WIQI
 | |
| City | Watseka, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Iroquois County and Kankakee |
| Branding | Classic Hits 95.9 WIQI |
| Frequency | 95.9 MHz |
| First air date |
February 2008 (part-time, as WMLF) June 23, 2015 (full-time) |
| Format | Classic hits |
| ERP | 6,000 watts |
| HAAT | 74 meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 164237 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°49′22″N 87°44′54″W / 40.82278°N 87.74833°WCoordinates: 40°49′22″N 87°44′54″W / 40.82278°N 87.74833°W |
| Callsign meaning | Calls inherited from former sister company Merlin Media; formerly stood for IQI as a visual equivalent to "101" on Merlin's former station on 101.1 FM in Chicago |
| Former callsigns |
WMLF (2006-2011) WWWN (7/4/2011-7/21/2011) WKQX (2011-2014) |
| Owner | Radioactive, LLC |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 959wiqi.com |
WIQI (95.9 FM) is a radio station in Watseka, Illinois that is owned by Radioactive, LLC and is operated under a local marketing agreement. The station currently carries a classic hits format covering Watseka along with Iroquois County and Kankakee with an output of 6000 watts ERP.[1]
History
From 2011 until March 2015, its main use as a facility was to hold call signs for the moribund media company, Merlin Media (with which Radioactive formerly shared ownership with radio executive Randy Michaels), where it was used to hold the WKQX calls historically associated with the 101.1 FM frequency in Chicago to prevent a competitor in that market from acquiring them. During this period, the station itself broadcast for only days at a time in each late winter in order to prevent the license from being revoked by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for inactivity. The station's original 14 meter HAAT 1000 watt signal was limited to Watseka. On January 16, 2014, its call letters changed from WKQX to WIQI.[2]
In March 2015, the station asked for a construction permit to widen the signal's coverage, mainly towards the Kankakee area; this was granted on April 15. On June 23, 2015, WIQI placed this facility on the air;[3] at that time, it began to broadcast full-time with daytime airstaff. This came shortly before the FCC began to disallow the abuse of license holding to keep a station silent on July 2, 2015.[4]
References
- ↑ WIQI Facility Record, fcc.gov. Accessed August 12, 2015
- ↑ Call Sign History, fcc.gov. Accessed August 12, 2015
- ↑ "Resumption of Operations". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
- ↑ Sashkin, Davina (22 July 2015). "Audio Overkill: New AM and FM Licenses Conditioned on Continuous Operation". CommLaw Blog. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
External links
- Official website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WIQI
- Radio-Locator information on WIQI
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WIQI