WBQA is a non-commercial
FM classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
radio station located at 96.7, owned by
Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation and licensed to
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Boothbay Harbor is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,027 at the 2020 census. It includes the neighborhoods of Mount Pisgah, and Sprucewold, the Bayville and West Boothbay Harbor villages, and the Isle of Sp ...
. The station serves
Mid Coast Maine with studios in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
*Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon
*Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine
*Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel
Portland may also r ...
,
Lewiston and
Bangor. WBQA operates as part of the Maine Public Classical network.
History
The station signed on April 1, 1984,
as WCME, an
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...
station
owned by Bay Communications. WCME had news affiliations with the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
and
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
.
In 1990, the station changed to a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
format and affiliated with the
Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered Radio network, network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to radio stations, local stations, under several different formats.
History
Affiliate stations, mostly i ...
.
WCME began simulcasting with WPME (95.5 FM, now
WPPI
WPPI (95.5 FM) is a sports radio station in the Portland, Maine, area. The station is owned by Atlantic Coast Radio.
WPPI serves as a simulcast of WPEI (95.9 FM) in Saco. Both stations, in turn, mostly carry the same programs as WEEI-FM fr ...
) in
Topsham when it signed on in 1993; the following year, the stations changed to an
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music.
Since 2 ...
/
classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...
format as "The Golden Eagle", with WPME becoming WXGL-FM.
After owner Robert Cole sold WXGL-FM to Great Eastern Media in 1996,
WCME went
silent for several weeks in March 1997 in what WXGL staff claimed was a permanent shutdown;
however, WCME returned to the air that April with a mornings-only schedule of
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
music from the
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...
and
1980s
File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 335px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Space Shuttle Columbia, Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist Party of ...
while Cole put the station up for sale.
Tryon-Seacoast Broadcasting announced its acquisition of the station shortly afterward;
that June, WCME returned to full-time operation with an adult contemporary format.
Tryon-Seacoast took control of the station in July 1998 and changed it to a simulcast of country music station WKCG (101.3 FM) on July 27;
earlier that year, it had agreed to sell its Central Maine stations to
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...
.
Cumulus moved the country music format to
WCTB
WCTB is an FM Broadcasting, FM radio broadcast station licensed to Fairfield, Maine, United States, with studios in Skowhegan, Maine, Skowhegan. It broadcasts on 93.5 MHz with a classic country format, and is owned by J. Hanson Company. Its ...
(93.5 FM) on March 1, 1999, with "Kicks Country" continuing to simulcast on WCME.
In August 2000, WCME and WCTB began simulcasting the "Score"
sports
Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...
programming of
WSKW
WSKW (1160 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial amplitude modulation, AM radio station licensed to Skowhegan, Maine. It is owned by J. Hanson Company and it carries a radio format of sports radio, sports from Infinity Sports Network. T ...
(1160 AM), as part of a five-station network that also included WIGY (97.5 FM, now
WQSK) and WHQO (107.9 FM, now
WFMX);
shortly afterward, Cumulus agreed to sell its stations in the market to
Clear Channel Communications
iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
.
That October, WCME dropped "Score" programming for a simulcast of
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music.
Since 2 ...
station
WABK-FM
WABK-FM (104.3 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Gardiner, Maine, and serving Augusta and Central Maine. It airs a classic hits radio format. WABK-FM is part of a three-way simulcast with WBAK (104.7 FM) in Belfast and WBK ...
(104.3).
By December 2001, WCME was carrying a
news/talk
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...
format
as part of Clear Channel's "Voice of Maine" network, along with
WVOM in
Bangor and WHQO in
Skowhegan
Skowhegan () is the county seat of Somerset County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,620. Every August, Skowhegan hosts the annual Skowhegan State Fair, the oldest continuously held state fair in the Unite ...
.
WHQO was dropped from the network in November 2003 after Clear Channel ended its
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
with its owner, Mountain Wireless.
In October 2005, WCME dropped WVOM's morning show in favor of that of
WTOS-FM
WTOS-FM (105.1 MHz), known as "105 & 101 TOS", is a commercial mainstream rock radio station licensed to Skowhegan, Maine, whose studios are located in Augusta. Transmitting from Sugarloaf Mountain, the signal covers a large swath of rural Main ...
(105.1), filling a void in the mid-coast and
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
*Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon
*Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine
*Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel
Portland may also r ...
areas created when local jazz station
WJZP-LP went on the air on the same frequency as WTOS.
Other programs on WCME included ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
Morning Report'', ''
The War Room with Quinn and Rose
Quinn and Rose was a syndicated conservative talk radio program hosted by Jim Quinn and Rose Somma Tennent. Broadcasting from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the show aired in limited syndication from flagship station WPGB-HD2/ WBGG in Pittsburgh du ...
'',
Glenn Beck
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
,
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...
,
Dave Ramsey
David Lawrence Ramsey III (born September 3, 1960) is an American radio personality who offers financial advice. He is the founder and CEO of Ramsey Solutions and a co-host of '' The Ramsey Show'', a nationally syndicated radio program. He ...
,
Lars Larson
Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959)"Lars Kristopher Larson". ''Who's Who in the West'', 26th ed. Accessed June 17, 2013 via LexisNexis. is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon. Larson worked in televis ...
, and ''
Coast to Coast AM
''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 198 ...
''. WCME also carried
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
football and local sports, as well as
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
baseball off and on throughout the early 2000s.
Clear Channel announced on November 16, 2006, that it would sell its Central Maine stations after being bought by private equity firms,
resulting in a sale to Blueberry Broadcasting in 2008.
On January 5, 2009, WCME dropped its talk programming and took on the "Star" adult contemporary format vacated by co-owned WKCG when it became
WVQM
WVQM (101.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Augusta, Maine, United States. It simulcasts a talk radio, talk radio format with 103.9 WVOM-FM in Bangor, Maine, Bangor. The stations are owned by Blueberry Broa ...
, a simulcast of WVOM.
The ''Star'' image and AC format was short lived, as in March of the same year, the station began simulcasting WTOS-FM.
On May 4, 2009, WCME changed its call letters to WTQX.
Maine Public purchased WTQX for $550,000 in 2017 with the intention of making it the sixth station in its Maine Public Classical network.
The sale was completed on October 31, 2017;
concurrently, the call letters changed to WBQA.
References
External links
*
{{Mid-Coast Maine Radio
BQA
Lincoln County, Maine
Radio stations established in 1984
1984 establishments in Maine
Classical music radio stations in the United States