WPKC-FM (92.1
FM) is a radio station licensed to
Sanford, Maine
Sanford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,982 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the seventh largest municipality in the state. Situated on the Mousam River, Sanford includes the village ...
, United States. The station serves the
Southern Maine Coast and the
Seacoast Region of
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
with a
contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...
format, supplied by the
K-Love
K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music.
As of June 2019, the network's progr ...
network. WPKC-FM is owned by the
Educational Media Foundation
Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville.
EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest contempor ...
and simulcasts with
WPKC (1540
AM) from
Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
.
History
The station originally went on the air October 10, 1975,
[ as WSME-FM, with an automated ]Drake-Chenault
Drake-Chenault Enterprises (originally American Independent Radio Inc.) was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake ...
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 ...
/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 ...
hybrid format. The 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 changed to WEBI on April 23, 1983, and to WCDQ on September 1, 1986.
WCDQ was well known for its on-air staff, as well as creative programming. One such program was "Dead Tracks", an all-Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
program broadcast on Thursday nights at 10p.m. Another program was "Blue Monday", featuring all blues music
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
hosted by "The First Lady of Mt. Rialto" Sharon Small. Two other groundbreaking programs were "Mt. Rialto Redemption", a reggae music
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay", was the first popular song to ...
show, and "Local Chords", an opportunity for local, unsigned bands to get their material played on the radio. It was hosted by Steve Biron, who also did afternoons. The show would later be hosted by Pete Casper "The Friendly DJ".
WCDQ claimed that it broadcast from "The Summit of Mt. Rialto", a reference to the common name for movie theaters, popular in the 1930s through the 1950s. It was sometimes called Mt. Rialto Radio. Another fictional locale often referenced by the station was "The Elegante Ballroom", a cavernous hall from which the station's lunch time show was supposedly broadcast. The ruse of the station's broadcast locale was so well done (complete with summit ski and weather reports) that occasionally students from the University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...
would travel to Sanford with the intent of hiking the non-existent mountain.
WCDQ heralded the weekend's arrival every Friday at 5p.m. by playing "Switchin' To Glide" by The Kings
The Kings are a Canadian rock band formed in 1977 in Oakville, Ontario. They are best known for their 1980 song "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide", which was a hit in the United States and Canada.
Recording history
The Kings were formed in ...
.
The secondary tag line for the radio station was "The Theater of the Mind". This was based on the fact that WCDQ produced its own original radio plays, similar to "The Shadow" and "The Lone Ranger" radio shows from the 1930s and 1940s, before televisions were a common household item. WCDQ staff wrote original plays, together with original music, and performed them on the air. Radio plays included a Christmas story entitled "The Miracle of Mt. Rialto", a 1950s high school drama called "Young Lust", and a soap opera-style story called "The Web of Fate".
WCDQ was owned by Donald Crown, who sold the station to Phoenix Media/Communications Group. It became WPHX-FM and began simulcasting WFNX, from the Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, radio market in the summer of 1999. Phoenix Media/Communications Group announced a sale of the station to Aruba Capital Holdings, licensee of WXEX in Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter is a New England town, town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. Its population was 16,049 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county ...
, in May 2011. On August 11, 2011, Aruba Capital Holdings relaunched the station as WXEX-FM, a simulcast of the oldies/ classic hits programming of WXEX.
On April 14, 2015, Port Broadcasting LLC, owner of WWSF in Sanford, Maine, and WNBP
WNBP (1450 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Newburyport, Massachusetts, United States, and serving the Greater Boston radio market. The station is owned by Bloomberg L.P. and serves as a simulcast of Bloomberg-programmed WBOS (92 ...
in Newburyport, Massachusetts (and their respective FM translators), began operating WXEX and its AM simulcast partner in Exeter under a 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 ...
(LMA). On August 20, 2015, WXEX-FM and its sister AM station shifted their format from classic hits to 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 ...
, branded as "Classic Rock 92.1"; the move was made to distinguish WXEX from WWSF's oldies format. In 2015, a merger was proposed with Garrison City Broadcasting, owners of WBYY and WTSN, but never finalized. Effective January 31, 2017, Aruba Capital sold WXEX-FM, WXEX, and W246BP to LMA partner Port Broadcasting. In return, Aruba Capital received a 26.9 percent stake in Port Broadcasting, giving Aruba Capital principal Andrew Hartmann a controlling interest in the new licensee.
During Labor Day Weekend in 2018, WXEX-FM and WXEX stunted with a broadcast of the Drake-Chenault documentary ''The History of Rock and Roll
''The History of Rock & Roll'' is an American radio documentary on rock and roll music, first syndicated in 1969. Originally one of the lengthiest documentaries of any medium (48 hours in the 1969 version, 52 hours each for the 1978 and 1981 ver ...
''. On September 3, 2018, the stations changed to an oldies format, in effect reversing the 2015 format change.
Port Broadcasting agreed to sell WXEX-FM, WXEX, and translators W246BP and W298CU to the Educational Media Foundation
Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville.
EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest contempor ...
(EMF) for $690,000 in April 2023. EMF already operated Air1
Air1 is an American Christian radio network owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry. It primarily broadcasts contemporary worship music, and is a sister to the EMF's K-Love network.
History
On July 15, ...
station WNHI in Farmington, New Hampshire
Farmington is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,722 at the 2020 census. Farmington is home to Blue Job State Forest, the Tebbetts Hill Reservation, and Baxter Lake.
The town center, where 3,824 peop ...
, with its K-Love
K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music.
As of June 2019, the network's progr ...
network only available via stations in surrounding markets, including WMSJ
WMSJ (89.3 FM broadcasting, FM; "K-LOVE") is a radio station airing the K-Love contemporary Christian music format, licensed to Freeport, Maine and serving the Portland, Maine, Portland area. The station is owned by Educational Media Foundation.< ...
in Portland, Maine
Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...
; WAKC
WAKC (102.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is an American licensed radio station in Concord, New Hampshire. The station is owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and is part of its K-Love network of contemporary Christian music outlets. EMF als ...
in Concord, New Hampshire
Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the county seat, seat of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 43,976, making it the List of municipalities ...
, and WNKC in Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...
. Following the sale's completion on July 24, 2023, the "Seacoast Oldies" programming moved to WWSF on July 24, 2023, and WXEX-FM joined K-Love; the station's call sign was changed to WPKC-FM the same day.
References
External links
*
{{K-LOVE
PKC-FM
Contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States
Sanford, Maine
Radio stations established in 1976
1976 establishments in Maine
K-Love radio stations
Educational Media Foundation radio stations