:PS-94.1ZBQ (song title/artist)
Time-present Text-941ZBQ TUSCALOOSA'S
HIT MUSIC PTY-None Listed PS-WZBQ-FM[Facebook]
[Image] Picture of the display of an Insignia HD portable's RDS decoding the Radio Text and PS (call sign) fields.
[Studio] Street View imagery of the iHeartMedia studios in downtown Tuscaloosa.
The call sign changed to WAQT in either 1973 or early 1974. It's unclear what the format was in the early days, only that it was programmed separately from the AM. By the late 70's it was running a Country music format as "Q 94". The station changed its city of license from Carrollton, to Carrollton-Aliceville, Alabama in 1975. The station got a boost to 100,000 watts in 1979, when they installed a Harris FM-20H3 feeding a Phelps-Dodge CFM-HP-12 twelve bay antenna at 370.5 feet HAAT. The boost in power helped them get better coverage in both Tuscaloosa and Columbus, Mississippi.
The station received another coverage boost in the the summer of 1989 when the antenna height was raised to 1,007 feet HAAT.
In November 1990 the station flipped to Oldies as WCKO after being purchased by Vintage Broadcasting Corporation for $660,100. In February 1995 the station flipped to Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) and took on the WZBQ calls that had previously been on the Jasper-licensed 102.5 MHz station broadcasting from a tall tower north of Tuscaloosa. The station also added the syndicated Steve and DC morning show. Steve and DC had previously worked in Tuscaloosa on their way to their later home in St. Louis. Clear Channel purchased the station (along with several others in the Tuscaloosa market) for $3.2 million in 1997.