WNQM (1300
AM), is a radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee, owned by F. W. Robbert Broadcasting. It airs a
Christian radio
Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...
format calling itself "Nashville Quality Ministries".
By day, WNQM is powered at
non-directional, the highest power for U.S. AM stations. At night, to protect other stations on
1300 AM from interference, it reduces power to and uses a
directional antenna
A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...
with a five-
tower array
A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...
. The station's radio studios and transmitter are off Ashland City Highway (
Tennessee State Route 12)
History
WMAK Top 40
The station, then owned by Texas newspaper publisher Frank W. Mayborn, signed on the air on July 1, 1948. The original
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
was WMAK.
From December 1962 through the 1970s, WMAK was a
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 ...
contemporary hits radio station, popular with young people in Nashville. Promotion and stunts made the station competitive in the Nashville radio market. Before the switch to hit radio for WMAK, WKDA had been the dominant top 40 station in Nashville, helmed by Jack Stapp, a local music publisher and owner of TREE Music Publishing in Nashville. With the installation of Ralley Stanton as Program Director, WMAK began to rival WKDA.
Owner Fred Gregg, who also owned WAKY in Louisville, Kentucky, helped put WMAK into a competitive position by installing a new 5,000 watt RCA transmitter. With the new sound and complete coverage in the Middle Tennessee market, WMAK reached number two in the Pulse Rating Service and number three in the Monthly Hooper Ratings. WMAK disc jockeys were known as the "WMAK Tigers". They included: Allen (Dennis) and Alan (Nelson - the News Director) in morning
drive time
Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
. Gene Clark was heard middays 9 AM-2 PM, Jay Reynolds (later at WABC New York) from 2PM to 6PM and Frank Jolley 6 PM-Midnight. Meanwhile, the DJs on WKDA 1240 were known as the "Good Guys".
WMAK would sign off each night at midnight until the late 60s, when
Scott Shannon became Program Director and took the station full time. Shannon, later at WHTZ, WPLJ and WCBS-FM in New York, installed his new brand of top 40 radio excitement at the station. WMAK became the number one rated radio station under Shannon's leadership.
Disco, Oldies and Christian Radio
On August 14, 1978, the station adopted a
disco music
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife, particularly in African-American, Italian-American, Gay and Latino communities. Its sound features four-on-the-floor ...
format and was known as "Majik 13". During the run of the disco format, WMAK was fully automated. On January 1, 1980, disco was dropped and WMAK's format became
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 ...
. WMAK ended the automation and brought back live DJs. (The oldies format and call sign were later revived in 2000, by WMAK-FM 96.3, which is now Jack FM station WCJK).
In January of 1982, WMAK became the first Nashville station to offer morning-drive (6a - 10a) sports talk, with 19-year-old Nashville native Joe Williams behind the mic along with David Lipscomb College Sports Information Director Jonathan Seamon. The station focused on high school and college sports, along with local racing from Nashville International Raceway and NASCAR.
On June 22, 1982, 1300 AM became WLUY, "Lucky 13". Williams' show was moved to the 5 pm - 10 pm time slot when the station would sign off. Weekends were largely run by students of the Nashville Radio School. The station went
dark
Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light.
Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...
in January 1984 following Williams' last show. That year, F. W. Robbert Broadcasting bought the station for $700,000.
[''Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2005'']
page D-482
Retrieved October 5, 2023. On February 2, 1984, it returned to the air and began broadcasting a
Christian radio
Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...
format.
References
External links
WNQM official website
FCC History Cards for WNQM
{{coord, 36, 12, 30, N, 86, 53, 38, W, type:landmark_region:US, display=title
1948 establishments in Tennessee
NQM
Radio stations established in 1948
NQM