WCPQ

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WCPQ
City of license Park Forest, Illinois
Broadcast area Chicago, Illinois
Branding Daytime: Polski FM
Nighttime: Dance Factory FM
Frequency 99.9 MHz
First air date 1962 (as WKAK)
Format Daytime: Polish
Nighttime: Dance hits
ERP 50,000 watts
HAAT 150 meters
Class B
Facility ID 23476
Callsign meaning W Chicago's Progressive Talk Q (previous format)
Former callsigns WRZA until 10/27/2008
WBUS until 09/23/1996
WBSW until 04/01/1987
WBYG until 02/15/1985[1]
Owner Newsweb Corporation
Sister stations WCPY
Website Polski FM website
Dance Factory FM's website

WCPQ (99.9 FM) is a radio station located in Park Forest, Illinois, south of Chicago. WCPQ is part of a simulcast with WCPY. During the daytime, the trimulcast simulcasts WCPY's Polish format from 5 A.M.-9 P.M., and operates a Dance Hits format at night known as Dance Factory FM. WCPQ is owned by Newsweb Corporation. Studios are located on Chicago's Northwest Side.

History

From its launch in 1962 until 1977, the station had the WKAK call sign. From 1977 until 1985, it was WBYG. In February 1985, as WBSW, the station launched a Top 40 format as 99.9 The Bus and changed call letters to WBUS on April 1, 1987. The Bus lasted until August 31, 1996, when it was replaced with Spanish language format La Raza 99.9 with the WRZA call sign. In order to be eligible for inclusion in the Chicago Arbitron ratings, the city of license was changed from Kankakee, Illinois to Park Forest, Illinois.

Nine FM and Dance Factory

Nine FM originally started out on 99.9 FM, and had rimshot coverage into Chicago. With owner Newsweb's purchase of three other rimshot stations in 2005, Nine FM's programming expanded to WKIE (92.7 FM) in the north suburbs and WDEK (92.5 FM) west of the Chicago area. The third station, WKIF, was broken off from the trimulcast due to overlapping with the stronger WRZA signal and began airing the audio feed from CNN Headline News.

Sky Daniels was the original program director for Nine FM. When he left in 2005, he was replaced by Matt DuBiel. Nine FM's format tightened a bit over time, to attract more casual listeners, eliminating many of the more obscure songs on the station's playlist.

On May 19, 2006, Chris Chudzik of TKC Entertainment began leasing air time on Saturday nights for a dance music show called Dance Factory FM, from 8P.M. to 5A.M. hosted By Kyle Kelly (a former DJ from Energy 92.7&5). Dance Factory FM expanded to Friday nights 9:00PM to 5:00AM starting on August 12, 2006, hosted by Luis 2Live Lopez (also a former DJ from Energy 92.7&5).

A year later, on May 14, 2007 Nine FM and Chudzik expanded Dance Factory to seven nights a week from 9P.M. to 4:30A.M.. The weekend shows carry a DJ mix style format, while the weekday shows carry a Dance Hits music format with live mixes several times nightly.

"Chicago's Progressive Talk"

Newsweb Corporation dropped the Nine FM programming on all three signals Monday, October 20, 2008, and replaced it with a simulcast of sister station WCPT from 5A.M. until 9P.M.[2] Dance Factory still continues to air overnight, and gained an extra half-hour (4:30-5:00) in the morning. The last song on Nine FM was intended to be "Kiss This Thing Goodbye" by Del Amitri, but ended up being "Crush" by Jennifer Paige, likely an homage to the "WKIE" call letters' 10 year run with "Crush" being one of the first hit songs on the station.[3]

Polski FM

On June 2, 2014, WCPQ changed their format to Polish, branded as "Polski FM".

Call sign history

  • WRZA 09/23/1996-10/27/2008
  • WBUS 04/01/1987-09/23/1996
  • WBSW 02/15/1985-04/01/1987
  • WBYG 1977-1985
  • WKAK 1962-1977

See also

References

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  2. "WCPT/Chicago Gets FM Simulcasts," Radio Ink, October 17, 2008.
  3. "End Of Nine Fm Chicago", Youtube

External links

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