WQCS (88.9 FM) is the

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 ...

(NPR) member station for the

Treasure Coast The Treasure Coast is a region in the southeast of the U.S. state of Florida. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and comprises Indian River, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. The region, whose name refers to the Spanish Treasure Fleet that was lost ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. licensed to

Fort Pierce Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Florida’s Atlantic Coast. It is also known as the Sunrise City. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, it is owned by

Indian River State College Indian River State College (IRSC) is a public college based in Fort Pierce, Florida, United States. Serving the Treasure Coast region, it is part of the Florida College System and offers associate and bachelor's degree programs as well as vocati ...

, with studios in Building Q of the college's main campus in Fort Pierce. The station is

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

and listener-supported. WQCS is a Class C1 station. It has 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 100,000 watts, the maximum for most FM stations. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is on the Indian River State College Campus in Fort Pierce, on South 30th Street at Cross Campus Road. WQCS broadcasts using

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

technology. On its HD2

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

, it offers

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 ...

as "QCS Classic." On HD3, it plays classic hits as "IRSC River Radio."

Programming

WQCS carries programs from NPR and other public radio networks. On weekdays, shows include: ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...

, 1A'' and '' Here and Now''. Frequent news updates come from NPR and the WQCS news department. The

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

runs all night. On weekends, specialty shows are heard, including: ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is ...

, On The Media, Travel with Rick Steves, The TED Radio Hour, Big Picture Science, A Way with Words,

Science Friday ''Science Friday'' (known as ''SciFri'' for short) is a weekly call-in talk show that broadcasts each Friday on public radio stations, distributed by WNYC Studios, and carried on over 500 public radio stations. ''SciFri'' is hosted by science ...

, Splendid Table,

Radiolab ''Radiolab'' is a radio program and podcast produced by WNYC, a public radio station based in New York City, and broadcast on more than 570 public radio stations in the United States. The show has earned many industry awards for its "imaginati ...

, The Moth Radio Hour, Freakonomics Radio,

The New Yorker Radio Hour ''The New Yorker Radio Hour'' is a radio show and podcast produced by ''The New Yorker'' and WNYC Studios. It is hosted by David Remnick, who has been editor of ''The New Yorker'' since 1998. The first episode of ''The New Yorker Radio Hour'' ...

To the Best of Our Knowledge ''To the Best of Our Knowledge'' (also known by the acronym TTBOOK) is a weekly public-radio interview program produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and distributed by PRX. It is broadcast on more than 180 public radio stations in the U.S. and it a ...

, Live Wire,

Selected Shorts Selected Shorts is an event at New York's Symphony Space on the Upper West Side, in which screen and stage actors read classic and new short fiction before a live audience. The stage show began in 1985 and continues today at Symphony Space's Pete ...

'' and '' Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me''. A weekly local interview program "River Talk" airs twice each weekend.

History

The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air in .''Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1986'' page B-57. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
/ref> It originally broadcast at 88.3 FM, and was powered at 3,000 watts, a fraction of its current output. It had studios in the McAlpin Fine Arts Center. Phil Scott was the first station manager. Four years later, it boosted its power to 100,000 watts, more than tripling its coverage area in the process. That was coupled with a move to its current dial position at 88.9 FM. The format is a mix of news and NPR talk programming.

Gallery

File:WQCS 88.9 FM Signage.jpg, WQCS 88.9 FM Signage File:WQCS 88.9 FM Building.jpg, WQCS 88.9 FM Building File:SUV parked in front of WQCS FM in Ft. Pierce Fla..jpg, SUV parked in front of the facility

References

External links

* * {{coord, 27.422, N, 80.356, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title QCS NPR member stations Fort Pierce, Florida Radio stations established in 1982 1982 establishments in Florida