WQZS
 | |
| City | Meyersdale, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Southern Somerset County, PA |
| Branding | "QZ-93" |
| Slogan | "Top of the Rock" |
| Frequency | 93.3 MHz |
| First air date | October 26, 1992 |
| Format | Oldies/Classic rock |
| ERP | 630 watts |
| HAAT | 294 meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 57424 |
| Affiliations | CBS Radio News |
| Owner |
Roger & Helen Wahl (dba Target Broadcasting, Inc.) |
WQZS is an oldies and classic rock station that broadcasts from Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. WQZS also airs many oldtime radio shows. The station is 100 percent owned by Roger Wahl, a Larimer Township Supervisor, doing business as Target Broadcasting, Inc.
The station covers Somerset County and the surrounding area, as well as nearby Cumberland, Frostburg, and Oakland, Maryland; the station identification states that it can be heard in sixteen counties.
WQZS bears the distinction of being one of the few small-market stations in southwestern Pennsylvania with a live, local, real-time airstaff. WQZS is also the sole standalone FM radio station in Somerset County.
Roger Wahl serves as the station's general manager and news director. Helen Wahl serves as station program director. Their children, Rachel and Brian, also work at the station.
History
The station was founded by Roger Wahl, a Somerset County native who worked in the Altoona radio market during the early and mid-1970s. He gave up working in radio to care for an ailing family member in the late 70s, and returned to the Meyersdale area as a result. He was working as a regional sales manager for a Maryland beer distributor when he began planning WQZS.
One of Wahl's customers on his account list owned a radio station, and the two men struck up a friendship which frequently included radio shop talk. One day, the conversation led to Wahl's client informing him of a window of new FM applications, including a drop-in frequency at 93.3 mHz in Meyersdale.
Wahl applied for the license on August 8, 1988, but the FCC would not approve the paperwork until 1991. The WQZS call letters were issued in 1990. However, WQZS wouldn't go on the air for the first time until October 26, 1992. A series of interviews for on-air and sales staff was held at the Holiday Inn at Somerset in the summer of 1991, drawing hundreds of applicants thanks to an intensive advertising campaign and a sudden glut of on-air talent displaced by new FCC ownership regulations, which had station owners pairing up FMs in the same market. At this time, it was speculated that WQZS would go on the air with a soft adult contemporary format in response to research conducted in the Somerset County area.
When the station did go on the air, instead of soft adult contemporary, the station went on the air with an oldies format, and that format, though very slightly modified over the years, remains today. WQZS still operates literally unchanged since going on the air, having the same owner, format, and studio location at 128 Hunsrick Road in Summit Township, about five miles (8 km) south of Meyersdale and in the foothills of the Meyersdale Wind Energy Center. WQZS transmits from North Wolf Rock Road atop Mount Davis. It also maintains its same news affiliation agreement with the CBS radio network.
Sources
- The Daily American
- Pennsylvania Radio Station Directory
- Pennsylvania Regional Media List
- Radio Stations Could Face Extra Taxes - The Daily American
- On The Air - Penn Lines
External links
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WQZS
- Radio-Locator information on WQZS
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WQZS
Coordinates: 39°47′49″N 79°10′05″W / 39.797°N 79.168°W