WQRZ-LP

Infobox Radio station
name = WQRZ-LP


city = Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi
area =
slogan =
branding =
frequency = 103.5 MHz
repeater =
airdate =
share =
share as of =
share source =
format =
power =
erp = 100 watts
haat = 27.8 meters
class = L1
facility_id = 126435
coordinates = coord|30|18|40.00|N| 89|24|14.00|W|region:US_type:city
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns =
owner = Hancock County Amateur Radio Association, Inc.
licensee =
sister_stations =
webcast =
website =
affiliations =

WQRZ-LP (103.5 FM) is a low-power FM radio station licensed to Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, USA. The station is currently owned by the Hancock County Amateur Radio Association. [ cite web|url=http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=WQRZ-LP |title=WQRZ-LP Facility Record |work=United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division ] [cite web|url=http://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=SU08&band=fm&callLetter=WQRZ-LP|title=WQRZ-LP Station Information Profile|publisher=Arbitron]

History

On August 14, 2001 Brice Phillips (KB5MPW), President of the Hancock County Amateur Radio Association, was granted a construction permit to build the first solar powered LPFM Broadcast Station, which combined Broadcasting with Amateur radio. WQRZ-LP signed on the air January 29, 2003.

Hurricane Katrina

On August 27, 2005 Brice Phillips moved WQRZ-LP to the Hancock County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in advance of Hurricane Katrina. WQRZ was one of the 4 out of 41 Broadcast Stations that survived Katrina, the only station at Ground Zero. After Katrina the FCC allowed WQRZ to increase their power from 100 watts to 4000 watts under special temporary authority, another first in history. FEMA distributed 3,500 FM radios so survivors could tune into WQRZ-LP to listen to information directly from the EOC.

WQRZ-LP was the first Broadcast Radio First Responder which earned American Radio Relay League Member Brice Philips the Small Business Administration's "Phoenix Award", for "Outstanding Contributions to Disaster Recovery by a Volunteer". [cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BX&s_site=sunherald&p_multi=BX&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11B804A2737DF220&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=This little radio station saved lives|last=Jackson|first=BILL MINOR|date=September 6, 2007|publisher=Sun Herald|pages=C2]

The future

WQRZ-LP operated out of the Hancock County EOC from August 27, 2005 until November 30, 2007. The future is unclear for WQRZ as they have not received any public assistance from FEMA. WQRZ remains the only local 24 hour Emergency Alert System station in Hancock County.fact|date=September 2008

References

External links

*
*