WQAL

Infobox Radio Station
name = WQAL


city = Cleveland, Ohio
area = Greater Cleveland
branding = Cleveland's Q104
slogan = Nineties and Now!
It's Your Music, It's Your Station.
airdate = around 1971
(1948 as WJW-FM)
frequency = 104.1 (MHz) HD Radio
104.1 HD-2 for My HD (All Requests)
format = Hot AC
erp = 12,000 watts
haat = 293 meters
class = B
facility_id = 72889
owner = CBS Radio
webcast = [http://cbsplayer.streamtheworld.com/index.php?CALLSIGN=WQALFM Listen Live]
website = [http://www.wqal.com www.wqal.com]
former_callsigns = WCJW (1965-1971)
WJW-FM (1948-1965)
sister_stations = WDOK, WKRK-FM, WNCX
callsign_meaning = QuALity

WQAL is a commercial FM radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, broadcasting at 104.1 MHz with a Hot AC format. Studios are located at One Radio Lane (at St. Clair Avenue, between 26th and 30th Streets) along with CBS Radio sister station WDOK.

The station calls itself "Q104".

History

The first station to occupy 104.1 FM frequency in Cleveland was started by WJW (AM) radio. The station signed on in 1948 as WJW-FM [http://members.aol.com/jeff560/1948fm.html] .The new FM station went on the air just as the Cleveland Indians began their world championship season. WJW-AM was the flagship of a six-station Ohio network that carried the games in 1947 and 1948. However, the full games were often carried on WJW-FM, since the AM outlet did not have available air time due to its ABC network commitments. As a result, Cleveland became an FM hot bed, and more FM radio sets sold in Cleveland than in any other market in the country in 1948 [http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=R] .

Sold off by WJW radio/TV owner Storer Broadcasting in the mid-1960's, the station became WCJW. It finally changed to WQAL around 1971 when the call sign became available after a station in Philadelphia gave it up. The Philadelphia station became WWSH, then WJJZ, and is now WISX [http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/wqal.html] . The meaning for the calls - "Quality Music" or "Quality Listening" - spanned both stations.

"(The WQAL calls also had an unrelated history on an early AM radio station in Mattoon, Illinois, which signed on in 1921 and shut down one year later.)"

WQAL's format throughout the 70's and 80's was beautiful music as "Easy 104 WQAL". This was until the decline of the format lead to a shift toward Hot AC as "Q104," which it has maintained to this day.

Long locally owned by Win Communications Inc., WQAL was sold off to Chancellor Media in January 1999, joining WZJM 92.3-FM, WZAK 93.1-FM, WDOK 102.1-FM, WRMR 850-AM and WJMO 1490-AM under the Chancellor Media umbrella via simultaneous buyouts for $275 million [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E5D9123AF930A2575BC0A96E958260] .It was, at the time, the largest radio deal in Cleveland broadcasting history. On July 13, 1999, Chancellor Media merged with Capstar Broadcasting - who owned WKNR 1220-AM - to form AMFM Inc., at that time the nation's largest radio station owner with 465 stations. When AMFM, Inc. merged with Clear Channel Communications in August 2000, Clear Channel was forced to sell off WQAL along with the other Cleveland AMFM properties to comply with market ownership restrictions. WZJM, WDOK and WQAL were sold to Infinity Broadcasting, which is today CBS Radio.

WQAL moved to new studios at One Radio Lane, paired with WDOK, in December 2001. Ironically, current WQAL program director Dave Popovich held like duties at WDOK from 1999 to 2000 - and also worked at then-"Lite Rock 106½" WLTF, whose studios were at One Radio Lane in the late 1980's. Recently, WQAL has been playing more Top-40 music in order to attract some of the younger 18 to 25 year old audience.

External links

* [http://www.wqal.com WQAL Official Web Site]
* [http://www.cleve-radio.com/index2.htm#WQAL-FM WQAL Timeline from Cleveland Broadcast Radio Archives]
*FMQ|WQAL
*FML|WQAL
*FMARB|WQAL
*Transmitter|WQAL|41.379167|81.720000
* [http://www.q104.com Q104 Official Web Site]