WQSH (FM)
WQSH is a radio station licensed to Cobleskill, New York and serving the Mohawk Valley and the western Capital District of New York as well as the Oneonta and Utica-Rome areas. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts on 103.5 MHz at 50,000 watts ERP from a tower west of Cobleskill.
City | Cobleskill, New York |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Albany, Mohawk Valley, Oneonta, Utica-Rome |
Frequency | 103.5 MHz |
Branding | Alt 103.5 |
Slogan | Albany's New Alternative |
Programming | |
Format | Alternative rock |
Ownership | |
Owner | Townsquare Media (Townsquare Media of Albany, Inc.) |
WGNA-FM, WPBZ-FM, WQBK-FM, WTMM-FM | |
History | |
First air date | 1986 (as WITU) |
Former call signs | WITU (1986-1988) WACS-FM (1988–1989) WSHQ (1989–1994) WQBJ (1994-2019) |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 40769 |
Class | B |
ERP | 50,000 watts |
HAAT | 150 meters (490 ft) |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | alt1035.com |
Station history
WQSH signed on in 1986 as WITU with an adult contemporary format...In 1988...The call letters were changed to WACS. In 1989, WACS-FM was sold to the owners of 98.3 WSHZ and the took a simulcast of that station's adult contemporary, and later oldies format (SHO Radio) as WSHQ. The sale of WSHZ to the owners of WTRY in 1992 led to a return to adult contemporary (albeit satellite fed) on 103.5 as a stop gap for the station before it was sold to then-WQBK-FM owner Maximum Media in 1994. Maximum Media changed the calls to WQBJ and used it to simulcast WQBK-FM's then-mainstream rock format (first Q-104, then The Edge and finally Q103), which would flip the next year to modern rock. Maximum Media was purchased by Radio Enterprises in 1996.
Radio Enterprises was bought out by Clear Channel Communications, which had owned a minority share of the company, in 1997 and in 1999, the Edge stations changed their formats to active rock, a format that remained through Clear Channel divesting the stations to Regent Communications (now Townsquare Media) in 2000.
On July 1, 2019, WQBJ and WQBK-FM directed listeners to WQSH as their longtime rock radio format moved to the 105.7 FM frequency.[1] On August 1, 2019, WQBJ ended stunting and took WQSH's former alternative rock format as "Alt 103.5", putting the station in competition with Pamal Broadcasting's WINU. WQBK-FM, its former simulcast partner, concurrently launched a soft AC format as "103.9 The Breeze".[2]
WQBJ changed its call sign to WQSH on September 18, 2019.
References
- Q103 Albany Moves to 105.7 Radioinsight - July 1, 2019
- Alt 103.5 and 103.9 The Breeze Debut in Albany Radioinsight - August 1, 2019
External links
- WQSH in the FCC's FM station database
- WQSH on Radio-Locator
- WQSH in Nielsen Audio's FM station database