WKZQ-FM (96.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

, "96.1 KZQ") is an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

radio station licensed to Forestbrook, South Carolina and serves the

Grand Strand The Grand Strand is an arc of beach land on the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina, United States, extending more than from Little River to Winyah Bay. It is located in Horry and Georgetown Counties on the northeastern South Carolina coast. Th ...

area. The station is licensed by 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) to broadcast with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 8,500 watts. Its studios are located in

Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the " Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. It ...

and its transmitter is located in Murrells Inlet. The format and call sign WKZQ-FM had been on 101.7 MHz since the late 1970s before a frequency swap on September 23, 2008.

History

WKZQ-FM signed on July 3, 1969.David Wren and Toby Eddings, "WJYR Owner Buys 2 WKZQs," ''The Sun News'', March 12, 1997. Originally on 101.7 MHz, WKZQ was established as a " beautiful music"Taylor, Chuck, "10 Musical Stations with Bold Directors and Bold Teams--Shaking Up the Airwaves," ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', 8/6/2011, Vol. 123, Issue 27. automated station, operating out of the back room of its big sister AM rocker, WTGR. At one point WKZQ played middle of the road music during the day, and

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

/ CHR at night when WTGR had to go off the air. In the mid-1970s General Manager Billy Hennecy transitioned to an oldies format with limited live announcers in morning (Bill Hennecy), afternoons (J. Patrick Milan), and night (Tommy Walters). Other day parts were automated until Hennecy hired Gregory "Greg" Fowler who took the FM station live and progressively formatted it to a mix of Top 40, Rock, and Oldies with female personality Linda King and Bradley "Bad Brad" Todd with the overnight duties when Rock 102 went 24 hours live in 1975.. During the 1980s WKZQ-FM had a full-time Top 40/CHR format. WTGR became WKZQ (AM) and began simulcasting the FM. In 1985, Marvin "Marv" Clark was morning host and Gary "The Freakin' Deacon" Dawson was afternoon host. When the FM station increased power from 3,000 to 50,000 watts in 1989, the format changed from Top 40/CHR to AOR. On March 11, 1997, Tony Hirsh announced he was buying WKZQ-AM-FM from Tom Rogers, president of Grand Strand Broadcasting, which had owned both stations since each signed on. Under the direction of both Bill and Greg, WKZQ overtook its sister station and went on to become Billboard Magazine's Station of the Year and won numerous Brandon 'Station of the Year' awards. Notable rock jocks who passed through 'KZQ were Billy "Bill" Hennecy, J. Patrick Milan, Bradley "Bad Brad" Todd, Tommy Walters, Jackson "Banana Jack" Murphy, Morgan "The Coach" Patrick,

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...

host and programmer, Jeffrey "The Human Numan" Stone, who was known as Jeffrey "Shotgun Jeff" Stone, the late Bob Decay who was killed in auto accident in the late 1970s, WLS' Kenneth "Citizen Kenn" Heinlein, Gary "The Freakin' Deacon" Dawson, Brian Phillips, Jason "Jay" Charland, Mike Urban, Johnny Van Pelt, Chuckie "Boo Boo Boo" Baron, Bob Chase, Mike Willis, Scott Summers, Pamela "Pam" May, Marvin "Marv" Clark, Mixin Dixon Morrison, Henry Kaye, Christopher William, Johnny Kilgo, Raymond "Ray" Mariner, Jack Boston, with Linda King, and Gregory "Greg" Fowler who left to become manager of legendary country sensation, Alabama. As of May 21, 2009, J. Patrick, John, Jack, and Gary, can be heard online a
QRockRadio
In the 1990s, with other stations playing

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 ...

, WKZQ changed its emphasis to new rock adding Alt tracks with the first female Music Director and APD Summer James. Line up included Banana Jack in The Morning with various Midday hosts including Charlie Sexton, Iceman and Scooter the Midday Chef. Summer also held down 7-Midnight for the decade. Banana Jack Murphy and Summer both stayed through ownership changes from Grand Strand Broadcasting, Hirsch Broadcasting to Next Media into the 2000’s. Mixin’ Dixon returned in the 90’s. Johnny D. Programmed during this time in the early 90’s. Darren Taylor was his sidekick. Summer James (Award winning VoiceOver Talent) remained in the line up until moving to LA for a radio show. This line up known for broadcasting LIVE every night, everywhere from one end of the beach to the other. With the purchase of the station by NextMedia Group, Brian Rickman was named Program/Music Director and adjusted the station's format to Alternative Rock. In January 2002 Mad Max and Special-K joined WKZQ and hosted the Mad Max Morning Show until Special K's exit in February 2005. Mad Max and Special-K received #1 ratings and various awards including "Best Of The Beach" from the local Sun News as well as numerous Radio and Records "Best Stunts" awards. The Mad Max Morning Show heavily featured phone pranks, on location stunts as well as listener contests. Abbi along with Jerzee Boy were added to the show in the spring of 2005. Mad Max left KZQ in May 2006. The station won ''

Radio and Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

'' magazine's 2007 Industry Achievement Award for best Alternative Station for markets 100 and up. It was the station's second nomination in three years and the first win. Finalists also included WJSE,

KQXR KQXR (100.3 Hertz, MHz) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Payette, Idaho, and broadcasting to the Boise metropolitan area. It airs an active rock radio format, format and is owned by Lotus Communicati ...

, WBTZ,

KXNA KXNA (104.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an alternative format. Licensed to Springdale, Arkansas, United States, it serves the Fayetteville (North West Arkansas) area. The station is currently owned by John Lykins, through licensee Rox ...

, and WSFM. In September 2008, WKZQ swapped frequencies with WAVF, abandoning its historic frequency of 101.7 MHz, and migrated to 96.1 MHz. Mason "Mase" Brazelle was named Music Director of the Year for modern rock, secondary markets, in 2011. WKZQ replaced the morning program ''The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show'' with ''

Mike & Mike ''Mike & Mike'' (formerly ''Mike & Mike in the Morning'') was an American sports-talk radio show that was hosted by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic on ESPN networks from 2000 to 2017. The show aired on ESPN Radio, and was simulcast on televisio ...

'', a sports talk show from

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

, in 2013. By September 2014, that show had moved to WRNN (AM). WKZQ's playlist includes new and classic alternative ranging from AWOLNATION,

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

and

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassist Andy Nicholson ...

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

and

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

. NextMedia Group sold WKZQ-FM and its 32 other radio stations to Digity, LLC for $85 million; the transaction was consummated on February 10, 2014. Effective February 25, 2016, Digity and its 124 radio stations were acquired by

Alpha Media Alpha Media LLC is a radio broadcasting company based in Portland, Oregon, and led by Bob Proffitt. The group does business under the Alpha Media name. It was formed from the merger of Alpha Broadcasting, L&L Broadcasting, and Main Line Broadc ...

for $264 million. In September 2017, Dick Broadcasting announced the purchase of

stations in three markets — 18 stations and two translators in total, at a purchase price of $19.5 million. The acquisition of WKZQ-FM by Dick Broadcasting was consummated on December 20, 2017.

References

External links

WKZQ-FM official website
* {{Modern Rock Radio Stations in South Carolina KZQ-FM Modern rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1985 1985 establishments in South Carolina