WLCY
| City of license | Blairsville, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Indiana, Pennsylvania Blairsville, Pennsylvania Latrobe, Pennsylvania Kittanning, Pennsylvania |
| Branding | "Country 106.3" |
| Slogan | "We Love Country!" |
| Frequency | 106.3 (MHz) |
| First air date | September 13, 1982 (as WCQO) |
| Format | Classic and Current Country |
| ERP | 2,400 Watts |
| HAAT | 111 meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 38376 |
| Callsign meaning | We Love CountrY |
| Owner | Anthony Renda (St Pier Group, LLC) |
| Website | http://www.country1063fm.com/ |
WLCY is a country music formatted radio station serving Indiana, Cambria, Jefferson, Armstrong and Westmoreland Counties in Pennsylvania. This station broadcasts in a similar style to rival WFGI-FM with playing throwback country hits and current hits.
The County 106.3 FM format began in February 2006. The station was originally called Cat Country 106.3, but the "Cat" was dropped in 2010.
On air personalities are Andy Hart on mornings, Jim DeCesare on afternoons, and Chuck Clark on evenings. Syndicated programming includes "CMT's Country Music Countdown USA" with Lon Helton, "American Country Countdown", "America's Grand Ole Opry Weekend", and "Racing Country USA".
WLCY is the voice of the Blairsville High School sports. WLCY has broadcast every Bobcat football game since 1980. The station also broadcasts various Bobcat basketball games.
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[edit] Early history
[edit] Beginnings as WCQO
The 106.3 license originally signed on as WCQO-FM ("CQO" being the initials of station founder Ada Ottie's daughter Constance Quinn) with a "Music of Your Life" format featuring music of the 1930s and 40's.
The station broadcast from a two-story wood-framed house at the intersection of Routes 22 and 119 in Burrell Township, just outside of the Blairsville borough limits. The ground floor housed the on-air and production studios, with sales and administrative offices on the top floor.
During these early years, the station broadcast a locally-produced polka show, hosted by Mark Bertig, a Grammy-award winning polka musician who led the band "The Polish Friends" from the late 70's to early 80's. He would leave in 1985, only to return in 2002 to manage this station and three of its competitors under subsequent purchases by its present owner.
[edit] As "Wink FM"
In 1985, the station was purchased by former WAMO-FM general manager Ray Gusky (dba WNQQ, Inc.), who rebranded the station with the call sign WNQQ-FM and adopted an AC format. Billed as "Wink-FM," the station added specialty programming, such as "Jukebox Saturday Night with D.P. McIntire" on Saturdays and "C'eol N'harran," a Sunday program featuring Irish folk music.
Transfer of the station's control went from Gusky to Jeff Dean (dba Pennsylvania Broadcast Associates) in December 1987.
[edit] As "Lucky FM"
John Longo, who started as a disc jockey in 1959, purchased WNQQ for $485,000 in November 1989, ten months following his purchase of WCNS-AM in Latrobe.[citation needed] Signing an agreement with the former Drake Chenault Radio Network (now Jones Radio Network), the station signed on as "Lucky 106.3", with the new WLCY call letters (once assigned to an AM-FM-TV combination in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida) and a soft adult contemporary format.
Not long after acquiring the station, the station was renovated. The front porch of the studio building was enclosed, moving the on-air functions near the newly-built entrance. The building, known as "The House", was demolished in 2001 under eminent domain as part of PennDot's Route 22 and 119 widening project. Station functions were moved to Latrobe with sister AM station WCNS, but a small sales office was maintained in downtown Blairsville.
Through aggressive promotion, WLCY started to see growth with office listeners in Indiana and Westmoreland Counties.
[edit] Sale to Renda Broadcasting
Longo decided to sell the station in 2002 to Pittsburgh-based Renda Broadcasting Corporation for $900,000, following an LMA of almost two years.
In need of additional studio space to accommodate four radio stations (WDAD, WCCS, WLCY, WQMU), Renda Broadcasting acquired the former Gatti Pharmacy building at the corner of 9th and Philadelphia Streets in downtown Indiana, where the four stations and its business operations occupy the first and second floors.
[edit] Station Personnel
[edit] DJs
- Andy Hart - Weekdays from 6am-Noon
- Jim DeCesare - Weekdays from Noon-3pm
- Chuck Clark - Weeknights from 3pm-7pm
[edit] Morning News Staff
- Todd Marino - Weekday morning news updates
- Jack Benedict - Weekday morning sports updates
[edit] Off-Air Management
- Mark Bertig - Vice President and General Manager
- Jason Hill - General Sales Manager
- Jim DeCesare - Program Director
- Lori LeBlanc - Business Manager
- Travis Williams - Traffic Director
- Todd Marino - Production Director
- Keith Reiter - Assistant Traffic Director
[edit] External links
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WLCY
- Radio-Locator information on WLCY
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WLCY
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