WRNQ

WRNQ
City	Poughkeepsie, New York
Broadcast area	Hudson Valley
Branding	Q92
Slogan	The Hudson Valley's 80s to Now!
Frequency	92.1 MHz
First air date	June 30, 1989
Format	Adult Contemporary Christmas (Nov-Dec)
ERP	520 watts
HAAT	314 meters
Class	A
Facility ID	17771
Callsign meaning	W 'Rock N Easy Q-92 (original branding)
Former callsigns	WLMS (1985-89, CP)
Affiliations	Premium Choice Premiere Networks iHeartRadio
Owner	iHeartMedia, Inc. (CC Licenses, LLC)
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	q92hv.com

WRNQ (92.1 FM, "Q92") is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York and serving the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York state. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and broadcasts with 520 watts ERP from the Illinois Mountain master tower in Highland, New York to which it moved in 2000. Unlike other Class A stations on that tower, WRNQ's signal is directional to protect first adjacents WBMP New York City and WFLY Troy.

A variation of WRNQ's format, without the simulcast and with different jocks, is broadcast on 98.5 WCTW Catskill, New York. From March 2005 until November 2006, WRNQ's format and programming is "shadowcasted" on 99.3 WFKP Ellenville, New York which aired the same air talent as WRNQ (and simulcasted WRNQ's "Joe Daily in the Morning").

History

The original construction permit for what became WRNQ was awarded in December 1985, several years after the FCC amended the table of allotments to allow for the 92.1 frequency to become active in Poughkeepsie. Around 1987, the frequency was awarded to WKIP owner Richard Novik, gained the WLMS (Lite Music Station) calls and announced that the station would take on a format near-identical to that which hit the air. Due to potential ratings confusion with WLTW ("Lite FM") from New York City the call letters were replaced with WRNQ in 1989, a decision made by then-General Manager Don Verity. The difficulty obtaining a transmitter site in the market also was a problem and Novik eventually settled on a site in Lagrangeville, New York, east of Poughkeepsie, unlike most stations which broadcast on mountain peaks in Ulster County.

WRNQ, better known as "Rockin' Easy, Q-92"' hit the air on June 30, 1989 and made a splash with former WKIP morning man Van Ritshie anchoring an otherwise satellite-fed format (Unistar's "Format 41)." With no real competition in the format (WHUD was still easy listening and WKIP had changed to all-talk programming), Q-92 reached top of the ratings its first year on the air. Eventually, the station added the hugely successful "Love Songs on Q" a locally hosted evening love songs program hosted by Pete Clark (currently at WVKR and WPDH) and later by Rick Buser, formerly of WPDH.

In 1996, Novik sold WRNQ, WKIP, and new sister station WNSX ("Modern Rock, The X 96.1") to Straus Media (owned by Eric Straus, heir to former owner of WMCA New York City) who in turn replaced the satellite-fed time periods with all-local programming, much of which came from Straus stations in Ellenville and Hudson. With this, the station picked up Delilah After Dark evenings. The pickup of Delilah, later picked up by rival WHUD, was allowed via a geographic loophole (WHUD and WRNQ are technically in different markets) which also allowed the two rivals to have the same jingle package for several years.

Eric Straus decided to leave radio ownership in 2000 to start two online ventures (Regional Help Wanted and Cupid.com), selling the cluster to Clear Channel Communications. The next year, Van Ritshie retired from radio, and was replaced by Joe Daily (formerly of WBNR) in the morning slot. In 2002, WRNQ began airing Christmas music in the months before Christmas copying a programming move popular in other radio markets.

At the end of Christmas music in 2003, the station relaunched under the "LiteFM" brand of popular sister WLTW in New York City in a move of "branding unity" which also was ironic considering the station's pre-signon change done to minimize confusion with WLTW. Outside of some music refocusing and the addition of a Saturday night dance programming, no major changes were made until October 2011, when WRNQ switched to Premium Choice and Premiere Networks for content outside of Joe Daily in Morning Drive.

On September 8, 2014 WRNQ returned to its original "Q92" branding.^[1]

Previous logo

(WRNQ's logo under previous "Lite FM" branding)

References

↑ WRNQ Returns to its Q92 Roots

External links

Q92 website

Query the FCC's FM station database for WRNQ

Radio-Locator information on WRNQ

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WRNQ

Radio stations in the Poughkeepsie, New York market

By AM frequency	920 950 1260 1390 1450 1490

By FM frequency	88.7 (WFNP) 88.7 (WRHV) 89.7 90.9 91.3 92.1 92.9 93.3 94.3 95.1 96.1 96.9 97.7 98.9 100.1 100.7 101.5 104.7 105.5 106.3 107.3

By callsign	WAMK WBNR WBPM WBWZ WCZX WDBY WDST WEOK WFGB WFME-FM WFNP WGHQ WGNY-FM WHUD WHVW WKIP WKNY WKXP WPDH WPKF WRHV WRKI WRNQ WRRB WRWD-FM WSPK WVKR-FM plus most New York City radio stations

Defunct stations	WJDI

New York radio markets Albany–Schenectady–Troy Binghamton Buffalo–Niagara Falls Elmira–Corning Hudson Valley Nassau–Suffolk (Long Island) New York City Olean Plattsburgh Poughkeepsie Rochester Syracuse Utica–Rome Watertown Other New York radio regions Ithaca Jamestown–Dunkirk North Country Saratoga NYC Metro Markets Long Island Hudson Valley [partial] Poughkeepsie Middlesex-Somerset-Union Monmouth-Ocean Morristown Bridgeport Danbury New Haven Stamford-Norwalk See also List of radio stations in New York

Adult Contemporary radio stations in the state of New York

Stations	WAVR – Waverly WBAZ – Bridgehampton WENI – Big Flats WENY – Elmira WHUD – Peekskill WIRY – Plattsburgh WIRY-FM – Plattsburgh West WJKE – Stillwater WKJY – Hempstead WKNY – Kingston WLTB – Johnson City WLTW – New York WLZW – Utica WMRV – Dansville WMXW – Vestal WNYR – Waterloo WNYV – Whitehall WRCR – Spring Valley WRIP – Windham WRMM – Rochester WRNQ – Poughkeepsie WTOJ – Carthage WVIN-FM – Bath WVLF – Norwood WWSE – Jamestown WYJB – Albany WYVS – Speculator WYXL – Ithaca WYYY – Syracuse

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in New York

iHeartMedia

Corporate officers	Bob Pittman (Chairman/CEO)

Board of directors	Lowry Mays Irving Azoff B. J. "Red" McCombs J. C. Watts John H. Williams

Radio stations	List of radio stations owned by iHeartMedia

Radio networks	Fox Sports Radio Premiere Networks Premium Choice Total Traffic and Weather Network

Miscellaneous	Clear Channel Outdoor Clear Channel UK iHeartRadio List of programming syndicated by iHeartMedia Mediabase Radio Computing Services

Coordinates: 41°43′08″N 73°59′46″W / 41.719°N 73.996°W / 41.719; -73.996

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