WNRQ

WNRQ

City Nashville, Tennessee
Broadcast area Nashville, Tennessee
Branding 105.9 The Rock
Slogan Nashville's Classic Rock
Frequency 105.9 MHz (also on HD Radio)
105.9 HD2 for Alt 97.5
(formerly WLAC simulcast, Vinyl Vineyard, ALT 98.3 & Big Legend 98.3)
105.9 HD3 for Air1
Translator(s) 92.5 W223BV (Brentwood, relays HD3)
97.5 W248BQ (Nashville, relays HD2)
First air date 1953 (as WLAC-FM)
Format FM/HD1: Classic rock
HD2: Alternative rock "Alt 97.5"
HD3: Christian rock "Air1"
ERP 98,000 watts
HAAT 376 meters
Class C
Facility ID 34392
Callsign meaning Nashville's RoQ (pronounced as "Rock")
Former callsigns WLAC-FM (1953–1978)
WKQB (1978–1981)
WJYN (1981–1983)
WLAC–FM (1983–1998)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Capstar TX LLC)
Sister stations WLAC, WRVW, WSIX-FM, WUBT
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live (HD2)
Website 1059therock.iheart.com
alt975.iheart.com (HD2)

WNRQ is an FM radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, broadcasting on a frequency of 105.9 MHz. It serves counties in northern middle Tennessee and southern central Kentucky. The station's studios are located in Nashville's Music Row district and the transmitter site is in Brentwood, Tennessee.

History/ownership

WNRQ has previously been adult contemporary "Star 106" WLAC-FM, album oriented rock WKQB "Rock 106", and WJYN "The Joy of Nashville", the latter reflecting a former easy listening format. It has always been the partner station of the historical WLAC, through numerous ownership changes (presently held by Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia, Inc.).

In 1998, Dick Broadcasting, owner of WGFX, and SFX Broadcasting, the then-owner of WLAC-FM, agreed to trade the intellectual property of the stations. The trade, to have taken place February 2, 1998, would have moved WLAC-FM to 104.5 FM, and moved WGFX's classic rock format to 105.9 under SFX ownership. However, when the agreement fell apart, SFX decided to go ahead with launching a classic rock format anyway, and flipped WLAC-FM to WNRQ on January 30.[1]

Current format

The current format features a mixture of fairly hard classic rock deemed to be primarily male-oriented; most of the station's playlist first hit middle Tennessee airwaves on the now-country-formatted WKDF during the 1970s and 1980s, as well as, WKQB "Rock 106" (1978–81). It is also Nashville's broadcaster of the syndicated John Boy and Billy morning show, heard on numerous Southern stations with the same format as WNRQ.

Former disc jockeys

"Moose" – currently programs WCJK, "96.3 Jack FM," Murfreesboro/Nashville.
"Proud Mary" – worked before at sister station WRVW, status now unknown.
"Big Rig" – worked nights, was at WFBQ, now at WXTB.
"Squeegie" – now at WBUZ-FM
"Riley"
"Joe Elvis" – afternoons: let go in August 2013 for automation.
"Tyler"
"Mud" – was the programming director for the station, also worked nights then afternoons, now at WBGG-FM.
"Jimmy The K"
"Laura Steele" – Also worked at WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, Still heard on The Classic Rock Channel.

HD Radio

WNRQ also broadcasts three HD Radio stations: WNRQ-HD1, WNRQ-HD2, and WNRQ-HD3.

  • HD1 is a simulcast of the analog station, while
  • HD2 is an alternative rock format simulcasting sister translator station, W248BQ as Alt 97.5. 105.9 HD2 began airing Vanderbilt football starting in the 2014 season.
  • HD3 is a Christian Rock format, simulcasting Air1 on translator station W223BV 92.5 FM.

HD2 was previously (at first) a Clear Channel Communications-provided channel called "Vinyl Vineyard", but due to technical difficulties, the simulcast of sister station 1510 WLAC then moved to the HD2 signal, replacing "Vinyl Vineyard". Then on Monday, August 25, 2014, the new Alternative Rock format of Alt 98.3 (simulcasting sister translator W252CM) made its debut, replacing the WLAC simulcast. On September 2, 2016 the format changed to classic country, branded as "The Big Legend 98.3".[2] On March 31, WNRQ-HD2 switched to alternative rock, branded as "Alt 97.5" (simulcast on FM translator W248BQ 97.5 FM Nashville; the "Big Legend 98.3" classic country format moved to WSIX-HD2.[3]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1998/RR-1998-02-06.pdf
  2. ↑ iHeart Debuts The Big Legend 98.3 Nashville Radioinsight - September 2, 2016
  3. ↑ Alt Returns to Nashville Radioinsight - March 31, 2017

Coordinates: 36°02′10″N 86°50′56″W / 36.036°N 86.849°W / 36.036; -86.849

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