WQRZ-LP

WQRZ-LP
City of license	Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi
Broadcast area	Bay Saint Louis' Mississippi
Frequency	103.5 MHz
Format	24-Hour EAS
ERP	100 watts
HAAT	27.8 meters (91 ft)
Class	L1
Facility ID	126435
Transmitter coordinates	30°18′40.00″N 89°24′14.00″W / 30.3111111°N 89.4038889°W / 30.3111111; -89.4038889
Owner	Hancock County Amateur Radio Association, Inc.
Website	WQRZ Community Radio

WQRZ-LP (103.5 FM) is a low-power FM radio station licensed to Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, USA. The station is currently owned by the Hancock County Amateur Radio Association.^[1]^[2]

History

On August 14, 2001 Brice Phillips (KB5MPW), President of the Hancock County Amateur Radio Association, was granted a construction permit to build the first solar powered LPFM Broadcast Station, which combined Broadcasting with Amateur radio. WQRZ-LP signed on the air January 29, 2003.

Hurricane Katrina

On August 27, 2005 Brice Phillips moved WQRZ-LP to the Hancock County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in advance of Hurricane Katrina. WQRZ-LP was one of the 4 out of 41 Broadcast Stations that survived Katrina, the only station at Ground Zero. After Katrina the Federal Communications Commission allowed WQRZ to increase their power from 100 watts to 4000 watts under special temporary authority, another first in history. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) distributed 3,500 FM radios so survivors could tune into WQRZ-LP to listen to information directly from the EOC.

WQRZ-LP was the first Broadcast Radio First Responder which earned American Radio Relay League Member Brice Philips the Small Business Administration's Phoenix Award, for "Outstanding Contributions to Disaster Recovery by a Volunteer". ^[3]

The future

WQRZ-LP operated out of the Hancock County EOC from August 27, 2005 until November 30, 2007. The future is unclear for WQRZ as they have not received any public assistance from FEMA. WQRZ-LP remains the only local 24-hour Emergency Alert System station in Hancock County.

References

↑ "WQRZ-LP Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
↑ "WQRZ-LP Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
↑ Jackson, BILL MINOR (September 6, 2007). "This little radio station saved lives". Sun Herald. pp. C2.

External links

WQRZ Community Radio

Query the FCC's FM station database for WQRZ

Radio-Locator information on WQRZ-LP

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WQRZ

Radio stations in the Biloxi–Gulfport–Pascagoula, Mississippi market

By FM frequency	88.1 88.7 89.1 89.7 90.3 91.7 92.5 93.7 94.5 95.3 96.7 97.9 99.1 102.3 103.1 103.5 104.9 105.9 107.1 107.9

By AM frequency	870 1130 1190 1240 1390 1490 1640

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.400 162.550

By callsign	KEC61 KIH21 W209CF WAOY WBUV WCPR-FM WGBL WGCM WGCM-FM WJZD-FM WKNN-FM WMAH-FM WMEJ WMJY WOLM WOSM WOTB WPAS WQBB WQFX WQRZ-LP WQYZ WROA WTNI WWL WXBD WXYK WZKX WZNF

Nearby radio markets Lake Ponchartrain Laurel-Hattiesburg Mobile New Orleans See also List of radio stations in Mississippi

Environmentally friendly radio stations

The following stations are running on a power source that's eco-friendly (e.g.: solar power), or are carbon-neutral through other means

United States	KAND (Corsicana, Texas) KBSJ (Jackpot, Nevada) KFMU-FM (Oak Creek, Colorado) KGO (San Francisco) KIDE (Hoopa, California) KILI (Porcupine, South Dakota) KMBQ-FM (Wasilla, Alaska) KRCL (Salt Lake City) KTAO (Taos, New Mexico) WQRZ-LP (Bay St. Louis, Mississippi) KZMU (Moab, Utah) WCNR (Charlottesville, Virginia) WFSO (Olivebridge, New York) WJFF (Jeffersonville, New York) WXRV (Andover, Massachusetts)

Canada	CFRM-FM (Little Current, Ontario) CILV-FM (Ottawa)¹

United Kingdom	BBC Somerset

Ecuador	HCJB World Radio

¹carbon neutral station

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