KQIV (defunct)

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KQIV (also KQ4 and FM107) was a short-lived but popular progressive rock FM radio station in Lake Oswego, Oregon, that operated on 106.7 MHz. The station was owned and operated by Willamette Broadcasting Company, Inc. (Walter J. M. Kraus, President) and went on the air at midnight, September 15, 1972.

The original KQIV offices and studios were located at the Lake Oswego Elks Lodge. Members of this historically conservative organization frequently crossed paths with the station's hippie disc jockeys and creative people.[1]

The KQIV transmitter was located in Outlook, Oregon (between Oregon City and Carver). An American Electronic Laboratories FM-25KD transmitter fed 24 kW into a Jampro JSCP eight element antenna yielding an ERP of 100 kW.[1] The antenna was mounted on a 200-foot tower at an elevation of 800 feet.

Both the "Q" and "IV" in the station's call sign alluded to four-channel quadraphonic sound. Although KQIV was widely reported in the local press to be the second quadraphonic broadcast station in the world[2] and the first to be designed and built to be quadraphonic,[1] those reports were based on erroneous information. KQIV established its quadraphonic identity and "Rockin' in Quad" branding on its anticipation of being selected as the exclusive FM station in the Portland radio market to field test the Dorren Quadraplex System.

Early efforts to transmit discrete four-channel quadraphonic music required the use of two FM stations; one transmitting the front audio channels, the other the rear channels. A breakthrough came in 1970 when KIOI in San Francisco successfully transmitted true quadraphonic sound from a single station using the Quadraplex system under a temporary authorization from the FCC. Following this experiment, a long term test period was proposed that would permit one FM station in each of the top 25 U.S. radio markets to transmit in Quadraplex. The test results hopefully would prove to the FCC that the system was compatible with existing two-channel stereo transmission and reception and that it did not interfere with adjacent stations.

About a month before KQIV went on the air, the FCC suspended further testing of Quadraplex due to a concern that the system used a subcarrier component not permitted under its regulations.

KQIV continued to identify itself as a quadraphonic station in the hope that Quadraplex testing eventually would be permitted. Meanwhile, the station broadcast music from phonograph albums encoded in various matrix quadraphonic formats, as many FM stations did.

In 1974, operation of KQIV was turned over to Brotherhood Broadcasting Company (Roy Jay, President) which changed the station's music format to urban contemporary. In 1975, the KQIV offices and studios were moved to Milwaukie, Oregon. Financial difficulties led to the court-ordered liquidation of KQIV, which went off the air on June 18, 1976.[3]

Following the demise of KQIV, 106.7 MHz remained vacant in the Portland area for nearly 14 months. On August 1, 1977, Communico Northwest Corp. began operating KMJK (Magic 107) on the frequency with its studios and transmitter located in Portland.

In 1986, the FCC approved Dorren Quadraplex as the standard system for discrete quadraphonic transmission. By then, industry interest had faded.

[edit] References

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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008)
  1. ^ a b c "First In The Nation—New Station Not After 'Kicksy' Crowd", Enterprise Courier, November 24, 1972. Retrieved on 2008-03-24. 
  2. ^ LaNita Anderson. "New-Style Station Airs From Oswego", Oregon Journal, September 15, 1972. Retrieved on 2008-03-24. 
  3. ^ Francis Murphy. "KQIV-FM goes off air Friday", The Oregonian, June 18, 1976. Retrieved on 2008-03-24. 

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