| City of license | Englewood, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Dayton, Ohio |
| Branding | 94.5 LITE FM |
| Frequency | 94.5 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| Format | Soft Adult Contemporary |
| ERP | 3,600 watts |
| HAAT | 130 meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 55501 |
| Former callsigns | WZJX (1992-1994) WDOL (1994-1996) WBTT (1996-2000) WDKF (2000-2011) |
| Owner | Citicasters Licenses, L.P. |
| Sister stations | WDKF, WDSJ, WMMX, WONE, WTUE, WXEG |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 945litefm.com |
WLQT (94.5 FM, "94.5 LITE FM") is a radio station broadcasting a Soft Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to Englewood, Ohio, USA, the station serves the Dayton area. The station is currently owned by Citicasters Licenses, L.P.[1][2]
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WLQT was originally given the call sign WKET in 1962 airing classical music from a basement studio at the former Hills and Dales Shopping Center. The station failed to attract a sizable listening audience (AM was the dominant band at that time) and was later sold to the University of Dayton in 1964 and changed the call letters to WVUD (for the "Voice of the University of Dayton").
In the 1970's WVUD became Dayton's first album oriented rock station, providing an alternative to Top 40-formatted WING. The station leveraged a 50,000-watt transmitter and a 500-foot tower (situated on Stuart Hill, the highest point on the university's campus) allowing the station's signal to reach well into eastern Indiana and northern Kentucky, gaining a wide and extremely loyal listening audience in the tri-state area. While the station's management, programmers and sales staff were all seasoned radio professionals, the air staff consisted solely of University of Dayton students. From the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, WVUD's General Manager was University of Dayton Communication Arts Department Chairman George Biersack. Biersack hired former WVUD staffer and UD grad Chris Cage (Caggiano) from WING-AM as the station's Program Director and Biersack's marching orders for Cage were to "grab the 18 to 34 year olds" but to "avoid that WING sound". Cage's Music Director was Kevin Carroll, who went on to work for several major record labels. Cage was succeeded by Geoff Vargo, and Carroll was replaced by Dan Covey, who later landed at WING.
In its heyday (the mid-to-late 1970s), WVUD-FM competed with WTUE-FM for dominance of the Dayton market. Utilizing a strategy of first-to-market "breaking" of new songs, a vast collection of record albums, and a lengthy song-rotation schedule (to keep the sound "fresh"), the station competed on its diversity of music and the disc jockeys' knowledge of artists and bands. The station enjoyed stature and cache sufficient that touring major rock acts, such as Jackson Browne, Shawn Phillips, and Billy Joel, were interviewed live in-studio. Students staffed on-air slots and handled news and sports programming content as well. Over the years, WVUD air personalities such as Steve Wendell, Dan Covey, Art Farkas, Alan McConnell, Dan Pugh (later known as Dan Patrick), Bill Andres, Bill Pugh, "Dolby" Joe Reiling, Steve Downes, Lou Chelekis, Rich Weiser (The Weezer), Patty Spittler, Michael Luczak, Mary Kuzan, Steve Kerrigan, Jim Tobin (Yost), Keith Wright, Sandy Huff, Dave McGuire (Vadnais), Jim Biggins, Joe Rittman, Dan Ross, and Mark Zona competed successfully with much more experienced radio pros in the Dayton market. After graduation, many WVUD "alumni" went on to attain significant professional career success in radio nationwide.
On April 1, 1977, the station spoofed listeners, claiming it had, overnight, changed formats to big-band 1940s music. Complaints to station management from loyal, if disgruntled, listeners were counted into the hundreds. So convincing was the transformation, that many did not realize it was an "April Fool's" joke. To listeners' delight, normal operations resumed the next day.
One of WVUD listeners' favorite programs was Wax Museum, where a complete rock album was played from beginning to end without interruption. DJs hosting "Wax" encouraged listeners to record the album off-air and even provided calibration tones ("set your recording levels to minus three db") and signals to begin and pause recording. (The signal was a guitar strum taken from the Yes song "Roundabout".) Popular station jingles included "It's a real nice way to spend a day in Dayton, Ohio" (from Randy Newman) and "Turn on your radio, listen to my song" (from Harry Nilssen).
In addition, the station aired a popular talk program for young married couples called Christian Marriage, moderated by Father Norbert Burns, a popular long-time University of Dayton instructor and professor, now retired. Also, at least through 1982, the station provided Saturday and Sunday morning air time to ethnic music: "Music of Hungary" (with Al Kertez) and "Music of India" (with Parmada Singh Sihoda) were aired for years.
In 1976, WTUE (then owned by Group One Broadcasting) abandoned its Top 40 format in favor of an album-oriented format in order to compete directly with WVUD. Eventually, as the 1980s dawned, WTUE started to win the ratings war (in large part by hiring former WVUD air talent as they graduated and were no longer eligible to work for the university-owned station). In 1982, in an effort to boost lost ratings, WVUD switched to a "Contemporary Hit" format and the "AOR era" at the station was over. While loyal listeners and station personnel mourned the loss, the station continued to garner respectable (though not overwhelming) ratings into the latter part of the 1980s. The university sold WVUD-FM in 1992, and the WVUD call letters were subsequently adopted by another college radio station in Delaware (The University of Delaware).
WVUD was eventually sold by UD in 1992 becoming WLQT (Lite 100) after a brief stint as a contemporary hit station before competitor WGTZ-FM(Z-93) emerged in 1985. It changed its name to Lite 99.9 in 1993 under the direction of programmer Scott Barrett. WLQT subsequently became part of the Jacor Dayton cluster (later merging with Clear Channel.) Aside from its light rock and HD oldies frequency, WLQT has aired Christmas music every year during the holidays since 1993. Jacor Regional Programmer Vance Dillard was one of the first to believe in 24/7 Christmas music. WLQT was one of the first stations in the country to take this programming risk, and proved that the format is a ratings-winner.
99.9 LITE FM takes great pride in serving the public interests of the Miami Valley of Ohio area, and was awarded the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Crystal Award for Excellence in Public Service in 2002. Over 13,000 stations are eligible for the distinction, and only 10 station per year are awarded at the NAB Radio Show conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dayton's Kim Faris became the morning show host of LITE 99.9, (94.5 LITE FM as it's currently called now), in June 2007. As of May 2011, Mike Perry handles afternoons, and Ryan Phillips on the weekends and fill-in as needed. 94.5 LITE FM is also an affiliate of Delilah Rene, which is on Sunday - Friday evenings from 7 - 12 midnight.
On Oct. 5 2009, LITE 99.9 changed its positioner to 99.9 LITE FM.
WLQT-FM along with WTUE-FM, WMMX-FM (MIX 1077) and WONE (AM) now make up a major portion of the Clear Channel Dayton cluster.
WLQT also offers a modern adult contemporary format on its HD subcarrier as well as an audiostream on the station's website.
The University of Dayton now has a newer student-ran station: "Flyer Radio" (originated by WUDR at 98.1 and simulcast on a repeater at 99.5).
The WVUD call sign is now assigned to a station at the University of Delaware.[3]
The original WKET calls are now used at 98.3 FM in Kettering.[4]
On May 24, 2011, Clear Channel announced that Top 40/CHR sister station WDKF would swap signals with WLQT, thus giving the former more signal coverage in the Dayton area.[5] With the change, the station shifted its adult contemporary format to that of a gold based approach similar to that of Warm 98 in Cincinnati in the first half of 2011.
(WLQT's logo under previous 99.9 frequency)
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