WQTW

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WQTW
Broadcast area	Latrobe, Pennsylvania / Pittsburgh
Branding	"AM 16Q"
First air date	1952
Frequency	1570 kHz
Format	Simulcast of WLSW-FM, oldies, ethnic
ERP	1000 watts (Daytime), 220 watts (Night)
Owner	L. Stanley Wall (dba The Wall Group)
Website	http://www.musicpower104.com/

WQTW is an American radio station, licensed to the city of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. WQTW operates at 1570 kHz with a maximum power of 1,000 watts day, 220 watts night. The station is owned by L. Stanley Wall, who also owns and operates WLSW-FM in Connellsville (licensed to Scottdale), Pennsylvania.

Contents 1 History: First in Latrobe 2 Down in Flames 3 WQTW Returns 4 WQTW Today

[edit] History: First in Latrobe

WQTW first signed on the air in 1952, making it the second AM station to come on the air in Westmoreland County, as WHJB (now WKHB) had been the first in 1938. WHJB at that time, operated at a lower power and also did not come in clearly in this eastern portion of the county, primarily because of the hilly terrain. Thus, eastern Westmoreland county and parts of southern Indiana county did not have local radio service up to that point.

WQTW received its first local electronic competitor in the shape of another AM station, WCNS-AM, which was located across town. WCNS made its debut in 1956. However, the two stations (which were both daytime-only operations) were able to co-exist peacefully for many years, as Latrobe's then-lucrative steel industry and Rolling Rock brewery provided a steady stream of jobs and tax revenue for the local community.

[edit] Down in Flames

WQTW experienced a major setback in 1983, when its studios and offices were destroyed in a fire, leaving the station dark for a period of nine months. Adding insult to injury was the fact that WCNS had been granted nighttime power authorization and was building its new tower site during the time of WQTW's silence. The upgrade also presented the opportunity for the station to further entrench itself as a reliable radio service, being the only station in town for a time.

Insiders involved with WQTW prior to the fire had said that WQTW never fully recovered from this setback. The license and tower, being all that was left from the station, were then advertised for sale. Stan Wall, owner of WLSW-FM, 15 miles south of Latrobe, purchased the remains of the station for $66,000 in April 1984.

[edit] WQTW Returns

Upon purchasing the station, Wall acted fast to return WQTW to the air, as time was limited in order to avoid forfeiture of the license. As he did with WLSW in 1971, Wall purchased a double-wide mobile home and parked it at WQTW's transmitter site on George Street in Derry Township, on the outskirts of Latrobe. The structure was outfitted with studio equipment and re-sided and repaneled for the proper soundproofing, then put back on the air less than six months later with a full-service format of middle-of-the road and oldies music, with polka music on the weekends.

Still a daytime-only operation, WQTW did manage to effectively compete with WCNS. A construction permit was granted for the station in 1989 to move down the dial to 880 AM (still daytime-only), but that permit was abandoned the following year when the station was granted nighttime power of 220 watts.

The decision was also made in 1990 to begin simulcasting WLSW full-time over WQTW. Specialty programs of high school football, weekend oldies and polka programming remained independent of WLSW.

[edit] WQTW Today

WQTW still remains a simulcast outlet of WLSW. With the simulcast came more full-service elements of programming to effectively serve an AM audience without forsaking its existing FM listener base. The simulcast benefited WLSW with better coverage north and east of Latrobe, which the FM signal had difficulty reaching on its own.

Since 1990, Wall has leased WQTW twice to other operators through time-brokerage agreements, though the formats they adopted didn't stay around for very long. Wall has also refused offers to sell WQTW to other prospective operators, who have also offered to buy WLSW.

WQTW's specialty weekend programming and high school sports broadcasts remain today.