WQUN

History

WQUN began its life as WDEE. The WDEE call letters were assigned in 1959, and the license to broadcast was awarded in 1960. There was also a license to build an FM sister station, to be known as WDEE-FM. But delays in building both stations ensued, and neither station could get on the air for several years. When WDEE finally began to broadcast, in mid-1962, it had 1000 watts of power and was only allowed to operate from sunrise to sunset. By 1965 it had become one of the principal Top-40 rockers in the New Haven area. In the early hours of the morning of January 21, 1965 a fire broke out that destroyed the station's studios at 473 Denslow Hill Road in Hamden. The AM station returned to the air within a week, in new premises. But the FM station was unable to return to the air. WDEE-FM remained dark for more than fourteen months, at which time it was sold to new owners, New Haven-based Kops Communication. WDEE-AM's ownership did not change at that time. However, WDEE-AM was sold in June 1967, to Noel Coté, Frank Delfino, and Ted Quale, the owners of Bridgeport radio station, WICC.

The station changed format about 1968 from Top-40 to "Middle of the Road" (now "Adult Contemporary"). With the change in ownership came a change in format, and an accompanying change in call letters: the new call letters were WCDQ, the initials of the station's new owners Cote, Delfino & Quayle. As WCDQ the station switched to a country music format in the early '70s, then to oldies before returning to its roots by the mid-1970s as a Top 40 station. Among the features of the mid-'70s "1220 'CDQ" remembered fondly by many listeners was "Ken Jordan's Jukebox." Hosted by Ken Berger (on-air name of Ken Jordan), the show featured doo-wop and pre-Beatles rock and roll on Sunday afternoons until station closing at sundown. Other DJs during this era were Jerry Kristafer, Ken DeVoe and Jay McCormick.

In 1978, Robert Herpe, owner of WPLR-FM in New Haven, purchased the station and adopted a format targeted specifically to women. Changing the call letters to WOMN, the new format debuted on August 28, 1978, calling itself "WOMAN Radio." Although it gained national attention, the new format failed, as it was unable to attract enough advertiser support. Scarcely more than a year after its debut, WOMN dropped the all-woman orientation and switched to a Top-40 format in September 1979, dropping all on-air references to WOMAN radio by February 1980. Later in 1980 the station changed to Album Oriented Rock, seeking to ride the coattails of its sister FM station WPLR by calling itself "PLR2" on air.

The early 1980s saw another call letter switch, to WSCR, "Suburban Country Radio", in recognition of a new country format. In 1986 Pete Salant bought the station and changed it back to oldies as WNNR, "Winner Radio." Within months Hartford's WDRC-FM shifted to oldies and forced Hamden's 1220 AM into its next incarnation about 1987, as WXCT ("Exciting 'XCT") with a locally produced Adult Contemporary format. In 1988 or '89, the station changed format to the Business Radio Network (now the Business Talk Radio Network). About the Spring of 1991 WXCT changed to all Spanish-language programming.

In September 1996, Quinnipiac College acquired the Spanish language WXCT. The station closed down as the college relocated the station's studios and offices to new facilities at 560 New Road in Hamden. The transmitter site remains at Denslow Hill Road.

On February 7, 1997, following five months of silence as construction proceeded, WQUN signed on the air at 6 p.m. with the Music Of Your Life network.

Currently WQUN airs the standards format America's Best Music from Westwood One, formerly Dial Global.