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WDQX (branded as 102.3 Max FM) is an FM radio station, licensed to 102.3 MHz in Morton, Illinois near Peoria. It is owned by JMP Media, a part of Triad Broadcasting of California. The station has an 80's based classic rock format.
WDQX broadcasts from the JMP Media studio in the Civic Center Plaza, 331 Fulton Street in Peoria.
The station came on the air as WTAZ, broadcasting an oldies format with NBC features from a facility midway between Morton and Washington, Illinois in Tazewell County (hence WTAZ). Roy Demanes (the owner of the Ramada Inn, a bank and a pharmacy in Peoria, as well as an extensive pre-need burial program) worked with Penny Press Publisher (and former WEEK-TV anchorman) Bud Carter to put the station on the air.
As of the late 1970s, the two were partners in the newspaper previously mentioned (a Peoria based issues and entertainment oriented publication) and the radio station. Demanes exchanged his ownership in the paper for Carter's interest in the paper, then died of a heart attack a short time later.
The paper was purchased by another suburban weekly (the Observer), and Carter relocated to Atlanta where he now is Senior Chairman for the Atlanta operation of an international organization for CEOs (Vistage International).
Through most of the 1980s and 1990s, WTAZ had a talk format featuring personalities such as G. Gordon Liddy, Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, and Art Bell. In 1999, those shows and call letters were moved to AM, and 102.3 became WFXF-FM broadcasting Howard Stern in the morning, and rock music. In late 2000, Stern was dropped, and WFXF-FM played classic hits. The station eventually returned to classic rock, and became WDQX.
Notable air talent on WDQX: Charlie O'Day, Rick Atterberry, Bud Carter, Martin Mitchell, Patty Curtis, Jim Dynan, Charles Earley (now Chuck Collins of WMBD-TV Peoria), Dave Snell (of WMBD-TV and Radio), Ralph Snodsmith, Greg Batton, Derry Farber, Wayne R. Miller, and Cheryl Maddox-Miller.
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