WQQW (Illinois)

WQQW was a commercial daytime-only radio station that was licensed to serve Highland, Illinois at 1510 AM, and broadcast from 1998 to 2019. The station's transmitter site was located in the town of Pierron, Illinois.

For the former station in Waterbury, Connecticut, see WQQW (Connecticut).
DWQQW
CityHighland, Illinois
Broadcast areaMadison County
Bond County
Clinton County
St. Clair County
Greater St. Louis (limited)
Frequency1510 kHz
First air dateMay 19, 1998 (1998-05-19)
Last air dateMarch 5, 2019 (2019-03-05)
FormatDefunct
Power1,000 watts (daytime)
ClassD
Facility ID90598
Transmitter coordinates38°44′56″N 89°34′10″W
Former call signsWBDI (1998–99)
WCBW (1999–2001)
WINU (2001)
WDID (2001–06)
WXOZ (2006–09)
OperatorInsane Broadcasting Company
OwnerEntertainment Media Trust
(Entertainment Media Trust, Dennis J. Watkins, Trustee)
Sister stationsKFTK, KQQZ, KZQZ

The station's license was revoked by the Federal Communications Commission on March 20, 2020 after it was revealed that the principal ownership—Entertainment Media Trust—was set up as a shell company for a convicted felon. This license cancellation also included three other AM stations in the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area owned by the group: KFTK (1490 AM), KQQZ and KZQZ.

History

Originally licensed on May 19, 1998, WINU became WDID on June 14, 2001; WDID changed to WXOZ on May 11, 2006; and finally WXOZ changed to the current WQQW on November 18, 2009.[1]

On March 4, 2019, WQQW went silent, citing a transmitter prone to turning itself off for unknown reasons and issues with the internet delivery of its programming to the transmitter site.[2]

In 2012, Mark Kern challenged the license renewals of WQQW and its sister stations, alleging that Robert Romanik, a convicted felon who is also known as the "Grim Reaper of Radio", was controlling the stations in violation of FCC rules that prohibit felons from owning broadcast stations and had arranged a local marketing agreement for one of them.[3] On June 5, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission designated all four EMT stations' licenses for hearing, finding that Romanik had established EMT and provided all the funding to acquire its stations even though he was not a party to any FCC applications.

The station's license was cancelled on March 20, 2020.[4]

References
  1. WQQW's call sign history from the FCC.
  2. BLSTA-20190305AAG Request for Silent STA — WQQW
  3. Venta, Lance (2019-06-05). "FCC Sends Four St. Louis Area AMs To License Revocation Hearing". Radio Insight. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  4. "CDBS Search". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
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