WQLR (94.7 FM) is a non-commercial religious radio station licensed to Chateaugay, New York. It is owned by the Educational Media Foundation and it airs EMF's national K-Love Contemporary Christian format. The station is a border blaster, targeting Greater Montreal and the Seaway River Valley.
 | |
| Broadcast area | Cornwall, Ontario and Greater Montreal |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 94.7 MHz |
| Branding | K-Love |
| Programming | |
| Format | Contemporary Christian |
| Affiliations | K-Love |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Educational Media Foundation |
| WMWA | |
| History | |
First air date | April 15, 1997 (as WYUL) |
Former call signs | WXEB (1992, CP) WEEP (1992–1993, CP) WYUL (1993–2021) |
Call sign meaning | Quebec K-Love Radio |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 69847 |
| Class | C2 |
| ERP | 11,000 watts |
| HAAT | 180 metres (590 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 44°46′56″N 74°13′09″W / 44.78222°N 74.21917°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | klove.com |
WQLR has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 11,000 watts. Its transmitter is on Old Hill Road in Ellenburg, New York, approximately 120 km (75 mi) southwest of Montreal.[2] Its city-grade signal reaches the southwestern portion of Greater Montreal, while its Class C2 signal covers most of the largely English-speaking western neighborhoods of Montreal. In the eastern part of Montreal, where French predominates, the signal receives strong interference from co-channel CHEY-FM, Rouge FM's signal based in Trois-Rivières.
History
edit
The station was built by the Martz Communications Group, and signed on as in 1997 (a nod to its listeners in Montreal; YUL is the IATA code for Montréal–Trudeau International Airport). The station was originally a simulcast of CHR/Top 40-formatted WYSX in Ogdensburg until August 2002, when the station segued to its own "94.7 Hits FM" branding and format. WYUL became Montreal's first English-language contemporary hit radio station since 1991, when CHTX ("990 Hits") left the Top 40 format. Under Martz ownership, WYUL's sister stations were WVNV and WICY, both licensed to Malone.
As a U.S.-based station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, WYUL was exempt from Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regulations regarding Canadian content and the language of broadcast. To that end, and because of the signal's penetration into the Montreal area, WYUL's slogan was "Montreal's Hottest Music". Though it primarily broadcast in English, this allowed the station to accept French-language advertising, which is not permitted on Canadian-licensed English-language stations. It also targeted Cornwall, Ontario. Because WYUL was not a Canadian station, BBM Canada did not measure WYUL's audience.[3]
On June 28, 2021, Martz announced that it would sell WYUL and co-owned WVNV to the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), which runs two national Christian radio music services, K-Love and Air1. This would give EMF its first entry into the Montreal radio market albeit on an American radio signal.[4][5] The last song played on "94.7 Hits FM" was "In The End" by Linkin Park on September 30, 2021.[6] The station went silent at midnight, followed by K-Love programming starting the next day. The station changed its call letters to WQLR on October 5, 2021.[2] With this move, CJFM and French-language CKOI remain as the last two contemporary hit radio stations that are able to be received in Chateaugay, New York.
References
edit- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WQLR". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ a b "WQLR-FM 94.7 MHz - Chateaugay, NY". radio-locator.com. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ^ Kelly, Brendan (February 16, 2014). "Bilingualism from across the border". The Gazette. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
- ^ "EMF Makes Cross Border Play At Montréal". RadioInsight. June 28, 2021.
- ^ Faguy, Steve (June 29, 2021). "Martz Communications sells 94.7 Hits FM, Wild Country 96.5 to religious educational broadcaster". Fagstein.
- ^ Faguy, Steve (October 1, 2021). "94.7 Hits FM goes dark | Fagstein". Retrieved October 4, 2021.
External links
edit- Facility details for Facility ID 69847 (WQLR) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- WQLR in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
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