City Marysville, Ohio Branding True Oldies 1270 Frequency 1270 kHz | Broadcast area Columbus, Ohio Slogan Ohio's Greatest Hits Translator(s) W283AJ 98.7 Marysville | |
WQTT (1270 AM) — branded True Oldies QT 1270 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Marysville, Ohio. The station primarily serves the Union County region, with limited coverage in the Columbus market. The station is under ownership of Brent Casagrande through licensee Delmar Communications, Inc, and features a locally-programmed oldies format. WQTT launched a FM translator on October 29, 2016. It broadcasts from north of town on state route 4, 250 watts, at 98.7FM.
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Early history
WQTT signed on in 1984 as WUCO with a country music format, switching to oldies in 1991 and adult contemporary in the late 1990s. It was previously owned by Frontier Broadcasting, based in the Columbus suburb of Westerville, and was founded by Bart Johnson, the son of the late farm broadcaster Ed Johnson. WPTW in Piqua was also owned by Frontier Broadcasting (now owned by Miami Valley Radio LLC). It switched again to a classic country format in 2003 before the station was sold to the newer owners in 2005. Afterward, Bart Johnson and former ABN Radio farm director Dale Minyo formed Ohio Ag-Net under the umbrella of Agri Communicators Inc., the former parent company of ABN.
When WUCO moved its studios to Columbus in July 2007 as part of St. Gabriel Radio, Gene Kirby, a community-minded local citizen, stepped up to help fill the void for local community radio when he started up WMHO, a micropower AM broadcaster at 1620 kHz. This Part 15-compliant broadcast first aired classic country and later an oldies format. WMHO was on the air until the summer of 2011 until its tower was irreparably damaged by a lightning strike.
St. Gabriel Radio is currently heard on WVKO (AM) 1580 kHz in Columbus via a lease agreement with owner Bernard Ohio LLC. St. Gabriel Radio originally intended to purchase WVKO before the current WOSU (AM) 820 in Columbus was put up for sale. As such, St. Gabriel purchased the more powerful AM outlet from Ohio State University.
St. Gabriel Radio
(Named for the Archangel Gabriel who is the patron saint of communication workers worldwide.)
Beginning in 1998 St. Gabriel Radio Inc. was formed and eventually purchased WUCO in August 2005 and was airing Catholic programming..mostly the programming schedule of EWTN Radio up until the sale to ICS Holdings. The move to Columbus (and the leasing of WVKO) enabled St. Gabriel Radio to expand its reach into the Columbus market and its volunteer base.
St. Gabriel Radio formerly operated WVKO 1580 AM in Columbus, which it started programming in December 2008 and WQTT was later sold to its present owner. The St. Gabriel programming was also near-simulcast on FM via WFOT 89.5 mHz, which is licensed to Lexington, serving the Mansfield area. WFOT first signed on in February 2007. WFOT is now a repeater of Annunciation Radio (based at WNOC) from its main studio in Toledo.
St. Gabriel Radio has been heard on WVSG (the former WOSU (AM)) 820 kHz since December 2011.
True Oldies Channel
WQTT was sold to ICS Holdings Inc. in January 2010, also then the owner of WDLR 1550 AM in Delaware. Up to that point, WQTT was airing The True Oldies Channel, a satellite-feed service of Citadel Media which was formerly ABC Radio Networks.
The sale of the station was approved in late 2010 by the FCC, with the call sign officially switching from the former WUCO to WQTT which was approved by the FCC in September 2011. After the sale, ICS Holdings became ICS Communications (its new licensee). Until the call letter change beforehand took effect the "1270 WUCO Marysville" top of the hour legal ID was still in use until September 29, when the call letters officially changed to WQTT. Its studios and offices were briefly located in the Journal-Tribune building in downtown Marysville while its transmitter and directional towers remain located on U.S. Route 36 east of town.
In the summer of 2010, the former WUCO briefly aired Spanish language programming, although the WQTT website (at first using the WDLR domain and URL) did not initially reflect this change. 1270 changed back to The True Oldies Channel in December 2010.
In August 2011 Gene Kirby, a Marysville resident, became operations manager of the station. WQTT's studios and offices now are located at 113 South Main Street in downtown Marysville. Kirby also manages WRPO-LP in Russells Point on behalf of its owner, the Village of Russells Point (under the moniker of Gray Fox Broadcasting) which helps acquire funding for the station through local underwriting and donations.
In the summer of 2011, Gene Kirby officially shut down WMHO Micropower Radio following an irreparable lightning strike to its transmitter.
ICS Holdings sold WQTT, along with WDLR and WVXG, to Delmar Communications, Inc. effective December 30, 2014. The price for the transaction was $250,000.
The WQTT website's URL and domain is qt1270.com.