View source for WPKC-FM

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Short description|Radio station in Sanford, Maine}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2009}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name             = WPKC-FM
| logo             =
| caption          =
| city             = [[Sanford, Maine]]
| country          = US
| area             = [[Portland, Maine]]; [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire]]
| branding         = ''K-Love''
| frequency        = 92.1 [[MHz]]
| repeater         =
| airdate          = {{start date and age|1975|10|10}}<ref name=by1999>{{cite book|title=Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999|year=1999|page=D-201|url=http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1999/D-Radio-AL-NE-BC-YB-1999..pdf|access-date=March 10, 2015}}</ref>
| format           = [[Contemporary Christian]]
| erp              = 1,800 [[watt]]s
| haat             = {{convert|156|m|ft|sp=us}}
| class            = A
| facility_id      = 74067
| licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
| coordinates      = {{coord|43|25|11.3|N|70|48|7.2|W|region:US-ME_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| callsign_meaning =
| former_callsigns = {{ubl|WSME-FM (1974–1983)|WEBI (1983–1986)|WCDQ (1986–1999)|WPHX-FM (1999–2011)|WXEX-FM (2011–2023)}}
| affiliations     =
| network          = [[K-Love]]
| owner            = [[Educational Media Foundation]]
| licensee         =
| sister_stations  = [[WARX]], [[WMSJ]], [[WNHI]], [[WPKC (AM)|WPKC]]
| webcast          = {{listenlive|https://listen.klove.com}}
| website          = {{URL|https://www.klove.com}}
}}
'''WPKC-FM''' (92.1 [[FM broadcasting|FM]]) is a [[radio station]] licensed to [[Sanford, Maine]], United States. The station serves the [[Southern Maine Coast]] and the [[Seacoast Region (New Hampshire)|Seacoast Region]] of [[New Hampshire]] with a [[contemporary Christian music]] format, supplied by the [[K-Love]] network. WPKC-FM is owned by the [[Educational Media Foundation]] and simulcasts with [[WPKC (AM)|WPKC]] (1540 [[AM broadcasting|AM]]) from [[Exeter, NH|Exeter]].
==History==
The station originally went on the air October 10, 1975,<ref name=by1999/> as WSME-FM, with an automated [[Drake-Chenault]] [[adult contemporary]]/[[oldies]] hybrid format. The [[call sign]] was changed to WEBI on April 23, 1983, and to WCDQ on September 1, 1986.<ref name="fcc-callsigns">{{cite web |title=Call Sign History (WPKC-FM) |url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=74067&Callsign=WPKC-FM |website=CDBS Public Access |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]] |access-date=July 31, 2023}}</ref>
WCDQ was well known for its on-air staff, as well as creative programming. One such program was "Dead Tracks", an all-[[Grateful Dead]] program broadcast on Thursday nights at 10{{nbsp}}p.m. Another program was "Blue Monday", featuring all [[blues music]] hosted by "The First Lady of Mt. Rialto" Sharon Small. Two other groundbreaking programs were "Mt. Rialto Redemption", a [[reggae music]] show, and "Local Chords", an opportunity for local, unsigned bands to get their material played on the radio. It was hosted by Steve Biron, who also did afternoons. The show would later be hosted by Pete Casper "The Friendly DJ".
WCDQ claimed that it broadcast from "The Summit of Mt. Rialto", a reference to the common name for movie theaters, popular in the 1930s through the 1950s. It was sometimes called Mt. Rialto Radio. Another fictional locale often referenced by the station was "The Elegante Ballroom", a cavernous hall from which the station's lunch time show was supposedly broadcast. The ruse of the station's broadcast locale was so well done (complete with summit ski and weather reports) that occasionally students from the [[University of New Hampshire]] would travel to Sanford with the intent of hiking the non-existent mountain.
WCDQ heralded the weekend's arrival every Friday at 5{{nbsp}}p.m. by playing "Switchin' To Glide" by [[The Kings]].
The secondary tag line for the radio station was "The Theater of the Mind". This was based on the fact that WCDQ produced its own original radio plays, similar to "The Shadow" and "The Lone Ranger" radio shows from the 1930s and 1940s, before televisions were a common household item. WCDQ staff wrote original plays, together with original music, and performed them on the air. Radio plays included a Christmas story entitled "The Miracle of Mt. Rialto", a 1950s high school drama called "Young Lust", and a soap opera-style story called "The Web of Fate".
[[File:WXEX-AM & WXEX-FM logo.png|thumb|200px|Logo used from August 11, 2011, through August 20, 2015]]
WCDQ was owned by Donald Crown, who sold the station to [[Phoenix Media/Communications Group]]. It became WPHX-FM and began simulcasting [[WFNX (101.7 FM)|WFNX]], from the [[Boston, Massachusetts]], radio market in the summer of 1999. Phoenix Media/Communications Group announced a sale of the station to Aruba Capital Holdings, licensee of [[WPKC (AM)|WXEX]] in [[Exeter, New Hampshire]], in May 2011.<ref name=ri-saletoach>{{cite news|title=The Boston Phoenix regional network is about to shrink|url=http://www.radio-info.com/news/the-boston-phoenix-regional-network-is-about-to-shrink--2|access-date=May 9, 2011|newspaper=Radio-Info.com|date=May 9, 2011}}</ref> On August 11, 2011, Aruba Capital Holdings relaunched the station as WXEX-FM, a simulcast of the oldies/[[classic hits]] programming of WXEX.<ref name="so-wxexfm">{{cite news |last1=Sanborn |first1=Aaron |title=Exeter radio station WXEX moving to FM |url=http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20110824/NEWS/110829861 |access-date=September 4, 2018 |work=[[The Portsmouth Herald|seacoastonline.com]] |date=August 24, 2011 |language=en}}</ref>
On April 14, 2015, Port Broadcasting LLC, owner of [[WWSF]] in Sanford, Maine, and [[WNBP]] in Newburyport, Massachusetts (and their respective FM translators), began operating WXEX and its AM simulcast partner in Exeter under a [[local marketing agreement]] (LMA).<ref>[http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/92707/port-broadcasting-to-lma-wxex-amfm/ Port Broadcasting To LMA WXEX AM/FM] radioINSIGHT, April 14, 2015</ref> On August 20, 2015, WXEX-FM and its sister AM station shifted their format from classic hits to [[classic rock]], branded as "Classic Rock 92.1"; the move was made to distinguish WXEX from WWSF's oldies format.<ref>[https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/94177/wxex-shifts-to-classic-rock/ WXEX Shifts to Classic Rock]</ref> In 2015, a merger was proposed with Garrison City Broadcasting, owners of WBYY and WTSN, but never finalized.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/109397/aruba-capital-holdings-port-broadcasting-finally-merge/|title = Aruba Capital Holdings & Port Broadcasting Finally Merge}}</ref>  Effective January 31, 2017, Aruba Capital sold WXEX-FM, WXEX, and W246BP to LMA partner Port Broadcasting. In return, Aruba Capital received a 26.9 percent stake in Port Broadcasting, giving Aruba Capital principal Andrew Hartmann a controlling interest in the new licensee.
During [[Labor Day Weekend]] in 2018, WXEX-FM and WXEX [[Stunting (broadcasting)|stunted]] with a broadcast of the Drake-Chenault documentary ''[[The History of Rock and Roll]]''. On September 3, 2018, the stations changed to an oldies format, in effect reversing the 2015 format change.<ref name="ri-wxexoldies">{{cite news |last1=Venta |first1=Lance |title=WXEX Flips To Seacoast Oldies |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/170314/wxex-stunting-with-history-of-rock-roll/ |access-date=September 4, 2018 |work=RadioInsight |date=September 4, 2018}}</ref>
Port Broadcasting agreed to sell WXEX-FM, WXEX, and translators W246BP and W298CU to the [[Educational Media Foundation]] (EMF) for $690,000 in April 2023. EMF already operated [[Air1]] station [[WNHI]] in [[Farmington, New Hampshire]], with its [[K-Love]] network only available via stations in surrounding markets, including [[WMSJ]] in [[Portland, Maine]]; [[WAKC]] in [[Concord, New Hampshire]], and [[WNKC]] in [[Gloucester, Massachusetts]].<ref name="ri-saletoemf">{{cite news |last1=Venta |first1=Lance |title=EMF Acquires Seacoast Oldies WXEX/WXEX-FM |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/251078/emf-acquires-seacoast-oldies-wxex-wxex-fm/ |access-date=April 14, 2023 |work=RadioInsight |date=April 14, 2023}}</ref> Following the sale's completion on July 24, 2023,<ref name="ri-saletoemfcomplete">{{cite news |last1=Venta |first1=Lance |title=Seacoast Oldies Moves As EMF Sale Closes |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/255896/seacoast-oldies-moves-as-emf-sale-closes/ |access-date=July 27, 2023 |work=RadioInsight |date=July 26, 2023}}</ref> the "Seacoast Oldies" programming moved to WWSF on July 24, 2023,<ref name="wxex-wwsfseacoastoldies">{{cite web |title=Seacoast Oldies Changes |url=https://seacoastoldies.com/changes/ |website=Seacoast Oldies |access-date=July 14, 2023 |language=en |date=July 12, 2023}}</ref> and WXEX-FM joined K-Love;<ref name="ri-saletoemfcomplete"/> the station's call sign was changed to WPKC-FM the same day.<ref name="fcc-wxexfmtowpkcfm">{{cite web |last1=Reynolds |first1=Matt |title=Form 380 - Transfer/Assignment Request |url=https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/views/public/fmDraftCopy?displayType=html&appKey=25076f918947154a01894bbd165702d9&id=25076f918947154a01894bbd165702d9&goBack=N |website=Licensing and Management System |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]] |access-date=July 14, 2023 |date=July 14, 2023}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{FM station data|74067|WPKC-FM}}
{{Portland ME Radio}}
{{Religious Radio Stations in Maine}}
{{K-LOVE}}
[[Category:Christian radio stations in Maine|PKC-FM]]
[[Category:Contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Sanford, Maine]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1976]]
[[Category:1976 establishments in Maine]]
[[Category:K-Love radio stations]]
[[Category:Educational Media Foundation radio stations]]