WQNU (103.1 FM, "New Country Q103.1") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 ...

broadcasting a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format. Licensed to Lyndon, Kentucky, it serves the

Louisville metropolitan area The Louisville metropolitan area is the 43rd largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States. It had a population of 1,395,855 in 2020 according to the latest official census, and its principal city is Louisville, Kentucky. T ...

. It is owned by

SummitMedia SummitMedia, LLC is an American radio broadcasting company based in Birmingham, Alabama. The company formed to purchase mid-market radio stations being divested by Cox Radio in 2013. On November 1, 2018, SummitMedia acquired 19 stations in ...

. The studios are at Chestnut Centre on South 4th Street in

downtown Louisville Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Kentucky, Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, ...

. WQNU is a Class C2 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 23,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. 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 Hitt Road in Louisville, off Riverside Expressway (

Interstate 71 Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the midwestern and Southeastern United States, southeastern regions of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64, I-64 and Interstate 65, ...

History

WSTM, WNUU, WRKA

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 on . 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 WSTM, with the letters referring to the original

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

, St. Matthews, Kentucky. It was a Class A station, powered at 2,950 watts, a fraction of its current output. It was owned by J. W. Dunavent and was sold four times in its first 10 years of broadcasting. In the late 1970s, it aired 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. The station switched its call letters to WNUU on August 28, 1978. On New Year's Day, 1980, the station changed its call sign to WRKA. As WRKA, it aired an

adult contemporary music 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, sou ...

format. In 1982, WRKA tried a short-lived

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 ...

format. Two years later, in 1984, it returned to its adult contemporary format. Radio personality

Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...

was the 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 ...

host at one point. In January 1989, the station adopted an

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 ...

format.

WQNU

On July 18, 2008, at 2:30 p.m., after playing ''

Hello, Goodbye "Hello, Goodbye" (sometimes titled "Hello Goodbye") is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Backed by John Lennon's " I Am the Walrus", it was issued as a non-album single ...

'' by

The 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 ...

, it broadcast a farewell message from the station's program director going into a commercial break. WRKA then aired a montage of station moments themed to '' American Pie '' by

Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Known as the "American Troubadour" or "King of the Trail", he is best known for his 1971 hit "American Pie (song), American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minut ...

that ended on the lyric ''The day the music died'', which was followed by one last

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

. After a minute of static (through which the ending of ''

Beginnings Beginnings may refer to: Literature * ''Beginnings'' (collection), a 1988 collection of short stories and poems by Gordon R. Dickson * ''Beginnings'' (Honorverse), a 2013 collection of short stories in the Worlds of Honor series * ''Beginnings ...

'' by

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

could be faintly heard), the station began stunting by introducing a "new" format as ''

News/Talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

103.1 WRKA'', complete with fake reports before playing a fake "Breaking

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Alert" report of

power outage A power outage, also called a blackout, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, a power cut, or a power out is the complete loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user. There are many causes of power failures in an el ...

s around the state. That led into the introduction of "New Country Q103.1" at 3 p.m., launching with

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter. After establishing himself in the Music of Detroit#Hip-hop, Detroit hip-hop scene, he broke through into m ...

’s " All Summer Long". The same day, the station changed call letters to the current WQNU. The former WRKA call sign is now used on a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

in the Louisville market. On July 20, 2012, Cox Radio, Inc. announced the sale of WQNU and 22 other stations to Summit Media LLC for $66.25 million. The sale was consummated on May 3, 2013. Summit Media has continued to broadcast a country music format on WQNU, competing with 97.5 WAMZ, owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

Notable alumni

Previous Logos

File:WRKA (FM) logo.png, Previous Logo (1989–2008) File:WQNU logo.jpg, Previous Logo (2008–2021)

References

External links

*
FCC History Cards for WQNUFootage of WRKA changing formats
{{Country Radio Stations in Kentucky QNU Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1978 1978 establishments in Kentucky Lyndon, Kentucky