WQUT (101.5 FM) is a

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 ...

Tri-Cities, Tennessee The Tri-Cities is the region comprising the cities of Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol and the surrounding smaller towns and communities in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. All three cities are located in Northeast Tennessee, ...

. The station

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

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 ...

and is branded as "Tri-Cities Classic Rock 101.5 WQUT." As of the Fall 2008

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

ratings book, WQUT is the third highest rated station in the Tri-Cities (Johnson City, Tennessee - Kingsport, Tennessee - Bristol Tennessee/Virginia) market (adults 12+) behind country music station WXBQ-FM and adult contemporary WTFM-FM. Since the early 1990s, WQUT and WTFM have fought for the number-two spot in the market, with WXBQ rated the overall number-one station since 1993. WQUT is the flagship station of

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

Tri-Cities and began broadcasting in 1948 as WJHL-FM on 101.5 Megahertz. In 1960, the callsign changed to WJCW-FM. In 1973, its effective radiated power was increased to 100,000 watts from its antenna on Buffalo Mountain in

Johnson City, Tennessee Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it Tennessee's eighth-most populous cit ...

Programming

WQUT carries the "

John Boy and Billy John Isley (born August 15, 1956) and Billy James (born August 31, 1957), known as John Boy & Billy, are American radio personality, radio hosts based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their comedic morning program ''The John Boy & Billy Big Show'' b ...

Big Show" (a syndicated show carried on many southeastern U.S. stations). Specialty shows include the Tennessee Midnight Rambler Show (approx. 1976 - 1982), Flashback with Bill St. James and House of Hair with Dee Snider. Its sister stations are WKOS,

WJCW WJCW (910 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Johnson City, Tennessee, and serving the Tri-Cities radio market (Johnson City-Bristol-Kingsport). It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a news/talk format. WJCW's transmitter, offices a ...

(which signed on in 1938),

WGOC WGOC is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station broadcasting in Kingsport, Tennessee, under a All-news radio, business radio format. It broadcasts on AM frequency 1320 kHz and is under ownership of Cumulus Media. History The station signed on the a ...

, and WXSM. WQUT is involved in community activities throughout the Tri-Cities market.

Translator coverage

WQUT owns a translator in

Boone, North Carolina Boone is a town in and the county seat of Watauga County, North Carolina, United States. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Boone is the home of Appalachian State University and the headquarters of the disaster and me ...

(W285DG) on 104.9 FM, and is located at the Fire Tower where Boone's communication towers are located. Previously, WQUT licensed translators in

Lenoir, North Carolina Lenoir ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 18,263 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Lenoir is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. To the northe ...

(W232AV) on 94.3 FM and in

Hazard, Kentucky Hazard is a home rule-class city in, and the county seat of, Perry County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,263 at the 2020 census. History Local landowner Elijah Combs Sr. laid out the town in 1824 as the planned seat of the ...

(W244BW) on 96.7 FM. The Lenoir translator switched to simulcasting WCQR-FM from

Kingsport Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It lies along the Holston River and had a population of 55,442 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city in the Kingsport–Bristol metropolitan area, w ...

in the early-2000s, and the Hazard translator switched to simulcasting WZLK from

Virgie, Kentucky Virgie is a Census-designated place (CDP) located along Kentucky Route 1469 in Pike County, Kentucky, United States. Virgie's post office was established as Clintwood on April 3, 1890, with James M. Damron as postmaster. It was later renamed "V ...

in the late-2000s.

External links

WQUT official website
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WQUT audio clip from 1989

QUT The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point and a historical campus in Kelvin Grove. ...

Cumulus Media radio stations Classic rock radio stations in the United States 1948 establishments in Tennessee Johnson City, Tennessee {{Tennessee-radio-station-stub