WQNU
Office in Louisville
Broadcast areaLouisville metropolitan area
Frequency103.1 MHz
BrandingNew Country Q103.1
Programming
FormatCountry
AffiliationsCompass Media Networks
Ownership
Owner
WRKA, WSFR, WVEZ
History
First air date
October 19, 1966 (October 19, 1966) (as WSTM St. Matthews)
Former call signs
WSTM (1966-1978)
WNUU (1978-1980)
WRKA (1980-2008)
Call sign meaning
Q103.1 New (NU) Country
Technical information
Facility ID20332
ClassC2
ERP23,000 watts
HAAT169 meters (554 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
38°19′28.20″N 85°33′0.10″W / 38.3245000°N 85.5500278°W / 38.3245000; -85.5500278
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websiteqlouisville.com

WQNU (103.1 FM, "New Country Q103.1") is a commercial radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Lyndon, Kentucky, it serves the Louisville metropolitan area. It is owned by SummitMedia.[1] The studios are at Chestnut Centre on South 4th Street in downtown Louisville.

WQNU is a Class C2 station. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 23,000 watts. The transmitter is on Hitt Road in Louisville, off Riverside Expressway (Interstate 71).[2]

History

WSTM, WNUU, WRKA

The station signed on the air on October 19, 1966. The original call sign was WSTM, with the letters referring to the original city of license, St. Matthews, Kentucky. It was a Class A station, powered at 2,950 watts, a fraction of its current output. It was owned by J. W. Dunavent and was sold four times in its first 10 years of broadcasting. In the late 1970s, it aired a disco music format.[3]

The station switched its call letters to WNUU on August 28, 1978. On New Year's Day, 1980, the station changed its call sign to WRKA. As WRKA, it aired an adult contemporary music format.

In 1982, WRKA tried a short-lived Top 40 format. Two years later, in 1984, it returned to its adult contemporary sound. Radio personality Glenn Beck was the morning drive time host at one point. In January 1989, the station adopted an oldies format.

On July 18, 2008, at 2:30 p.m., after playing Hello, Goodbye by The Beatles, it broadcast a farewell message from the station's program director going into a commercial break. WRKA aired a montage of station moments themed to American Pie by Don McLean that ended on the lyric The day the music died. That was followed by one last jingle. After a minute of static (through which the ending of Beginnings by Chicago could be faintly heard), the station began stunting. It introduced a "new" format as News/Talk 103.1 WRKA, complete with fake reports before playing a fake "Breaking Fox News Alert" report of power outages around the state.[4]

WQNU

That led into the introduction of "New Country Q103.1" at 3 p.m., launching with Kid Rock "All Summer Long". The same day, the station changed call letters to the current WQNU.[5] The former WRKA call sign is now used on a sister station in the Louisville market.

On July 20, 2012, Cox Radio, Inc. announced the sale of WQNU and 22 other stations to Summit Media LLC for $66.25 million. The sale was consummated on May 3, 2013.[6][7] Summit Media has continued to broadcast a country music format on WQNU, competing with 97.5 WAMZ, owned by iHeartMedia.

Notable alumni

Previous Logos

References

  1. ↑ "WQNU Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. ↑ Radio-Locator.com/WQNU
  3. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-87. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  4. ↑ https://formatchangearchive.com/103-1-wrka-becomes-new-country-q103-1/
  5. ↑ "WQNU Call Sign History". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  6. ↑ "Cox Puts Clusters up for Sale".
  7. ↑ "Cox Sells Stations in Six Markets to Two Groups".
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