WQDY-FM, on air as ''Classic Hits 92.7 & 95.3'', is an American radio station licensed to

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. The station simulcasts on WALZ-FM

Machias, Maine Machias is a town in and the county seat of Washington County in Down East Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 2,060. It is home to the University of Maine at Machias and Machias Valley Airport, a small public ...

(95.3 FM). The station carries 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 ...

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 ...

, with a heavy emphasis on local sports, including

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

baseball. Previous to the station buying

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 " con ...

WCRQ WCRQ (102.9 MHz, Border Country 102.9) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Dennysville, Maine. The station is owned by WQDY, Inc., which also owns 92.7 WQDY-FM Calais and 95.3 WALZ Machias. WCRQ airs a country music format. The st ...

in 2003, which changed its format 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 ...

in 2019, WQDY-FM was also carried on AM 1230 WQDY.

History

WQDY launched on July 4, 1959. It originally broadcast on AM 1230. Founders John Vondell and John Foster established the station that year. In 1964, it was sold to

Buffalo Bob Smith Robert Emil Schmidt (November 27, 1917 – July 30, 1998), nicknamed Buffalo Bob, was the host of the children's show ''Howdy Doody''. Biography Born in Buffalo, New York, as Robert Emil Schmidt, he attended Masten Park High School. Schmidt g ...

, best known as the host of children's television series ''

Howdy Doody ''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F Campbell

''. Smith also had a summer home on Big Lake in Grand Lake Stream. Dan Hollingdale, who started at the station several months after it originally began, rose through the ranks to become station manager under Smith. Hollingdale bought the station from Smith in 1978. In 1995, WQDY began simulcasting on WALZ 95.3 FM in Machias, Maine. In 1996, 24/7 operation began on both stations when they were sold to Mike Goodine and Bill McVicar. Goodine had been station manager under Hollingdale. McVicar began career at the station in 1986 as an account executive and play-by-play announcer. In 1998, McVicar, Goodine and partner Roger Holst purchased WALZ-FM in Machias. In 2001, McVicar and Holst took over ownership. In 2003, the station acquired WCRQ 102.9 FM from

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...

and became a part of the WQDY, Inc. family of stations.

References

External links

Official WQDY-FM website
* * QDY-FM Mass media in Washington County, Maine Classic hits radio stations in the United States Calais, Maine Radio stations established in 1959 1959 establishments in Maine {{Maine-radio-station-stub