Branding QWiK Rock 105.9 First air date 1989 (as WPHB-FM) | Frequency 105.9 MHz | |
Slogan Lion Country's Rock Station | ||
WQCK (105.9 FM) is an active rock radio station broadcasting in State College, Pennsylvania. It is known as QWIK Rock. The station, owned by Magnum Broadcasting of State College, was founded by brothers C. Dean & Sheldon Sharpless, doing business as Moshannon Valley Broadcasting. Its current incarnation was formed after WQWK abandoned its Active Rock format for talk radio in 2008. WQCK's tower is located in Sandy Ridge, south of Philipsburg.
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Early years: as WPHB-FM
This station was originally known as WPHB-FM, first signing on the air in 1989 from the studios of its co-owned AM station with the same call letters. Both stations simulcast a classic country music format for approximately half of the broadcast day, with break-aways during the daytime hours for WPHB (AM)'s more Christian-based programming.
The Sharpless family sold both stations in 1996 to local residents Cliff and Laura Mack, who changed the format of the FM station to modern rock. The station also adopted the new call letters WUBZ-FM and the "105.9 The Buzz" moniker. In 1999 they moved their tower to provide a city-grade signal in State College. WPHB and WUBZ were then sold a few years later to Magnum Broadcasting, which moved WUBZ's studios to State College. WPHB, which was more of a local station serving Philipsburg and the Moshannon Valley almost exclusively, stayed in Philipsburg, where it remains today.
In 2006 WUBZ-FM changed their call letters to WJOW and switched to a HOT country format branded as "Joe FM". Magnum Broadcasting's previously titled "106.9 The Surge" station, which broadcast to Renovo and Lock Haven, changed in February 2007, to simulcast Joe FM as well. Another change is that Joe-FM has started to mix in more Southern and classic rock hits with the country music to differentiate themselves from their main competitor in the State College area, Froggy 101. 105.9/106.9 Joe FM "Rock N' Country" was their motto.
On September 3, 2009 WJOW changed their format to active rock, branded as "QWiK Rock 105.9" under the WQCK call letters. The line-up featured Todd and Troy Craig in the Morning(Troy was the former PD form the defunct 103.1 QWK Rock), 6am - 10am, Drew Shannon 10am - 3pm, AJ 3pm - 7pm, Andy Robb 7pm - Midnight and Glennie B 12am - 6am
History of QWiK Rock
After leaving the marketplace when being shut down at 103.1 FM by Forever Broadcasting, Active Rock on a station known as Qwik Rock returned to the airwaves on September 3, 2009 at 5 pm on a frequency owned by Magnum Broadcasting Inc. The station seeks to recreate the sound of the original WQWK from years gone by and it even features some of the names and voices from QWK 103.1. The station broadcasts on 105.9 FM and 106.9 FM. The newly named Qwik Rock took the place of The Rock/Country Hybrid Joe Fm.
"Quick Radio" began circa 1969 as an underground/progressive rock station. The first sign that their format was about to change may have been toward the end of 1970, when they held a call-in contest entitled "Quick Radio Sells Out!"
In 1989, WQWK (then broadcasting on 96.7 FM with a CHR top 40 format) had a frequency switch to 97.1 FM. Shortly thereafter, the station format flipped to classic rock and the slogan changed to become "Lion Country's Home of Rock n' Roll". Today, classic rock is available with WBUS.
In 1993, then-WQWK owner TMZ Broadcasting acquired WIYQ (now WRKW) in Ebensburg from the Allegheny Mountain Network. TMZ drops WIYQ's satellite-delivered oldies format to simulcast WQWK's programming over WIYQ, which takes the call letters WQKK and the "Quick Rock" moniker.
In 2004, WQWK moved to 98.7 FM.
In 2006, WQWK moved to 103.1 FM, which was previously held by WBHV
When Forever Broadcasting took the station off-air in favor of Talk Radio the WQWK call letters were moved to Forever's ESPN 1450, most likely just in case they ever decided to resurrect the station at a later date, but Magnum decided they could relaunch the station without its heritage calls and so one month to the day after the station went silent, it was reborn in a new spot on the dial.
Alumni
John Lorinc, a former anchor/editor at CNN Radio worked at WQWK-FM during his senior year at Penn State University. Fellow former CNN Radio employee and PSU grad Andy Flick worked at sister station WRSC-FM at the same time. Other WQWK alums include Tom Regan and Karen, Jonas Hunter, Steve Biddle, Ed Wenck, Pat Urban, Paul Rokuskie, Pat Kain, Chris Prospero, Jim Moser, Jason Myrtetus, Jason "fish", Paul Alexander, Troy Craig, Jerry Valeri, Drew Kelly, Steve Noll, Jen Tiffany, J.B. Lynch, Dan Shoop ("Ijit"), Drew Shannon (Danuski), Alex Mac, Andy Robb, and Matt Reid (Torch).
Current owner, (Magnum Broadcasting, Inc.), Michael Stapleford, Owner / President; Diana Stapleford, General Manager.