WQQO

WQQO
City Sylvania, Ohio
Broadcast area Toledo metropolitan area
Branding Q105.5
Slogan Toledo's Best Music!
Frequency 105.5 MHz (also on HD Radio)
Translator(s) 100.7 W264AK (Toledo, relays HD2)
First air date November 29, 1968 (as WGLN)
Format Hot Adult Contemporary
HD2: Talk "Talk Radio 100.7"
ERP 4,300 watts
HAAT 118.7 meters
Class A
Facility ID 42127
Former callsigns WGLN (1968-1972)
WXEZ (1972-1982)
WWWM (1982-1990)
WWWM-FM (1990-2016)
Affiliations Michigan IMG Sports Network (HD2)
Owner Cumulus Media
(Cumulus Licensing LLC)
Sister stations WKKO, WTOD, WLQR, WRQN, WMIM, WXKR
Webcast Click "play" button on website
Website Q105.5.com

WQQO (105.5 FM) is an American radio station licensed to Sylvania, Ohio and broadcasting as part of the Toledo market.

"Q105.5", as the station is known, carries a Hot Adult Contemporary format. The format changed to mainstream Top 40 on March 19, 2012 but as of June 2014 has reverted to Hot AC.

WQQO transmits in HD Radio: The HD2 channel carries a Talk radio format known as "Talk Radio 100.7", which feeds analog translator W264AK.[1]

History

The 105.5 MHz spot on the radio dial in the Toledo area began in November 1968 as WGLN, located in a cornfield in western Lucas County, the remote studio-transmitter location was the home of the "Jones Boys", a concept introduced in Toledo by station manager and native Toledoan Michael Drew Shaw. Like WTRX in Flint, Michigan where Shaw had been program director several years before being named manager at WGLN, every DJ used the last name Jones. Among the more notable, Davy Jones, Casey Jones, Tom Jones, and John Paul Jones. More notable D.J.s sporting the name JONES were Joe Hood, Steve Wright, Earl Sharninghouse, and Klaus Helfers, The station featured country music - the first such FM station in the market - and broadcast live performances.

After a few months, WGLN became as "Golden 105," featuring a primarily oldies playlist with a sprinkling of current hits introduced with the tagline "Here today, Golden tomorrow." Then in late 1971, the format shifted to progressive rock. It was Toledo's first so-called underground FM station playing the songs and deep album cuts that no one else in the market was playing at the time. The station, however, was later sold in 1972 to Midwest Broadcasting and by spring of that year, 105.5 FM became a beautiful music station with the callsign of WXEZ. In response to the format change, a citizens' group known as the Citizens' Committee to Keep Progressive Rock filed an objection with the FCC on the basis that Toledo already had several other middle-of-the-road/easy listening-type format stations and did not need another; the FCC rejected the appeal, and the committee continued to appeal the rejection until the Reams family changed WCWA-FM 104.7 to WIOT in December 1972, after which the objection was withdrawn. The original airstaff of WIOT featured several former WGLN staffers from the progressive-rock format.

At this time, 105.5 FM was still located in its tiny studio in the rural cornfield setting at its transmitter site in Berkey, Ohio. It later was moved into the newly remodeled garage at the Pickle Road studios of 1470 WOHO. By the late 1970s it had transformed into an automated Top 40/rock format called "Z-Rock" (current hot hits, no relation to Satellite Music Network's later satellite-delivered format of heavy metal music also called "Z-Rock") station known as "Z-105".

In 1979/1980, the station had a simulcast of big-sister station WOHO 1470 AM for morning drive time as well as for weekend broadcasts of "American Top 40". In 1980 the station went on its own with live local on-air talent. As the format changed from rock to adult contemporary, it was known as "Z-105" to "3WM 105 FM" in the early 1980s. After dumping the WXEZ calls (to a Chicago station) they obtained WWWM-FM (from a Cleveland station who went by "M105"), hence the "3WM". As 3WM, the station was one of the most successful adult contemporary radio stations in the nation.

Their AM sister station on 1470, WOHO, then also changed their calls to WWWM from 1990-1995. The format was urban contemporary music at the time.

The Toledo duopoly of 1470AM/105.5FM has always been owned by the Lew Dickey family, first as Midwestern Broadcasting, then as Cumulus Broadcasting/Media.

The station rebranded as "Star 105" in 1998, no longer calling itself "3WM 105 FM" and changing its format from adult contemporary to a Hot adult contemporary as "Toledo's best music".

In the early 2000s, Brian Casey and the wake up brunch woke Toledo up with " A better Variety of the 80s, 90s and Today".

By the mid 2000s, "Star 105" Charged is slogan to "Real Music Variety of the 80s, 90s and Today".

In April 2007, Star 105.5 became Toledo's home for Delilah's syndicated love-songs program, which competes with the John Tesh show on Clear Channel's WRVF. WWWM had previously aired Delilah for a time during the late 1990s. At the same time, the station became known as "Star 105.5" rather than simply "Star 105" and modified its playlist in a more mainstream AC direction, adding more music from the 1970s. However, after Star 105.5 dropped Delilah, and in 2008 replaced her with the Billy Bush show, the station returned to hot AC and pre-1980s music was dropped.

In April 2008, WWWM-FM began continuous HD Radio digital radio broadcasts, but without any HD2 service at this time. The station's HD carrier has been on intermittently since and is off as of March 2012.

By 2011, Star 105.5 starting eliminating 1980s programs such as "The Saturday Night 80s" and "The way back lunch".

March 2012, Cumulus Media stopped syndicating the Billy Bush show.

On March 16, 2012, the Star 105-5 morning duo of Tim and Jeff broadcast their last show. They left Star 105-5 to return to KMCK-FM.

On March 19, 2012 at Midnight, the station again started going by "Star 105" (as opposed to "Star 105-5") and flipped to a Top 40 format bringing "Andrew Z in the Morning" to the morning drive. Andrew Z's show formerly aired on Kiss-FM and 100.7 The Vibe.

In May 2012, Star 105 picked up the Perez Hilton show (Perez Night Live with Adam Bomb), also syndicated by Cumulus. The show was discontinued on Star in September 2014.

December 24, 2012, "Andrew Z in the Morning" was discontinued on "Star 105".

January 2013, Mike Shannon picked up morning's at "Star 105" from 6 until 10 am.

In September 2014, Denny Schaffer returned to Toledo to host mornings after Mike Shannon's exit. Shortly after on October 2, Toledo radio veteran, Johny D formerly of Kiss FM, Tower 98, WSPD, WCKY-FM, and The Wolf joined Star 105 as the Afternoon Drive Time Host. Both Schaffer and Johny D were popular, but controversial hosts on Kiss in the 1990s.

On the morning of April 1, 2016, WWWM rebranded as "Channel 105.5", completing its shift back to Hot AC. No other changes occurred with the rebranding.

On June 22, 2016, WWWM rebranded as "Q105.5" under new WQQO calls. While station brass said the imaging and call letter change were due to research showing that listeners liked the letter "Q" and didn't understand what "Channel" meant, it was speculated that iHeartMedia, which operates "Channel 955" WKQI in the Detroit market, served Cumulus with a cease-and-desist letter regarding the use of the word "Channel" due to the overlap of 95.5's and 105.5's coverage areas in Monroe County, Michigan.

Format changes

1998, "3WM 105 FM" changed its format to Hot Adult Contemporary from Adult Contemporary and started calling itself "Star 105".

April 2007, "Star 105.5" dropped its Hot Adult Contemporary format for a slower and softer Adult Contemporary.

2008, "Star 105.5" went back to its Hot Adult Contemporary format after becoming a Adult Contemporary station for little over a year.

On March 19, 2012, "Star 105.5" changed its format to Contemporary Hit Radio from a Hot Adult Contemporary format and also changed its name to simply "Star 105".

On April 1, 2016, "Star 105" changed its name to "Channel 105.5"

On June 22, 2016, "Channel 105.5" changed its name to "Q105.5", and also changed its call letters to WQQO.

The original WWWM

Prior to their recent use, the WWWM call sign was previously used on the 105.7 MHz facility in Cleveland, Ohio from 1972 to 1982; using the moniker "M105", the station was a sister station to the 50,000 watt 1100 AM station "3WE" - WWWE (now WTAM) and remains so under the ownership of Clear Channel Communications. The FM station operates today as WMJI.

Broadcast area

WQQO FM broadcasts from a 400-foot tower in West Toledo at the intersection's of Nebraska and Westwood. The station's primary coverage area covers Northwest Ohio and Southeastern Michigan, audible as far north as the Ann Arbor area, and far south as Marion, Ohio. However going towards Detroit, Michigan the station becomes inaudible in parts of this area due to a rebroadcaster of CBEF, also on 105.5, which signed on in April 2012. North of Ann Arbor, sister station WWCK-FM in Flint takes over the 105.5 frequency.

Former logos

References

  1. ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=84 HD Radio Guide for Toledo

Coordinates: 41°38′49″N 83°36′18″W / 41.647°N 83.605°W / 41.647; -83.605

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