WPKQ

WPKQ (103.7 FM, "The Peak") is a country music radio station licensed to and based in[1] North Conway, New Hampshire and is owned by Townsquare Media. It transmits from atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the tallest peak in the Northeast, alongside sister station WHOM. Despite primarily serving northern New Hampshire and western Maine, WPKQ's city-grade signal covers portions of New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Quebec. The station serves as the northern New Hampshire and Lewiston-Auburn, Maine area affiliate for the New England Patriots Radio Network.

WPKQ
CityNorth Conway, New Hampshire
Broadcast areaNorthern New Hampshire and western Maine
Frequency103.7 MHz
Branding103-7 The Peak
SloganMaine and New Hampshire's New Country Station
Programming
FormatCountry
Ownership
OwnerTownsquare Media
(Townsquare Media Portsmouth License, LLC)
Sister stationsWBLM, WCYY, WHOM, WJBQ, WOKQ, WSHK/WSAK
History
First air dateMarch 1952 (as WMOU-FM)
Former call signsWMOU-FM (1952-1957)
WKCQ (1957-1959)
WMOU-FM (1959-1972)
WXLQ-FM (1972-1979)
WMOU (1983-1990)
WZPK (1990-1996)
Call sign meaningW PeaK Q
Technical information
Facility ID48401
ClassC
ERP22,500 watts
HAAT1,159 meters (3,802 ft)
Transmitter coordinates44°16′13″N 71°18′17″W
Links
Website1037thepeak.com

History

The 103.7 frequency now occupied by WPKQ began in March 1952 as WMOU-FM, the FM sister station to WMOU (1230) in Berlin.[2] The stations became WKCB and WKCQ in 1957,[3] but returned to their original callsigns two years later.[4] WMOU-FM separated from the simulcast of WMOU in 1972 and became WXLQ-FM, airing a rock and oldies format. This evolved to a mix of top 40 and oldies in 1975.[5] The station reverted to the WMOU simulcast in 1977 (but retained the WXLQ call letters). A construction permit for a new 103.7, using WXLQ's former transmitter, was granted on August 8, 1983[6] to New England Broadcasting, Inc. (formed by Steve Powell, the son of previous WMOU owner Bob Powell) and revived the WMOU call letters (without the "-FM" suffix),[7] with a license to cover issued on March 15, 1984.[8]

In 1990, the station moved its transmitter to Mount Washington in 1990, changed its format to an innovative hot AC format and officially became "WZPK 1-0-3-7 Peak-FM". Branding themselves as "The Peak of New England" with a Class C flamethrower signal that reached from Boston to Montreal. The station debuted by originally simply asking on-air to its audience what they wanted on air by airing the message "We are building YOUR Superstation. Please tell us what you would like to hear" and supplied a 1-800 number for listeners to contact the station. The station was really refreshing to Sherbrooke Québec's audience just north of the border who were then losing their own English top 40 local radio station CKTS AM 900 when WZPK made its startup.

In 1996, 103.7 adopted its present callsign and format upon its sale to Fuller-Jeffrey in 1996.[9][10] The city of license was changed to North Conway in 1999.[11]

On July 6, 2015, WPKQ split from its simulcast with WOKQ 97.5 FM Dover, NH and rebranded as "103.7 The Peak". In doing so, it moved its studios from WOKQ's facility in Dover to Townsquare's existing studio in Portland, alongside WBLM, WCYY, WJBQ and fellow Mount Washington broadcaster WHOM.[12]

Signal

Due to its transmitter location on the top of Mount Washington, the station has one of the largest coverage areas in North America, reaching most of New Hampshire (except where WKNE comes in better), the Northeast Kingdom and other portions of Central and Northern Vermont (including Montpelier, Saint Johnsbury and Burlington), Western, Central and Southern Maine (including the Lewiston/Auburn, Augusta and Portland areas), Southern Quebec (including eastern exurbs of Montreal and the Sherbrooke/Estrie area), and small portions of northeast Massachusetts (the northernmost areas of Essex County). However, as the slogan shows, the station chooses to focus mainly on New Hampshire (specifically areas north of the Lakes Region and Maine (specifically the Western Maine Mountains tourism region and portions of greater Portland), while still getting some listenership in Estrie and the Northeast Kingdom (especially within the former, as it is the only country station audible there).

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References
  1. "Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce - WPKQ/Townsquare Media". mtwashingtonvalley.org.
  2. Broadcasting Yearbook 1953 (PDF). 1953. p. 187. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  3. Broadcasting Yearbook 1958 (PDF). 1958. p. A-320. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  4. Broadcasting Yearbook 1960 (PDF). 1960. p. A-185. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  5. Broadcasting Yearbook 1976 (PDF). 1976. p. C-123. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  6. "Application Search Details (1)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  7. "Call Sign History (WPKQ)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  8. "Application Search Details (2)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  9. Fybush, Scott (October 11, 1996). "WAAF (back) on the tube". New England RadioWatch. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  10. Fybush, Scott (November 7, 1996). "Big Doings in Maine". New England RadioWatch. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  11. Fybush, Scott (October 15, 1999). "The All New All New WMEX??". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  12. "Peak To Bring Third Country To Portland, ME - RadioInsight". 5 July 2015.
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