| City of license | Horseheads, NY |
|---|---|
| Branding | 820 Wheelz |
| Frequency | 820 (kHz) |
| First air date | 1966 |
| Format | Talk radio |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | WWheeLZ |
| Owner | Backyard Broadcasting |
| Sister stations | WNKI, WNGZ, WPGI, WRCE |
| Website | http://www.wwlzam820.com/ |
WWLZ (820 AM) is a radio station in the Elmira-Corning market in New York state. It is a talk radio station that airs MRN races and Elmira Jackals hockey.
The station signed on in 1966 as WIQT, broadcasting from studios on Hanover Square in Horseheads during daylight hours on 1000 kHz. It was the fifth station to sign on in Chemung County. It was a beautiful music station (extremely easy listening) in its early years.
WIQT served as the headquarters of a flood-emergency network during the Hurricane Agnes flood of June 22 and 23, 1972, under the direction of chief engineer C. Michael Scullin and program director David G. Ridenour. It was the only Chemung County station that remained on the during the disaster, which kept all other stations off the air for over a week. Personnel from other stations volunteered to work alongside their WIQT colleagues to broadcast emergency information 24 hours a day, by special dispensation of the FCC to extend their daytime license. A US Army communications command post was set up in their studios, and a CB radio network node as well, for use by civil authorities.
Later in 1972, an FM sister station WQIX went on the air, playing a modern country format.
WIQT, owned by Elmira retailer Manny Panosian, moved down the dial to 820 kHz on January 7, 1988. It also moved into new studios in Downtown Elmira, increased its daytime power to 5,000 watts and began nighttime broadcasting. Its former frequency and studios were picked up by a new Christian radio station, WLNL. Both stations kept Horseheads as their city of license.
In Elmira, WIQT played classic country to complement the country format of its sister station. Its slogan "820 American" came about after program director David Rockwell submitted a list of possible slogans to general manager Ron Ferro and Ferro misread "820 AM."
Sabre Communications, which owned WCLI and Wink 106, entered into a limited marketing agreement to manage WIQT and WQIX late in 1994. It bought the stations several months later, enabling Sabre to move popular talk shows from WCLI to the more powerful WIQT. Sabre has since been merged with Backyard Broadcasting, which owns WWLZ to this day.
WIQT changed its call letters to WQIX on January 17, 1996. Its sister station added the -FM suffix. On February 21, 1997, it switched to its current call letters.
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