WBLQ (1230
AM) is a radio station licensed to serve
Westerly, Rhode Island
Westerly is a New England town, town on the Coast, southwestern coastline of Washington County, Rhode Island, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, first settled by English colonists in 1661, and incorporated as a List of municipalitie ...
. The station is owned by DiPonti Communications. Its programming is also carried on
FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...
W276DF (103.1).
History
WERI
The station, then called WERI, began broadcasting on 1230 kHz on July 1, 1949, using a daytime and nighttime power of 250 watts, non-directional. The station still uses its original 185-foot,
Blaw-Knox
Blaw-Knox is a manufacturer of road paving equipment. The company was created in 1917 from the merger of Blaw Collapsible Steel Centering Company and the Knox Pressed and Welded Steel Company. Blaw-Knox was sold to new owners in 1968, changed own ...
, self-supporting tower, on Margin Street, beside the
Pawcatuck River
The Pawcatuck River is a river in the US states of Rhode Island and Connecticut flowing approximately .U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 There are eight da ...
.
In the 1960s, the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) increased the daytime power of all Class IV
AM stations to 1,000 watts. WERI still had to reduce power to 250 watts at night, as did all other stations on the same frequency.
In 1966, WERI added FM service with WERI-FM (103.7, now
WVEI-FM
WVEI-FM (103.7 MHz; "103.7 WEEI") is a radio station broadcasting a sports talk format, largely simulcasting Boston-based WEEI-FM. The station is licensed to Westerly, Rhode Island, United States, and is owned by Audacy, Inc. In addition to WEEI ...
). The FM antenna is initially mounted to the side of the AM tower on Margin Street in downtown Westerly. The FM station broadcasts for only a few days from this location before it is shut down due to harmonic interference to
TV channel 12. In 1968, WERI-FM moved its transmitter to a new location on
Route 3 in Ashaway, and begins regular broadcasting.
In the 1970s, the FCC increased the nighttime power of all Class IV stations from 250 to 1,000 watts, including WERI.
In the 1980s, WERI-FM moved its transmitter closer to
Providence, changes callsign to WWRX, and effectively became a Providence station. In the 1990s, WWRX was sold to an independent owner from WERI.
WXNI
In 1999, WERI was sold to
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
, and the callsign was changed to WXNI on January 4.
As WXNI, it aired a format of
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...
and
talk from
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
.
It was a repeater of
WRNI in Providence, and the two stations combined to provide a locally focused NPR member for Rhode Island–the forerunner of what evolved into Rhode Island Public Radio (now
The Public's Radio
The Public's Radio (TPR) is a non-commercial, listener-supported, public radio network that is the NPR member for the state of Rhode Island. It carries news, talk and information programs on several FM frequencies and one AM station. The station ...
).
WBLQ
In December 2007, BU reached an agreement to sell WXNI to Diponti Communications for a reported $350,000.
The move came after a local group took control of WRNI and acquired WAKX (later WRNI-FM, now
WNPE
WNPE (102.7 FM) is a public radio station, providing programming from The Public's Radio (formerly known as Rhode Island Public Radio) to southern Rhode Island from its transmitter at Narragansett Pier. It was the first FM transmitter in th ...
) in
Narragansett Pier
Narragansett Pier is an unincorporated village and a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Narragansett in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 3,409 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Narragansett Pier is loca ...
to serve as its southern satellite. Diponti Communications announced its intention to move the local news and variety programming of
WBLQ-LP (96.7
FM,
Ashaway, Rhode Island) to WXNI's more powerful AM signal.
On November 29, 2009, WXNI changed its call letters to WBLQ; it would begin broadcasting in
C-QUAM
C-QUAM (Compatible QUadrature Amplitude Modulation) is the method of AM stereo broadcasting used in Canada, the United States and most other countries. It was invented in 1977 by Norman Parker, Francis Hilbert, and Yoshio Sakaie, and published in ...
AM Stereo.
WBLQ began broadcasting on FM translator W276DF (103.1 MHz) in November 2019.
On December 1, 2001, WBLQ began airing the "Time Machine", Weekends presented By Chris Dipaola, Tommy Stafford, DJ Gadget and the Cali Kid.
On the night of October 13, 2022, WBLQ owner Chris DiPaola died unexpectedly from an apparent heart attack.
This came shortly after the station had settled with the city of Westerly on a five-year lease extension.
Translator
References
External links
*
FCC History Cards for WBLQ*
ttps://airchexx.com/an-interview-with-dale-parsons-1230-103-1-wblq-westerly-ri-december-31-2021/ WBLQ New Year's Eve show Interview with Dale Parsons. Fro
Airchexx.com
{{AM Stereo radio stations
BLQ
Westerly, Rhode Island
Radio stations established in 1949
1949 establishments in Rhode Island
Full service radio stations in the United States