WFXN (AM)

WFXN
City of license Moline, Illinois
Broadcast area Quad Cities
Branding Fox Sports 1230
Frequency 1230 AM (kHz)
First air date 1946
Format Commercial; Sports
Power 1,000 watts
Class C
Facility ID 43199
Transmitter coordinates 41°28′54″N 90°31′49″W / 41.48167°N 90.53028°W
Callsign meaning FOX Network
Former callsigns WQUA, WMRZ, WLLR
Affiliations Fox Sports Radio
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
Sister stations KCQQ, KMXG, KUUL, WLLR-FM, WOC, KWQC-TV
Website wfxn.net

WFXN (1230 AM) is a sports radio-formatted radio station licensed to Moline, Illinois. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. with studios located in Davenport, Iowa. The station is known as "Fox Sports 1230".

AM 1230 broadcasts at a power of 1 kW with transmitter located on 7th Street in Moline between 30th and 32nd Avenues.[1]

History

The station originally signed on September 23, 1946 as WQUA, and was the second AM radio station based in the Illinois Quad Cities. Like its main competitor, KSTT (which signed on just two months earlier), the new station had a wide range of local programming, news and sports, plus played popular music of the day.

During the 1950s, WQUA played early rock n roll music, and introduced the area to personalities such as Spike O'Dell, Paula Sands and Jim Albracht.[2] For years, WQUA and KSTT battled in the ratings as the most-listened to station.

WQUA later went through various format changes. In 1983, the station adopted an oldies format, using the call letters WMRZ. On January 2, 1990, the station began simulcasting WLLR's FM signal, and did so for 13 years. Prior to the station's adoption of the all-sports format, and thereafter, AM 1230 offered sports programming, primarily of Illinois Fighting Illini college athletics and Western Big 6 high school sports.

The current sports format and call letters were first used in April 2003.

Sources

  1. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=41.48167,+-90.53028+(WFXN-AM)&om=1
  2. Willard, John, "New book explores pioneering Quad-City radio station" Quad City Times, July 29, 2008.

External links