZ-FM to Streator Broadcasting Company, owners of WIZZ (1250 AM; later WSPL). The station became beautiful music WLAX in 1974. In 1984, WLAX became WSTQ and made the switch from beautiful music to a

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

-fed

hot AC 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, quiet s ...

format. This lasted until the late 1980s, when the station switched to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

. In 1993,

WYYS WYYS (106.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to Streator, Illinois, the station covers LaSalle, Ottawa, and vicinity and is owned by Shaw Media, through Shaw Local Radio Co., after previously being owned by St ...

(106.1 FM), also licensed to Streator, joined WSTQ; they simulcast the country format until the two stations were sold along with co-owned WIZZ to Mendota Broadcasting. On January 3, 2000, the simulcast with WYYS was split, and WSTQ ran announcements that a format change would be coming the next afternoon. WYYS began simulcasting WIZZ and at 10:00a.m. on January 4, 2000, WSTQ changed to top 40; the first song played on the new format was

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...

' "

Hanginaround "Hanginaround" is a song by American rock band Counting Crows. It is the first track on their third album, '' This Desert Life'' (1999). Released on October 18, 1999, the song reached number 28 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming their big ...

". It was the area's first true CHR station. There were two hot AC stations—

WAJK WAJK (99.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format. Licensed to La Salle, Illinois LaSalle is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States, located at the intersection of Interstates 39 and 80. It is part o ...

in La Salle and WRKX in Ottawa—but they did not play any

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, which WSTQ did. WSTQ was also used on a local access channel in Streator as well. On March 6, 2000,

WAIV WAIV (102.3 FM) is a radio station licensed that serves Cape May, New Jersey. The station is owned by Equity Communications, L.P. and it simulcasts the Top 40-CHR radio format on co-owned 95.1 WAYV Atlantic City. The studios and offices are in ...

in Spring Valley, another station owned by Mendota Broadcasting, joined WSTQ and the two stations simulcast the CHR format. They are known as Q 97.7 and Q103.3. 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 jurisdiction ...

(FCC) granted a call sign change to WIVQ on February 26, 2001. On January 24, 2023, it was announced that Studstill Media had sold WSTQ, along with its sister stations, to

Crystal Lake, Illinois Crystal Lake is a city in McHenry County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Named after a lake southwest of the city's downtown, Crystal Lake is 45 miles northwest of Chicago. The population is 40,269 as of the 2020 Census, a 1.2% decrease from 201 ...

, for a total of $1.8 million. The sale was under FCC review for just under two months before being finalized on March 23, 2023. Shaw Local Radio officially assumed ownership of WSTQ and its sister stations on April 3, 2023.

References

External links

*
FCC History Cards for WSTQ
{{Contemporary Hit Radio Stations in Illinois

STQ STQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving the regional areas of Queensland. The station is owned and operated by the Seven Network from studios located in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. The callsign STQ stands for ' ...

Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States LaSalle County, Illinois Streator, Illinois Radio stations established in 1965 1965 establishments in Illinois