WQFS (90.9 FM) is

Guilford College Guilford College is a private liberal arts college in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was founded in 1837 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Guilford has both traditional students and students who attend its Center for ...

's student-run

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

, with both students and members of the community serving as disk jockeys. Broadcasting in a

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

format, it serves

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

and the greater

Piedmont Triad The Piedmont Triad (or simply the Triad) is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of North Carolina anchored by three cities: Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Winston-Salem, and ...

area. It is also broadcast on the internet via streaming audio at

TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the privately held company TuneIn Inc. based in San Francisco, California. The comp ...

. WQFS ranked 6th among college radio stations in 2016, according to The Princeton Review.

History

The station started as a student club, The Fine Music Broadcasting Society, in 1965. Guilford College obtained a license from the

FCC 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 ju ...

on October 26, 1966, and, once it had the necessary equipment and funds, WQFS began a daily broadcast schedule on January 6, 1970, broadcasting in an

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 ...

or middle of the road format. By its second year of operation, some disk jockeys began to play what a decade later would become known as

college rock College rock is rock music played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream rock p ...

. Others would play hybrid programming, which could feature

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 1 ...

, contemporary classical, bluegrass,

blues 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 ...

, and

Musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

, sometimes all within the same program. One early experiment involved celebrating the second anniversary of the

Paul is dead "Paul is dead" is an urban legend and conspiracy theory alleging that English musician Paul McCartney of the Beatles died in 1966 and was secretly replaced by a look-alike. The rumour began circulating in 1966, gaining broad popularity in Se ...

hoax by playing not only

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, but other rock, and even classical records backwards, or using the station's two turntables to play a Beatles song forwards and backwards at the same time. WQFS features a wide variety of genres. The main format is

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

. About one hundred DJs, half of them Guilford College students, work at the station at any given time. Students serve as station managers. Their leadership roles include general management, programming, promotions, news, and production. WQFS plays many local and North Carolina artists. Long-running shows include David Butler's "The Sunday Morning Rehab Show," Josh Neas' "J's Indie Rock Mayhem," DJ Midnightt's "Garden of Good and Evil," Chris Roulhac's "North Carolina Show." and Mad Dog's "Friday Night Rock Party."

Programming

All radio shows are independently produced and hosted by student or volunteer disc jockeys. Some programs include: * Captain's World * Friday Night Rock Party * Garden of Good and Evil * Gospel Chariot * House Music Mondays * J's Indie Rock Mayhem * Left of Center * Metropolitan Radio * Music Masters Party * Punk & Junk * Rock and Roll Revival * Roots & Relics * Terri's Too Short Show * The Caravan * The Hip Hop Storm * The Idiot and The Oddity * The North Carolina Show * The Old Country Store * Uncle Bill's Basement * Weekend Beach Party * Wild Bill's X Lounge * Wolfman Mike

References

External links

WQFS
web site
Guilford College's WQFS page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wqfs Guilford College QFS QFS Radio stations established in 1965