WNRQ

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.

For the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania radio station that held the call sign WNRQ from 1995 to 1996, see WPGB.

WNRQ
CityNashville, Tennessee
Broadcast areaNashville, Tennessee
Branding105.9 The Rock
SloganNashville's Classic Rock
Frequency105.9 MHz (HD Radio)
Translator(s)97.5 W248BQ (Nashville, relays HD2)
First air date1953 (as WLAC-FM)
FormatFM/HD1: Classic rock
HD2: stunting
ERP100,000 watts
HAAT376 meters (1,234 ft)
ClassC
Facility ID34392
Call sign meaningNashville's RoQ (pronounced as "Rock")
Former call signsWLAC-FM (1953–1978)
WKQB (1978–1981)
WJYN (1981–1983)
WLAC–FM (1983–1998)
OwneriHeartMedia, Inc.
(Capstar TX LLC)
Sister stationsWLAC, WRVW, WSIX-FM, WUBT
WebcastListen Live
Listen Live (HD2)
Website1059therock.iheart.com
975hallelujahfm.iheart.com (HD2)

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 two HD Radio stations: WNRQ-HD1 and WNRQ-HD2

  • HD1 is a simulcast of the analog station, while
  • HD2 is simulcast of sister translator station W248BQ. 105.9 HD2 began airing Vanderbilt football starting in the 2014 season.

HD 2 History

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, 2017, 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] On December 16, 2018, WNRQ-HD2 changed its format from alternative rock to gospel music, branded as "97.5 Hallelujah FM".[4]

On June 29, 2020, 15 stations owned by iHeart, including W248BQ/WNRQ-HD2, began stunting with with speeches targeting African American audiences. The stations, all in markets with large African American populations, are promoting “Our Voices Will Be Heard” and an announcement to take place on Tuesday, June 30 at Noon. At that time, the stations are expected to launch a nationwide news/talk network to be deemed the "Black Information Network", as several domains with that branding were registered by iHeart the previous Friday, the 26th.[5]

HD 3 History

HD3 was previously (at first) a simulcast of sister station 1510 WLAC until 2013, when the simulcast moved to the HD 2 subchannel, replacing "Vinyl Vineyard". Afterwards, HD 3 went silent from then onward, until 2016, when it was re added to broadcast the then Christian Rock Station, (Now Christian Worship Music) Air1. (simulcasting translator station 92.5 W223BV, Brentwood.) The HD 3 signal was discontinued once again on January 1, 2020, when Educational Media Foundation took over the rights to the translator & moved the simulcast to an HD 2 signal of their K-Love owned Station WLVU-FM & also due to budget cuts & constraints at I-Heart Media.

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
  4. Hallelujah 97.5 Nashville Flips From Alternative to Gospel Radioinsight - December 17, 2018
  5. Fifteen iHeartMedia Stations Stunting Ahead Of New Network Launch

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.