| City of license | Sanford, Maine |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Portsmouth (NH), York County (ME) |
| Branding | WXEX-FM 92.1 |
| Slogan | Your Radio Station for Good Times and Fun |
| Frequency | 92.1 MHz |
| First air date | 1975 |
| Format | '60s & '70s Rock 'n' Roll plus Motown (WXEX simulcast) |
| ERP | 1,800 watts Equivalent Effective Radiated Power (EERP) of 6,000 watts |
| HAAT | 156 meters (512 ft) |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 74067 |
| Callsign meaning | taken from sister AM station WXEX, based out of EXeter |
| Former callsigns | WSME-FM (1975-1983) WEBI (1983-1986) WCDQ (1986-1999) WPHX-FM (1999-2011) |
| Owner | Aruba Capital Holdings, LLC |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wxexradio.com |
WXEX-FM (92.1 FM) is a radio station licensed to Sanford, Maine, USA, the station serves the Portsmouth, New Hampshire/York County, Maine area. The station is currently owned by Aruba Capital Holdings[1] and currently simulcasts WXEX 1540 AM of Exeter, NH.
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WPHX originally went on the air in 1975 as WSME-FM, with an automated Drake/Chenault adult contemporary/oldies hybrid format. Later in 1986, WSME-FM became WCDQ, well known for its on-air staff, as well as creative programming. One such program was "Dead Tracks", an all Grateful Dead program broadcast on Thursday nights at 10PM. Another program was "Blue Monday", featuring all Blues music hosted by "The First Lady of Mt. Rialto" Sharon Small. Two other groundbreaking programs were "Mt. Rialto Redemption" a Reggae music show and "Local Chords" an opportunity for local, unsigned bands to get their material played on the radio hosted by Steve Biron who also did afternoons. The show would later be hosted by Pete Casper "The Friendly DJ"
The station claimed that it broadcast from "The Summit of Mt. Rialto", a reference to the common name for movie theaters, popular in the 1930s through '50s. It was some times called Mt. Rialto Radio. Another fictional locale often referenced by the station was "The Elegante Ballroom", a cavernous hall from which the station's lunch time show was supposedly broadcast. The ruse of the station's broadcast locale was so well done (complete with summit ski and weather reports) that occasionally students from the University of New Hampshire would travel to Sanford with the intent of hiking the fictitious mountain.
The weekend's arrival was heralded every Friday at 5 PM by playing "Switchin' To Glide" by The Kings.
The secondary tag line for the radio station was "The Theater of the Mind". This was based on the fact that WCDQ produced its own original radio plays, similar to "The Shadow" and "The Lone Ranger" radio shows from the 1930s and 1940s, before televisions were a common household item. WCDQ staff wrote original plays, together with original music, and performed them on the air. Radio plays included a Christmas story entitled "The Miracle of Mt. Rialto", a 1950s high school drama called "Young Lust" and a soap opera-style story called "The Web of Fate".
The station was owned by Donald Crown, who sold the station to Phoenix Media/Communications Group. It became WPHX-FM and began simulcasting WFNX, from the Boston, Massachusetts, radio market in the summer of 1999. Phoenix Media/Communications Group announced a sale of the station to Aruba Capital Holdings, licensee of WXEX in Exeter, New Hampshire, in May 2011.[1] In August 2011 Aruba Capital Holdings took over the station and switched it to its current simulcast with WXEX.
Two photographs from the end of days of Mount Rialto:
http://www.timepassagesnostalgia.com/rontoth/wcdqparty1.jpg
http://www.timepassagesnostalgia.com/rontoth/wcdqparty2.jpg
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