City Du Quoin, Illinois Slogan The Big 1580 AM WDQN First air date 1953 (1953) | Broadcast area Perry County, Illinois Frequency 1580 KHz Format Country music | |
WDQN (1580 AM) is a radio station based in Du Quoin, Illinois. It is owned and operated by the Du Quoin Broadcasting Company. It operates at 1580 kHz at 170 watts.
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History
WDQN began as WAVA of the Ava Broadcasting Company and was based out of Ava, Illinois. The station was moved to Du Quoin in 1953 and began transmitting from north of Du Quoin in St. Johns. The station then changed its call letters to WDQN of the DuQuoin Broadcasting Company. Their first studio was in Du Quoin on the 2nd floor of the Riggio building at Main and Walnut Streets. Around 1959 they constructed their studio at the site of their tower, where they are still located today. The station signed on with a BC-GY250 radio transmitter that was manufactured by the Gates Radio Corporation of Quincy, Illinois in 1953. WDQN operated at a power of 250 watts during the day and a power of 10 watts at night. They remained at this power even after the deregulation of broadcast powers by the FCC. This power was used until the original transmitter was replaced in 2003, where the power was then reduced to 170 watts and 6.6 watts. WDQN began simulcasting with WDQN-FM in 1969. This continued until WDQN-FM was sold to The Three Angels Broadcasting Co. of West Frankfort, Illinois in 2003-2004. The original tower was constructed to a height of about 173 feet, but was then added on to in 1988 to take the height to 311 feet. WDQN played a format of easy listening music, now referred to as adult contemporary.
Programming
For several years WDQN was known as "You favorite music mix" broadcasting a mix of pop and country. However, in 2008, the station began broadcasting solely as a country music station. They broadcast ABC radio news at the top of every hour, and have their own local news updates during the day. WDQN broadcasts NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing from the Motor Racing Network and Performance Racing Network, University of Illinois football and basketball, and began broadcasting Chicago Cubs baseball in 2008 from WGN Radio.