WQFS
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| City of license | Greensboro, North Carolina |
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| Broadcast area | Triad |
| Branding | Your Only Alternative |
| Frequency | 90.9 MHz |
| Format | Variety |
| ERP | 1,900 watts |
| HAAT | 61.0 meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 68233 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 36°5′39.00″N 79°53′21.00″W / 36.09417°N 79.88917°W |
| Owner | Guilford College |
WQFS (90.9 FM) is Guilford College's student-run radio station, with both students and members of the community serving as disk jockeys.[1] Broadcasting in a variety format, it serves Greensboro, North Carolina and the greater Piedmont Triad area. WQFS is currently ranked number eleven in the Princeton Review's Best College Radio Stations.[2] The station has maintained a spot in the contest's top ten for seven consecutive years.[3] In October 2008, Greensboro News & Record's Go Triad also named WQFS as the Triad's Best College Radio Station.[4]
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[edit] History
The station started as a student club, The Fine Music Broadcasting Society, in 1965. Guilford obtained a license from the FCC on October 26, 1966 and, once it had the necessary equipment and funds, WQFS began a daily broadcast schedule on January 6, 1970, broadcasting in an adult contemporary or middle of the road format.[5] By its second year of operation, some disk jockeys began to play what a decade later would become known as college rock. Others would play hybrid programming, which could feature avant-garde jazz, contemporary classical, bluegrass, blues, and Musique concrète, sometimes all within the same program.
One early experiment involved celebrating the second anniversary of the Paul is dead hoax by playing not only Beatles, but other rock, and even classical records backwards, or using the station's two turntables to play a Beatles song forwards and backwards at the same time.
Like many college stations, WQFS currently features a wide variety of genres, all with a strong focus on independent music labels.[citation needed] The main format is indie rock. About one hundred DJs, half of them students, work at the station at any given time. Students also hold the management positions, which change frequently.
WQFS plays many local artists such as Low Sky, Resister, Decoration Ghost, Workday/Schoolnight and Andrew Weathers.
Long-running shows include David Butler's The Sunday Morning Rehab Show on Sunday morning, Wesley Elam’s "Flava Lab" (hip-hop on Thursday evenings, Chris Roulhac’s "North Carolina Show" on Wednesday afternoons, and Sherrill “Maddog” Ward’s "Friday Night Rock Party".
WQFS is currently ranked as the 11th best college radio station in the country by the Princeton Review. In the past the station has held spots as high as number 4.[6]
Currently, Kate Schwab serves as General Manager, Chelsea Emery and Mace Smith as Programming Manager, Daniel Raeder and Bonnie Hardie as Music Directors, Adam Katzman as Promotions Director and Yahya Alazrak, Martha Adams-Cooper, and Rachel Trontz as Production and News Managers.
[edit] Programming
Alphabetical listing of programs airing on WQFS as of September 2008, all independently produced and hosted by volunteer disc jockeys unless otherwise noted:
- Bits and Pieces Show with the Original Steve-O
- Buddy Ro Radio
- Carpe Diem
- Counter Folks
- Garden of Good and Evil
- Democracy Now! (produced by Democracy Now! and distributed by Pacifica Radio)
- DJ Props
- Flava Lab
- Friday Night Rock Party with Maddog
- J's Indie Rock Mayhem
- Let the Good Times Roll with Wild Bill
- Monkey Wrench Radio
- Paddy-Whacked Radio
- Radio Bravo
- Rock and Roll Study Hall
- Roots of Rock Show
- Stoner Serenade
- SubGenius Radio Ministries Hour of Slack (produced and distributed by the Church of the SubGenius)
- Sunday Morning Rehab Show
- Sunday Evening Sound
- The Mike Smith Cavalcade of Musical Enjoyment
- The Canadian Connection with Cool Breeze from North of the Border
- The Caravan with Chef Dave
- The North Carolina Show
- The Old Country Store
- Tom's Diner
- Uncle Bill's Basement
- Weekend Beach Party
- Weekend Warp Drive
- Worker's Playtime
- WQFS Blues Show
[edit] References
- ^ "WQFS Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=WQFS.
- ^ "Princeton Review's Best College Radio Stations". 2009 edition. http://www.princetonreview.com/login3.aspx?RDN=1&uidbadge=%07.
- ^ "WQFS Named Triad’s Best College Radio Station". http://www.guilford.edu/about_guilford/news_and_publications/releases/WQFS_TriadsBest08.html.
- ^ "Readers pick their favorites". http://www.gotriad.com/content/2008/10/15/article/readers_pick_their_favorites.
- ^ "WQFS About Us". http://www.guilford.edu/wqfs/aboutus.htm.
- ^ Puterbaugh, Parke (2010-12-16). "College radio stations are a hit". News & Record. http://gotriad.news-record.com/content/2010/12/15/article/city_s_college_radio_stations_are_a_hit. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
[edit] External links
- WQFS
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WQFS
- Radio-Locator information on WQFS
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WQFS
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