Technical Profile: WQKS-FM

FM Technical Profile: WQKS

Station Name:: Kiss 96.1
Frequency:: 96.1
Format:: Adult Contemporary
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] Between exits 3 and 4 just north of I-85 in Montgomery. Just north of Harrison Road between Greenwood Cemetery and Lincoln Cemetery. Located at the WAKA/WNCF/WBNM studio space on their old tower.
Power (ERP):: 900 watts
Antenna:: Omnidirectional
Antenna HAAT:: 247 feet
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.; Stereo; :
PS-KISS-FM - plus song title/artist info
Time-[?]
Text-[blank]
PTY-[none]
PI-[?]; HD-2: Classic Hip-Hop "Yo! 100.5"; // W263BX Montgomery; HD-3: AOR "107.1 The Vault"; // W296AI Montgomery

:
PS-VAULT
Time-[?]
Text-[blank]
PTY-Jazz
PI-[?]; HD-4: Classic Country "The Possum"; // W280EI Montgomery

:
PS-POSSUM
Time-[?]
Text-THE POSSUM
PTY-[none]
PI-[?]; AUX (CP): 500 watts vertical @ 199 feet. 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.
More Information:: [FCC]; [FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Facebook] for WQKS; [Facebook] for Yo! 100.5
[Facebook] for 107.1 The Vault; [Facebook] for The Possum; [Wikipedia]
[Studio] Street View imagery of the Bluewater Broadcasting studios in Montgomery.
Owner:: Bluewater Broadcasting
History:: This station started off in December 1990 as WLNE-FM (Light N Easy) with beautiful music. Moved towards lite AC as Lite FM 96. The station then switched to the popular "Arrow" (All Rock and Roll Oldies) format and changed the calls to WROW. Since then it switched back to regular AC as Soft Rock 96.1, and has settled in 1999 as Kiss 96 with an urban AC/classic soul format. Monday, September 27, 1999, has this station with another new format — this time all 80's music! The calls are still WQKS but the slogan is now "The 80's Channel, Kiss 96.1".; In September 2000, the station switched formats to an adult contemporary/contemporary hits format similar to that of WBAM's. The change occurred along with changes at WBAM and WJMZ in the market. Those stations switched back to their original formats in October, but WQKS has moved to news and talk, which is what WJMZ was, briefly. Confusing? Yes!; WQKS dropped the news/talk experiment early in October 2000 and moved to "Rockin' hits of the 80's, 90's and 70's" with the slogan "Alice 96.1". That format morphed eventually into more classic rock-oriented music by 2003.; .; In March 2004 the station was bought in a group purchase of four Montgomery outlets by Bluewater Broadcasting.; .; In late August 2008 the station flipped from longtime variety hits "Alice" to "Q 96.1" with classic hits.; July 2011 saw some big changes for the Montgomery radio dial, as WQKS added HD multicast broadcasting to its slate. The HD-2 debuted in August 2011 with lighter adult contemporary fare as "Lite 100.5", while the HD-3 channel started a little later with urban jams as "Yo! 107.1". Both subchannels are being fed to area translators. On 25 September 2013 the Yo! format was dropped for an album cut-leaning classic rock format known as "The Vault". The "Yo!" branding returned to the market after Christmas 2014 when the HD-2 dropped "Lite 100.5" for classic hip-hop, again using the "Yo!" moniker. In July of 2013 the station added a fourth subchannel, launching classic country "The Possum". Leading up to this HD/translator combo's launch, Bluewater peppered the area with billboards showing nothing but a possum, leading some locals to wonder if it were a new restaurant (!) coming soon. The station dropped "The Vault" on the HD-3 for CHR as "Hits 107.1" in September, 2015. That lasted less two years, when The Vault's AOR format returned to 107.1 and the HD3 in August 2017.; The station flipped from classic hits on 9 March 2016 to adult contemporary as "Kiss 96.1", marking the second time the station has used that moniker. The flip came after a few weeks of rumor that a third full-power CHR was set to launch in the market, which may have been a diversion for the competition.