Branding "Z95.1" | First air date October 1954 | |
City Charlottesville, Virginia Broadcast area Charlottesville, Virginia
Albemarle County, Virginia Slogan "Today’s Variety – Picks You Up!" Frequency 95.1 MHz (also on HD Radio) | ||
WQMZ is an Adult Contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. WQMZ is owned and operated by Saga Communications.
History
Charlottesville Broadcasting Corporation signed on WINA-FM as the city's first FM radio station in October 1954. The station began on 95.3 MHz and was a 24-hour relay of co-owned WINA's full service programming and middle-of-the-road music.
In the late 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission began scrutinizing the practice of a co-owned AM-FM pair broadcasting a common programming day. In 1964, such simulcasting was limited to half of the broadcast day. WINA-FM was initially exempt because the rule only applied to markets with a population of over 100,000. However, when Charlottesville Broadcasting was sold to new owner Laurence G. Richardson in 1969, the FCC made adherence to the programming separation rule a condition of the sale.
Accordingly, on March 15, 1971, the station flipped to a new format broadly described as light adult contemporary. At the time, this was closer to what is now considered easy listening: soft pop music, standards, show tunes, and an evening block of light music. This was followed in May by a callsign change to WQMC. Simulcasting with WINA continued during morning drive until 1984.
The station adoped the current WQMZ callsign in December 1987, and moved to 95.1 MHz in order to proceed with a power upgrade the following year.
WQMZ is currently owned by Saga Communications. Saga purchased WQMZ, WINA and WWWV from Eure Communications, which merged with Charlottesville Broadcasting in 1998.