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History of WLQH
Thanks to Marc Tyll for this history
of WLQH.
WLQH-AM (We Love Quarter Horses) began broadcast
operations on June 6Th 1968 when Chiefland resident, local rancher and highway road construction contractor
Luther White was granted the
frequency 940 KHz for Chiefland. WLQH was the only radio station
serving a wide geographical area between Gainesville, Ocala and Tallahassee.
The station originally provided a mix of country, bluegrass, MOR and religious
programming with its 500 watt daytime only signal.
The station had a relatively large staff for such a small radio station,
having over 20 employees at one time. The staff was directed by White’s
sister, Norma Schossler, who was the WLQH general manager for over 31 years.
The morning programming consisted of religious devotionals during the very
early hours, with country and western music interspersed with some bluegrass
during the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon. “Big Sam”,
as
he
was known by all the locals (no one really knew his real full name), hosted
the morning country show from sign on till 9 AM. Big Sam was a typical old
time radio guy, doing many live reads for various sponsors, always ending
every commercial with his signature “… and tell ‘em Big Sam sent ya, and
I appreciate it, ya hear?” In 1975 WLQH began programming a more distinct block format, adding Top 40
music in the afternoons from 3:30 till sign-off, but keeping the country hits
airing during the mornings and midday hours. The reasoning, according to White
“…. the kids are out of school in the afternoon, so we’ll play the music
they like…”. Billy Mayo, a local who was very knowledgeable of top 40
music, was hired as the afternoon jock spinning the popular hits for the
area’s youth. After about eight years as afternoon jock and Top 40 music
expert, Mayo left fulltime radio to become an evangelist, forming Billy Mayo
Evangelical Ministries. Mayo remained associated with WLQH on a limited basis,
mainly so he could promote his religious crusades. On one occasion he
interviewed Evangelist Demond Wilson of "Sanford and Son" fame live on the air.
Another time Mayo interviewed Little Richard. The year 1978 saw many technical changes and advancements when
WLQH received a
construction permit to double its power from 500 watts to 1,000 watts. With
the anticipated power increase, White completely rebuilt the station,
including a new transmitter and a completely rebuilt on-air studio, bringing
the station‘s technical facilities up to state-of-the-art status.
Unable to find anyone local who knew pop music very well, in the mid 1980s
management decided to drop Top 40 from the afternoon rotation, returning to a
fulltime country schedule, remaining with that format throughout the 1980s and
1990s. Keeping with the times, in 1991 WLQH was granted a construction permit
for WLQH-FM 97.3. With the addition of the FM, WLQH was now able to expand to
a 24 hour operation, providing country music, news, weather and other
information to Chiefland, Levy County and the surrounding area around the
clock. For eight years, between 1991 and 1999, WLQH-AM and WLQH-FM operated as
one station as a simulcast operation. However, due to stiff competition from
stations in Gainesville and Ocala, WLQH switched from mainstream country to
classic country, playing country favorites from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s.
In 1999, White decided to sell the station he had brought to the area and
owned for 31 years. Dix Communications, owner of WOGK-FM 93.7 and
WNDD-FM 95.5
Ocala, wanted WLQH-FM to extend coverage of its highly rated WIND-FM network
which consisted of stations WNDD-FM 95.5 Ocala and WNDT-FM 92.5 Gainesville.
With the addition of WLQH-FM, later becoming WNDN-FM, WIND FM was able to
create a three station tri-mulcast operation, covering the entire metro and
Total Survey Area. As WNDN-FM, the classic country was dropped from the FM in
favor of classic rock. WLQH-AM, however, continued to play the country
classics for a few more years. Unable to effectively compete with the bigger country signals that were now
heard in the market, after 34 years as the areas heritage country outlet,
WLQH
dropped its long standing programming in favor of becoming the area’s Music
of Your Life station, playing the adult standard hits that Al Ham
re-introduced to radio in the late 1970s, playing the standards from the 50s
through the early 80s.
WZCC And WLQH Combine Their Signals
12-5-10
Suncoast Radio, Inc. is in the process of acquiring WLQH-AM
940 from Ocala Broadcasting. An LMA began on Dec. 1. WZCC-AM 1240 is now simulcast on WLQH
in Chiefland. This more than doubles the coverage area. Details and a combined
coverage map is on their website at www.suncoastradio.com.
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