WCGQ
Encyclopedia
WCGQ is a radio station
broadcasting a Contemporary Hit Radio
music format. WCGQ is licensed to serve the community of Columbus, Georgia
, USA.
on mornings, Dave Arwood on Middays, Damon Free on afternoon drive, and "Nudge at Night" on nights. Notable weekend personalities include "Sebas". Current syndicated programming includes The Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40
hosted by Rick Dees
on Saturday mornings, Saturday Night Online Live hosted by Romeo on Saturday nights, and American Top 40
hosted by Ryan Seacrest
on Sunday afternoons.
, for a reported combined sale price of $15 million. At the time of the sale, WCGQ carried an adult contemporary music format.
The first on-the-air announcement on WCGQ was made by WCGQ start-up Consulting Program Director, David Tate
:
"This is WCGQ, Columbus, Georgia, 'The New 107-Q', where the Rock revolution starts NOW".
Then, Tate played the first musical selection ever broadcast on WCGQ, Revolution
, recorded by the British pop band, The Beatles
.
Indeed, a Rock revolution did begin at WCGQ-FM that day. WCGQ trounced its direct competitor, WDAK-AM, in only 4 months. In the April/May, 1974 Arbitron
ratings Radio Market Report for Columbus, GA, WCGQ became the leading FM popular music radio station in the Columbus, GA metropolitan area.
107-Q's earliest musical style was marked by a decidedly eclectic, "left-of-center", musical mixture, featuring playlists with artists like David Essex, Ian Thomas, Bachman-Turner Overdrive (which was called, "underground" music at the time) and Jimi Hendrix. Also, WCGQ played songs by a number of "Southern Underground" bands and singers, including The Allman Brothers' Band, Black Oak Arkansas, Wet Willie and others. "Southern Rock" was crystallizing in the world of pop music at the very moment of WCGQ's inception.
This "left-field" strategy was apparently by-design, in order to give WCGQ the initial veneer of being an "underground" FM station. But the presentation-style of WCGQ was purely in the "Top 40" mold, with a handful of Top 40 "shotgun", short, singing identifiers ("jingles") and high-energy radio announcers, often referred to in the radio trade as, "Boss Jocks".
Kris Earl Phillips was the 6pm-10pm on-air host during the earliest days of WCGQ. Phillips eventually reached radio's most prominent Top 40 station, according to the Arbitron radio ratings, WHTZ-FM/New York, NY (a.k.a. "Z-100"), in 1991.
In April, 1974, due to a business dispute between WCGQ management and David Tate's employer, Bill Parris Programming of Washington, DC, Tate was ordered to withdraw prematurely from the 107-Q project and Kris Earl Phillips actually guided 107-Q as Program Director through its first ratings period. But, by then, the start-up strategy had largely been set by Parris and Tate.
Later, WCGQ was programmed directly by William B. Parris, of Bill Parris Programming of Washington, D.C. (who initially hired Tate to execute the 107-Q start-up) and the station took-on a decidedly more "Urban" tenor. As a result, WCGQ attracted a large number of African-American listeners in WCGQ's city-of-license, Columbus, GA.
By 1975, under the direction of Parris, WCGQ became the overall number one radio station in the Columbus, GA radio listening market. WDAK-AM's audience ratings fell into obscurity during the period after 1975.
In the late 1970s, WCGQ increased its transmitting power to 100,000 watts and changed its operating frequency from 107.7 mHz to 107.3 mHz, in order to more effectively serve the growing Columbus metropolitan area. In the late 1980s, WCGQ changed its over-the-air nickname from "107-Q" to its current nickname, "Q107.3". Curiously, the WCGQ "listener request line" telephone number still refers to its original FCC
-allocated operating frequency, 107.7 mHz: (706) 322-1077. This studio telephone number has remained unchanged since the station originally signed-on in 1973.
music format.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
broadcasting a Contemporary Hit Radio
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
music format. WCGQ is licensed to serve the community of Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
, USA.
Current
Current weekday on-air personalities include Elvis Duran and the Morning ShowElvis Duran and the Morning Show
Elvis Duran and The Morning Show is the name of an American syndicated radio program hosted by Elvis Duran. The daily morning radio show currently airs on New York Top 40 station Z100...
on mornings, Dave Arwood on Middays, Damon Free on afternoon drive, and "Nudge at Night" on nights. Notable weekend personalities include "Sebas". Current syndicated programming includes The Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40
Rick Dees Weekly Top 40
Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40 is an internationally-syndicated radio program created and hosted by American radio personality Rick Dees. It is currently heard on over 200 radio stations worldwide and the American Forces Network. It is distributed domestically by Citadel Media Networks and...
hosted by Rick Dees
Rick Dees
Rigdon Osmond "Rick" Dees III is an American comedic performer, entertainer, and radio personality, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown and for the novelty song "Disco Duck." He is a People's Choice Award recipient, a Grammy-nominated...
on Saturday mornings, Saturday Night Online Live hosted by Romeo on Saturday nights, and American Top 40
American Top 40
American Top 40 is an internationally syndicated, independent radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs. Originally a production of Watermark Inc...
hosted by Ryan Seacrest
Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest is an American radio personality, television host, network producer and voice actor. He is the host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, a nationally syndicated Top 40 radio show that airs on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and throughout the United States and Canada on Premiere Radio Networks,...
on Sunday afternoons.
Former
Notable former on-air personalities include Kris Earl Phillips, The Smoker (Scott Howitt), Bill Lenky (Bill Lee), P.J. Walker, Merlin Jones, Jefferson Keyes, Al Haynes (now programming sister station WRCG-FM), Lulu, Spikey Mike, Shelby Guest, Lee "Lee Baby" McCard, Dave Kelly, James Steele, Mark "Mark in the Dark" Ross, Dave Arwood, Bear O'Bryan, Jeff Tate, Robert Cunningham, Jeff Michaels, Leo Davis, Mark Gunn, Andy Woods, and Stella (Joe Mclure).Ownership
In December 2002, McClure Broadcasting, Inc., (Chuck McClure Jr., president) reached an agreement to sell this station to Archway Broadcasting Group (Al Vicente, president/CEO). This was part of a four-station deal, along with WRLD-FM, WRCG, and WKCNWKCN
WKCN , known as "Kissin 99.3", is a radio station licensed to Fort Benning South/Columbus, and serving the greater Columbus, Georgia, area.-Programming:...
, for a reported combined sale price of $15 million. At the time of the sale, WCGQ carried an adult contemporary music format.
History
WCGQ signed-on, "live", on December 26, 1973, at 6:00am, replacing an automated Country music format under call-letters, WHYD-FM (also known as, "Hydee").The first on-the-air announcement on WCGQ was made by WCGQ start-up Consulting Program Director, David Tate
David Tate (radio broadcaster)
David Helene Tate served as President/CEO of Rantel Research, Inc. of Laurel, MD, a broadcast radio audience marketing company, from 1979-1997. Rantel's area of professional specialization was mostly in radio formats targeted at young-adult audiences as measured by Arbitron of Columbia, MD...
:
"This is WCGQ, Columbus, Georgia, 'The New 107-Q', where the Rock revolution starts NOW".
Then, Tate played the first musical selection ever broadcast on WCGQ, Revolution
Revolution (song)
"Revolution" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The Beatles released two distinct arrangements of the song in 1968: a hard rock version as the B-side of the single "Hey Jude", and a slower version titled "Revolution 1" on the eponymous album The Beatles...
, recorded by the British pop band, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
.
Indeed, a Rock revolution did begin at WCGQ-FM that day. WCGQ trounced its direct competitor, WDAK-AM, in only 4 months. In the April/May, 1974 Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
ratings Radio Market Report for Columbus, GA, WCGQ became the leading FM popular music radio station in the Columbus, GA metropolitan area.
107-Q's earliest musical style was marked by a decidedly eclectic, "left-of-center", musical mixture, featuring playlists with artists like David Essex, Ian Thomas, Bachman-Turner Overdrive (which was called, "underground" music at the time) and Jimi Hendrix. Also, WCGQ played songs by a number of "Southern Underground" bands and singers, including The Allman Brothers' Band, Black Oak Arkansas, Wet Willie and others. "Southern Rock" was crystallizing in the world of pop music at the very moment of WCGQ's inception.
This "left-field" strategy was apparently by-design, in order to give WCGQ the initial veneer of being an "underground" FM station. But the presentation-style of WCGQ was purely in the "Top 40" mold, with a handful of Top 40 "shotgun", short, singing identifiers ("jingles") and high-energy radio announcers, often referred to in the radio trade as, "Boss Jocks".
Kris Earl Phillips was the 6pm-10pm on-air host during the earliest days of WCGQ. Phillips eventually reached radio's most prominent Top 40 station, according to the Arbitron radio ratings, WHTZ-FM/New York, NY (a.k.a. "Z-100"), in 1991.
In April, 1974, due to a business dispute between WCGQ management and David Tate's employer, Bill Parris Programming of Washington, DC, Tate was ordered to withdraw prematurely from the 107-Q project and Kris Earl Phillips actually guided 107-Q as Program Director through its first ratings period. But, by then, the start-up strategy had largely been set by Parris and Tate.
Later, WCGQ was programmed directly by William B. Parris, of Bill Parris Programming of Washington, D.C. (who initially hired Tate to execute the 107-Q start-up) and the station took-on a decidedly more "Urban" tenor. As a result, WCGQ attracted a large number of African-American listeners in WCGQ's city-of-license, Columbus, GA.
By 1975, under the direction of Parris, WCGQ became the overall number one radio station in the Columbus, GA radio listening market. WDAK-AM's audience ratings fell into obscurity during the period after 1975.
In the late 1970s, WCGQ increased its transmitting power to 100,000 watts and changed its operating frequency from 107.7 mHz to 107.3 mHz, in order to more effectively serve the growing Columbus metropolitan area. In the late 1980s, WCGQ changed its over-the-air nickname from "107-Q" to its current nickname, "Q107.3". Curiously, the WCGQ "listener request line" telephone number still refers to its original FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
-allocated operating frequency, 107.7 mHz: (706) 322-1077. This studio telephone number has remained unchanged since the station originally signed-on in 1973.
Notable Industry Accomplishments
WCGQ holds the distinction of broadcasting the "Top 40" radio format longer than any other American commercial radio station: 37 years, as of 2010.Acquisitions and Mergers
On July 31, 2008, local investment group PMB Broadcasting LLC (headed up by Jim Martin) purchased this station along with Columbus-area sister stations WRLD-FM, WRCG, WCGQ, and WKCN from Archway Broadcasting Group LLC for a reported sale price of $7.2 million. At the time of the sale, the station carried a contemporary hit radioContemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
music format.