WQXE (98.3 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 ...

broadcasting a

hot 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 ...

format. Licensed to

Elizabethtown, Kentucky Elizabethtown is a home rule-class city in Hardin County, Kentucky, United States, and its county seat. The population was 31,394 at the 2020 census, making it the ninth-most populous city in the state. It is the principal city of the Elizab ...

, United States, the station is currently owned by Skytower Communications-E'town, Inc. and features programming from

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

History

Although the station's construction permit was first issued sometime in 1968, the station actually signed on the air at 106.3 MHz on November 24, 1969. The station, which was the first FM station to broadcast from Elizabethtown, was originally owned by businessman Bill Evans. Evans decided to give the station the nickname "Quicksie", after a

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

-based radio station with that nickname that he heard while attending Elkins Radio School. The station has been operating with 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 ...

format for all its years on the air. According to a snapshot at the LKYRadio.com website, the station had broadcast certain high school football and basketball games featuring teams representing Hardin County-area schools, along with some games involving the

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

-based

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

Hilltoppers football during the 1970s, which have since moved to WIEL and WTHX. In April 1972, the station moved from their original frequency of 106.3 MHz to 100.1 MHz. The station then moved to 98.5 MHz in 1992. The move to 98.5 was not without controversy as

-based

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 ...

station

WDNS WDNS (93.3 FM) is a classic rock- formatted radio station licensed to, located in, and serving Bowling Green, Kentucky. The station is owned by the Daily News Broadcasting Company as part of a duopoly with News Talk Information station WKCT (93 ...

in Bowling Green, then broadcasting at 98.3 MHz, had announced plans to increase its signal power the previous year, which would've caused adjacent-frequency interference. The move to 98.3 MHz in 1995 coincided with the time that WDNS moved from 98.3 to their current frequency of 93.3 MHz. On October 14, 2019, WQXE was named Kentucky Broadcasters Association Excellence in Broadcasting Radio Station of the year. Owner and founder Bill Evans accepted this honor.

Programming

In-house reporters broadcast seven newscasts daily with locally written and produced content. On Sundays from 12p to 2p WQXE airs

Rick Dees Rigdon Osmond Dees III (born March 14, 1950), best known as Rick Dees, is an American entertainer, radio personality, comedian, actor, and voice artist, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show '' The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Coun ...

and ''The Weekly Top 20''.

Coverage area

WQXE serves areas of west-central and north-central Kentucky, mainly in areas between Cave City and

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, and into parts of southernmost

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. The station can be heard as far south as the

Mammoth Cave Mammoth Cave National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in south-central Kentucky. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the List of longest caves, longest known cave system in the worl ...

tourist area and Brownsville, as far west as Morgantown,

Beaver Dam A beaver dam or beaver impoundment is a dam built by beavers; it creates a pond which protects against predators such as coyotes, alligators, cougars, foxes, eagles, wolves and bears, and holds their food during winter. These structures modify th ...

, and just short of Owensboro, as far east as

Lebanon, Kentucky Lebanon is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Marion County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 6,274 at the 2020 census, up from 5,539 in 2010. Lebanon is located in central Kentucky, southeast of Louisville. A na ...

, and as far north as an area just north of the Jeffersonville and Corydon areas in Indiana. WQXE can also be received in much of 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 ...

Translators

In addition to the main station, WQXE is relayed by an additional translator to widen its broadcast area.

Notable former on-air staff

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 ...

artist

John Conlee John Wayne Conlee (born August 11, 1946) is an American country music singer. Between 1978 and 2004, Conlee charted a total of 32 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, and recorded 11 studio albums. His singles include seven ...

once served as a deejay in the early 1970s.

References

External links

* * * {{Adult Contemporary Radio Stations in Kentucky QXE Radio stations established in 1969 Hot adult contemporary radio stations in the United States 1969 establishments in Kentucky Elizabethtown, Kentucky