WABQ

WABQ

Cleveland Cavaliers Radio Network
Ownership
Owner	Radio Advantage One, LLC
History
First air date	April 25, 1956 (68 years ago) (1956-04-25)
Former call signs	WPVL (1956–1984) WQLS (1984–1986) WBKC (1986–2006)
Call sign meaning	Taken from the former WABQ in Cleveland, later WWGK
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	13685
Class	B
Power	1,000 watts (daytime) 500 watts (nighttime)
Transmitter coordinates	41°44′20.00″N 81°14′9.00″W / 41.7388889°N 81.2358333°W / 41.7388889; -81.2358333
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS

WABQ (1460

. WABQ's studios and transmitter are located on the northeastern end of Painesville.

History

The station signed on the air on April 25, 1956, as WPVL (Where People Value Listening), a daytime only station. Somerset Broadcasting, Inc. was the owner under President/General Manager & Chief Engineer, Carl R. Lee. The station was originally located 102 S. Park Place in downtown Painesville, just a few steps from Carlisle-Allen Department Store and the Parmly Hotel. The original staff featured Elwood Thompson, who moved from WVSC, Somerset, Pennsylvania to be WPVL's first Program Director, James Ahlstrom was News and Sports Director and Tom Christen acted as the station's Farm Director. A couple of years later, the Sales Manager was Don Atkin, on-air personalities were, Jim Stephenson, Promotion Manager and on-air talent, Dick Gascoigne, and Bill Starkey, Sports Director.

In 1959, WPVL, Inc. built new studios in a new building at 713 Fobes Street which later was rechristened One Radio Place. The station is still located at this address. Carl R. Lee also was involved in the ownership and building of another AM daytime station, WDLR (1550 AM) in Delaware, Ohio.

It became WQLS on January 15, 1984. WQLS was acquired by Dale Broadcasting, then the owner of

format, mixing music, news and sports.

In 2001, WBKC became a

.

The station was sold to Dale Edwards, owner and operator of WABQ in Cleveland, in 2004. With the sale, Edwards operated WBKC under the "Radio Advantage One, LLC" banner, but maintained the simulcast of WCLV programming. In October 2006, Edwards sold WABQ's 1540 AM facility to

.

With the sale of 1540 AM, WBKC 1460 dropped the classical WCLV simulcast. It switched to an

African-American

population resided. WBKC swapped call signs with WABQ on October 24, 2006, and the WBKC call letters were then retired on November 7. The WABQ call sign was previously on 1540 AM when it was co-owned with 1460 AM.

On July 26, 2011,

As part of the progressive talk format, WABQ became a local affiliate for

NBC News Radio and MarketWatch

.

Later, the lease agreement of WABQ by Gary Richards ended, and the station reverted to urban gospel music programming. WABQ remains an affiliate of the

Cleveland Cavaliers Radio Network.^[4]

References

1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WABQ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
2. ^ "Changing Hands: Proposed" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 25, 1985. p. 77. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
3. ^ Burnett, Erich (2011-07-26). "No Rush: Cleveland to Get Liberal Talk Radio Station | Scene and Heard: Scene's News Blog | Cleveland Scene". Clevescene.com. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
4. ^ "Broadcast Information | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS". Nba.com. Archived from the original on 2014-09-24. Retrieved 2014-08-18.

External links

• WABQ in the FCC AM station database
• WABQ in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• FCC History Cards for WABQ (WPVL)