Broadcast area Western North Carolina Frequency 88.1 MHz Format Classical music Branding The Mountain Air Network | First air date Early 1980s City of license Asheville Area Western North Carolina Sister stations WYQS | |
 | ||
Slogan "NPR news, classical music & more" Power 1600 watts (WCQS)
265 watts (WFQS)
49 watts (WMQS) HAAT 356 meters (WCQS)
702 meters (WFQS)
196 meters (WMQS) Facility ID 71923 (WCQS)
71880 (WFQS)
173770 (WMQS) Owner Western North Carolina Public Radio | ||
WCQS (88.1 FM) is the flagship National Public Radio member station for Asheville, North Carolina and Western North Carolina. The station is currently owned by Western North Carolina Public Radio.
Contents
History
WCQS began in the early 1980s as WUNF-FM, a 10 Watt station later upgraded to 110-watt station operated by the University of North Carolina at Asheville from the Lipinski Student Center. Western North Carolina Public Radio bought the station in 1984, changed the calls to WCQS, and immediately secured a membership agreement with NPR. While most of the station's coverage area was served by South Carolina Educational Radio's Upstate outlet, WEPR in Greenville, WNCPR wanted to build a station that would be tailored to the area's interests.
Eventually, the station increased its power to 1,600 watts, still a fairly modest level for a full NPR member on the FM band. This may be due to the need to protect WRVL in Lynchburg, Virginia, located at adjacent 88.3. As a result, even though its transmitter is located 3,609 feet (1,100 m) above sea level, its coverage area is effectively limited to Asheville and its close-in suburbs in Buncombe, Haywood and Henderson counties.
In 2005, WNCPRI bought WVMH, a radio station operated by Mars Hill College, and changed its calls to WYQS. Originally a straight simulcast of WCQS, it broke off in 2008 and now airs the BBC World Service full-time. WYQS operates at only 100 watts, but is available on WCQS' HD subcarrier.
In the summer of 2010, Jody Evans joined WCQS as executive director, replacing Ed Subkis, who held the job for 18 years. She wanted WCQS to become a source for news and information, and she planned on more area news coverage and working with other news media. Other than that, no major changes were planned. One joint project was live broadcasts from Brevard Music Center, which would use the resources of WDAV in the Charlotte area.
Evans said in February 2011 that WCQS would have more emphasis on local news, and that David Hurand's evening shows "Byline", "Conversations", and "Evening Rounds" would be dropped. Hurand was adding local news reports during the more popular shows Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Competition from television was one reason for the change. New national shows being added included Marketplace and The Splendid Table.
On March 24, 2013, WCQS added WMQS at 88.5 FM, to serve the Murphy area.
Translators
WCQS operates two full-powered satellites, WFQS in Franklin, at 91.3 FM and WMQS in Murphy at 88.5 FM, as well as nine low-powered translators to serve its vast and mountainous coverage area. Together, the stations are known as "The Mountain Air Network."
The Bryson City and Highlands translators are nominally repeaters of WFQS. However, WFQS is a straight simulcast of WCQS.
On March 6, 2017, an Asheville translator W300CR at 107.9 will begin broadcasting some WCQS but also NPR or other programming not heard on WCQS or reruns of NPR programs run early. The transloator will also air local community-oriented programs.