KQV

See also: King's Quest V
For the station that was once KQV-FM, see WDVE.
Not to be confused with WKQV in Cowen, West Virginia
KQV
City Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Branding KQV AM1410
Slogan All News/All The Time (borrowed from WINS)
Frequency 1410 kHz
First air date 1919 (as 8ZAE)
January 9, 1922 (as KQV)
Format News radio
Power 5,000 watts
Class B
Facility ID 8445
Callsign meaning "King of the Quaker Valley"
Affiliations ABC News Radio
Owner Calvary, Inc.
(Dickey family)
Webcast Listen Live
Website kqv.com

KQV is an AM radio station located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The only radio station owned by Calvary, Inc., it broadcasts at 1410 kHz, with 5,000 watts of power day and night. The station is one of four in the market that use call letters starting with "K," a type of call sign not normally found east of the Mississippi River. KQV broadcasts an all-news format on weekdays and also carries Penn State University men's basketball.

History

Origins

KQV was one of Pittsburgh's five original AM stations, signing on as amateur station "8ZAE" on November 19, 1919, predating KDKA which was granted the distinction of being, as KDKA claims, the world's first commercially licensed radio station, on November 2, 1920. KQV did not receive a commercial license until January 9, 1922, despite having started transmitting three years earlier. KQV's call letters reportedly stand for "King of the Quaker Valley".

KQV enjoys grandfathered status as one of only a handful of stations east of the Mississippi River that have call letters beginning with K. Four of them are in Pittsburgh, the others being KDKA (AM), KDKA-TV and KDKA-FM. Other stations east of the Mississippi with call letters beginning with "K" are KYW and KYW-TV in Philadelphia, KFIZ in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, KTGG Spring Arbor, Michigan, KYAI McKee, Kentucky and KJWP-TV in Wilmington, Delaware. (Technically, there are additional stations just east of the Mississippi with K call letters, although they are in media markets or states which straddle the river and have stations with both K and W call signs.)

"The Groovy QV"

KQV was quite successful as a top 40 station during the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, owned by ABC for nearly all of that period with Count John K. Chapel as a popular radio personality. Known variously as "Colorful KQV," "Audio 14," "Groovy QV," and "The Big 14" over the years, KQV premiered its top 40 format on January 13, 1958, and is remembered for its high-profile, high-energy personalities, such as Robert Wolfson aka: Bob Wilson [pioneer of the "top 40" format], Chuck Brinkman, Hal Murray, Dave Scott, Steve Rizen, Dex Allen, Jim Quinn, future game show announcer Rod Roddy, and their large-scale promotion of a Beatles concert at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena in 1964, and its former showcase studios at the Chamber of Commerce Building ("on the corner of Walk and Don't Walk," as the DJs would say) in downtown Pittsburgh, where the disk jockeys could be watched through a large window.

Dominant with young listeners throughout the 1960s, the station was a major force in breaking new music and introducing Pittsburgh to new artists such as Sonny & Cher, the Rolling Stones, the Supremes, the Beach Boys, the Dave Clark Five and others. KQV slowly began to decline after 1970 with the advent of new competition from WJAS and the rise of FM radio (including its then-sister station WDVE, which began life as KQV-FM).

One of KQV's top-40 personalities in the 1970s, with the on-air name of "Jeff Christie," later became famous as a talk-show host under his real name, Rush Limbaugh.

In 1974, another upstart competitor - this time AM station "13Q" WKPQ, the former (and current) WJAS - also made serious inroads against KQV, which briefly turned to the "14K" brand. ABC Radio conceded the battle at the end of the year, selling both KQV and WDVE off to Cincinnati-based Taft Broadcasting.[1]

Taft made another attempt at Top 40 on KQV, this time with a far more radical presentation - with Joey Reynolds as program director, before dropping the format altogether. Its final night as a top 40 station was October 14, 1975, with the last song being "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" by Neil Diamond.

All-news, all the time

The next morning, October 15, 1975, the station switched to its present all-news format, carrying NBC Radio's 24-hour News and Information Service.[2] Even though NBC cancelled the service two years later, KQV continued as an all-news station with local elements.

In 1982 Taft executives told the station's general manager, Robert W. Dickey (no relation to the Dickey family that founded the Cumulus Media conglomerate), that it intended to unload the station. Hoping to avoid a potential change in format that often comes with an ownership shift, Dickey decided to make a bid to buy the station. He sought and received financial backing from newspaper publisher Richard Mellon Scaife and together, the two men formed Calvary, Inc. They purchased the station from Taft that same year.[3] Dickey died on December 24, 2011; his estate remained a partner in the station's ownership, with Robert W. Dickey Jr. succeeding his father as general manager.

On May 14, 2013, it was announced that Richard Mellon Sciafe was selling his shares in KQV to the Dickey family, giving the Dickeys full ownership of the station. The present programming format continues unchanged; Scaife died a year later.[4]

Today

Now in its 40th year, KQV's all-news format provides listeners with non-stop news, sports, traffic, and weather from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Its format is similar to that of other traditional all-news stations, featuring "Traffic and Weather on the Eights", sports at :15 and :45 past each hour, and business news at :20 and :50 past. KQV's 5,000-watt signal, emanates from five towers located in Ross Township, providing a directional signal.

KQV's primary weekday anchors are P.J. Maloney, Joe Fenn, Bruce Sakalik, and Dan Weinberg. Steve Lohle had also been a fixture as KQV's afternoon news anchor for 34 years until his death on June 20, 2008 of an apparent heart attack. Retired weekend anchor Bob Sprague also died of an apparent heart attack in July 2010. He had anchored weekends for more than 25 years until his retirement.

In addition to its news content and public affairs programs such as Pittsburgh Profiles and Pittsburgh Global Press Conference, the station is home to a number of live sporting events, including NFL football, Penn State football, and WPIAL football and basketball, as well as the Triple Crown and Masters updates.

During evening hours, the station broadcasts syndicated conservative talk radio host Lars Larson, When Radio Was (a series featuring classic radio programs such as Suspense and The Jack Benny Show, among others) and Red Eye Radio from Westwood One.[5] Also on Sundays a weekly radio series, known as "Imagination Theater", is broadcast.

In 2011, the station re-affiliated with ABC News Radio for the first time since its days as an ABC Radio owned-and-operated station, carrying their top-of-the-hour newscasts live.

References

  1. ↑ "Taft in, ABC out of Pittsburgh radio." Broadcasting, April 1, 1974, pg. 22.
  2. ↑ "NIS count up to 50." Broadcasting, September 29, 1975, pg. 46.
  3. ↑ "Changing hands." Broadcasting, April 12, 1982, pg. 98.
  4. ↑ Sciullo, Maria (May 14, 2013). "Sciafe to sell his interest in KQV". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  5. ↑ McCoy, Adrian (August 5, 2011). "KQV radio adds late night talk programming - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

External links

Coordinates: 40°31′24″N 80°00′40″W / 40.52333°N 80.01111°W / 40.52333; -80.01111

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