City Westerly, Rhode Island First air date July 1, 1949 | Branding "Stereo 1230 WBLQ" | |
Broadcast area Southern Rhode Island, Southeastern Connecticut Slogan "Local News, Local People" Frequency 1230 kHz in C-QUAM A.M. Stereo. | ||
WBLQ (1230 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Westerly, Rhode Island. The station is owned by Diponti Communications.
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1949
The station, then called WERI, began broadcasting on 1230kc. on July 1, 1949 using Day/Night power of 250 watts, non-directional. The station still uses its original 185-foot, Blaw-Knox, self-supporting tower, on Margin Street, beside the Pawcatuck River.
1960s
The FCC increases the Daytime power of all Class IV AM stations to 1,000 watts. WERI still has to reduce power to 250 watts at night, as did all other stations on the same frequency.
1966
WERI adds F.M. service with WERI-FM/103.7 (Channel 279) (today's WVEI-FM). The FM antenna is initially mounted to the side of the AM tower on Margin Street in downtown Westerly. The FM station broadcasts for only a few days from this location before it is shut-down due to harmonic interference to TV channel 12.
1968
WERI-FM moves its transmitter to a new location on Route 3 in Ashaway, and begins regular broadcasting.
1970s
The FCC increases the Nighttime power of all Class IV stations from 250 to 1,000 watts, including WERI.
1980s
WERI-FM moves its transmitter closer to Providence, changes callsign to "WWRX", and effectively becomes a Providence station.
1990s
WERI-FM (WWRX) is sold to an independent owner from the AM station (WERI).
1999
In a separate transaction, WERI was sold, and the callsign was changed to WXNI on January 4. As WXNI It aired a format of news and talk from National Public Radio.
2007
In December an agreement was reached to sell WXNI to Diponti Communications for a reported $350,000.
2009
Diponti Communications moved the local news and variety programming of WBLQ-LP (96.7 FM, Ashaway, Rhode Island) to WXNI's more powerful AM signal. WXNI begins broadcasting in C-QUAM A.M. Stereo. WXNI changes call letters to WBLQ November 29.