KQV

Not to be confused with WKQV in Cowen, West Virginia
KQV
City Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Branding KQV AM1410
Slogan All News/All The Time
You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world.
Frequency 1410 kHz
First air date 1919 (as 8ZAE)
January 9, 1922 (as KQV)
Format News radio
Power 5,000 watts
Class B
Facility ID 8445
Callsign meaning Randomly assigned, although sometimes said to stand for "King of the Quaker Valley"
Affiliations ABC News Radio
WTAE-TV
Owner Calvary, Inc. (Dickey family)
Webcast Listen Live
Website kqv.com

KQV is an AM radio station, licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which broadcasts at 1410 kHz, with 5,000 watts of power day and night. Its daytime format is news, switching to talk radio during evenings and at night. KQV's transmitter site consists of five towers located in Ross Township; a different directional pattern is used days and nights. Since 1993 the main studio has been located in Pittsburgh's Centre City Tower. It is the sole radio station owned by Calvary, Inc.

KQV has been recognized as one of the oldest radio stations. However, because of its complicated early history, its founding has been variously stated to have been in November 1919, in the fall of 1921, or in January 1922.

Programming

KQV broadcasts an all-news format, adopted in 1975, on weekdays, consisting of news, sports, traffic, and weather from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. The programming is similar to that of other traditional all-news stations, featuring "Traffic and Weather on the Eights", sports at :15 and :45 past each hour, and business news at :20 and :50 past. Primary weekday anchors are P.J. Maloney, Joe Fenn, Bruce Sakalik, and Dan Weinberg. In 2011, the station re-affiliated with ABC News Radio for the first time since its days as an ABC Radio owned-and-operated station, carrying its top-of-the-hour newscasts.

During evenings, the station broadcasts syndicated conservative talk radio host Lars Larson, When Radio Was (a series featuring classic radio programs such as Suspense and The Jack Benny Show) and Red Eye Radio from Westwood One.[1] A weekly radio series, known as "Imagination Theater", is broadcast on Sundays.

The station carries public affairs programs such as Pittsburgh Profiles and Pittsburgh Global Press Conference. It is also home to a number of live sporting events, including NFL football, Penn State University football, and WPIAL football and basketball, as well as the Triple Crown and Masters updates.

History

Origins

February 15, 1920 Doubleday-Hill advertisement for radio receiver sets.[2]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has traditionally listed KQV's establishment date as January 9, 1922.[3] However, station management has generally traced its history to predecessor activities beginning on November 19, 1919, although documentation for this earlier period is limited. In addition, station co-founder F. C. Potts maintained that the station should only be considered to date to late 1921, when the first license with the KQV call letters was issued.

KQV's original owner was the Doubleday-Hill Electric Company, located at 719-721 Liberty Street in Pittsburgh. Doubleday-Hill was a well established seller of electrical equipment, whose offerings included radio equipment (then also called "wireless").

During World War One the U.S. government had prohibited the operation of radio transmitters by civilians, and the ban wasn't lifted until October 1, 1919. Shortly thereafter, Doubleday-Hill's radio department manager, Francis C. Potts, announced that the company was in the process of installing a De Forest radiotelephone transmitter, to be used for communication with a second station to be located at the company's branch store in Washington, D.C.[4] A month later, in late November, Potts reported that the company had been unable to obtain the commercial license needed to operate the business plan, however, "a special amateur license has been applied for, to cover the wireless telephone demonstration station which the company has ordered installed and which is expected to be opened in the near future".[5]

In late January 1920 it was announced that "The latest type of radiophone, developed and produced in the laboratory of Dr. Lee De Forest at New York, has just been installed in the downtown store of the Doubleday-Hill Electric Company. Arrangements have been made by this company with a local music store to furnish the latest phonograph records weekly for use in connection with wireless concerts to be given on a regular schedule. This schedule has not been definitely fixed, but will be announced in a short time. The fact that different records will be played for each concert should add greatly to the enjoyment derived therefrom by the radio amateurs of this locality. The phone will also be used by this company to announced new development in radio and other items of general interest to wireless amateurs."[6]

A week later it was reported that "On last Tuesday evening [January 27, 1920], the Doubleday-Hill Electric Company made a preliminary test of their new radiophone equipment, by rendering a short concert of about 15 selections, including many popular numbers, as well as operatic and classical pieces."[7] Two weeks later saw the announcement that "The radiophone musical concerts promised the local amateurs by Doubleday-Hill Co. will start this week and be given regularly hereafter on a schedule which is, for the present, Tuesday and Thursday evening, from 7 to 10 p. m. All the latest popular music will be played and records changed for each concert. Messrs. Williams and Devinney will operate the radiophone for these concerts."[8]

A February 29 report further stated that "On Sunday evening, February 22, and Tuesday evening, February 24, wireless concerts were given by Doubleday-Hill Electric Company, using the DeForest radiophone, which was operated by Messrs. Williams and Devinney at the station of B. P. Williams, Orleans street, North Side. Reports were received from Washington, Vandergrift and other outlying towns that the music was being heard clearly, Mr. Williams states. A few days prior to this a test was made by these radio men for the Doubleday-Hill company, transmitting the voice and music to a station in Butler, Pa., very successfully."[9]

KQV employees have generally traced the station's history back to Doubleday-Hill's initial 1919 activities, and a September 1934 newspaper article reported that the staff was in the process of preparing a celebration of the station's fifteenth birthday.[10] (Many later recountings give a specific debut date of November 19, 1919.)[11] Most accounts of Doubleday-Hill's earliest activities say that the initial broadcasts were transmitted using a Special Amateur station authorization, 8ZAE, issued to Burton P. Williams, a company employee living in Pittsburgh. (Contemporary information about licensed stations suggests that 8ZAE didn't receive its first license until late 1921,[12] although it also reports that Williams previously held a license for a standard amateur station, 8EN.)[13]

In late 1920 the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company in East Pittsburgh launched an ambitious broadcasting service, and its efforts soon overshadowed Doubleday-Hill's earlier broadcasts. Westinghouse's first station debuted on November 2, 1920 as 8ZZ, soon becoming KDKA. In 1946, a KDKA promotional pamphlet claimed that it had conducted "the world's first regularly scheduled broadcast".[14] KQV, and a number of other stations, countered that they had broadcasting histories that predated KDKA. Based on their heritages, both KQV and KDKA have claimed to being the oldest broadcasting station in Pennsylvania. (A local Westinghouse engineer, Frank Conrad in nearby Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, preceded both efforts, conducting a series of semi-regular entertainment broadcasts at his experimental station, 8XK, that began on October 17, 1919. He suspended his broadcasts shortly after KDKA debuted.)

In September 1921, it was announced that Doubleday-Hill was planning to install a high-powered station, which again was planned to be used primarily for two-way communication with a second proposed station located at its Washington, D.C. store. In addition, it was stated that the new station would "be used to give entertaining programs for amateur reception on certain evenings of each week".[15] In October 1921 this new station was issued a Limited Commercial license, transmitting on 200 and 425 meters (1500 and 706 kHz), with the call letters KQV.[16] KQV's call sign was randomly assigned. By later tradition it was said to stand for "King of the Quaker Valley", although from 1925 to 1931 the station's slogan was "The Smoky City Station".[17] Beginning in 1912 the normal practice had been to issue call letters starting with "K" only to land stations located in the western United States, and it is unclear why KQV was not assigned a call sign starting with "W", which was the standard practice for stations located in the east.

KQV's initial license in the fall of 1921 was the first one issued in the name of Doubleday-Hill, and the first to receive the KQV call letters. Moreover, in the same September 1934 newspaper article in which the KQV staff dated the station's founding to the predecessor 1919 activities, F. C. Potts was quoted as stating that in his opinion KQV's founding shouldn't be considered to have occurred until two years years later, when the first KQV license was issued, endorsing an earlier slogan that the station was "On the Air since 1921".[10]

Early years

August 6, 1922 Doubleday-Hill advertisement, now promoting "Broadcasting Station KQV".[18]

From 1912 to 1927 the Department of Commerce regulated U.S. radio, and initially there were no specific restrictions on stations wanting to engage in broadcasting entertainment to the general public. The first formal standards were adopted effective December 1, 1921, which now specified that broadcasting stations had to hold a Limited Commercial license that also authorized operation on the "entertainment" wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) or the "market and weather reports" wavelength of 485 meters (619 kHz).[19] At the time this regulation was adopted a small number of stations already met the new requirements, although this did not include KQV, which although it held a Limited Commercial license, wasn't authorized to transmit on either of the broadcasting wavelengths. On January 9, 1922 Doubleday-Hill was issued a new Limited Commercial license for KQV, which now included an authorization to transmit on the 360 meter entertainment wavelength.[20] For this reason FCC records generally list January 9, 1922 as KQV's "Date First Licensed".[3]

KQV's original studio and transmitter were located on the ninth floor of the Doubleday-Hill building, with a transmitting antenna that stretched across the street. G. Brown Hill, a company vice president, was initially responsible for the station's development. At its start its primary purpose was to promote the sale of radio receivers, and KQV remained commercial-free until 1925. On November 11, 1928, a major reallocation resulting from the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40 assigned KQV to a "regional" frequency, 1380 kHz. In 1932 the station was sold to H. J. Brennan, and the studios moved to the Chamber of Commerce building.[21] On March 29, 1941, under the provisions of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, all the stations on 1380 kHz were shifted to 1410 kHz, which has been KQV's dial position ever since.

In 1944 the station was sold to Allegheny Broadcasting — the sale was necessary because both KQV and WJAS were under common ownership, and the FCC no longer permitted multiple AM station ownership within a community.[21] A 1947 station advertisement, promoting its power increase to 5,000 watts, described KQV as "Pittsburgh's Aggressive Station".[22]

"The Groovy QV"

In 1957 the station was once again sold, this time to the American Broadcasting Company-Paramount (ABC).[23] During the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s KQV was quite successful as a top 40 station, with Count John K. Chapel a popular radio personality during most of this period. Known over the years as "Colorful KQV," "Audio 14," "Groovy QV," and "The Big 14", KQV premiered its top 40 format on January 13, 1958, and is remembered for its high-profile, high-energy personalities, such as Robert Wolfson a.k.a. Bob Wilson,[24] Chuck Brinkman, Hal Murray, Dave Scott, Steve Rizen, Dex Allen, Jim Quinn, future game show announcer Rod Roddy, and their large-scale promotion of a Beatles concert at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena in 1964. During this time KQV broadcast from its showcase studios on the ground floor of the Chamber of Commerce Building ("on the corner of Walk and Don't Walk," as the DJs would say) in downtown Pittsburgh, where the disk jockeys could be watched through a large window.[23]

The station was dominant among young listeners throughout the 1960s, and was a major force introducing Pittsburgh to new music and artists such as Sonny & Cher, the Rolling Stones, the Supremes, the Beach Boys, the Dave Clark Five and others. KQV ratings began to slowly decline after 1970, with the advent of competition from WJAS and the rise of FM radio (including its then-sister station WDVE, which had begun operation in 1948 as KQV-FM). One of KQV's top-40 personalities in the 1970s, with the on-air name of "Jeff Christie," later became famous as a talk-show host under his real name, Rush Limbaugh.[25]

In 1974, another upstart competitor — AM station "13Q" WKTQ, the former (and current) WJAS — also made serious inroads competing against KQV, which briefly turned to the "14K" brand. At the end of the year, ABC Radio sold both KQV and WDVE to Cincinnati-based Taft Broadcasting.[26] Taft made another attempt at Top 40 on KQV, this time with a far more radical presentation, with Joey Reynolds as program director, before dropping the format altogether. Its final night as a top 40 station was October 14, 1975, with Neil Diamond's "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" played as the final song.

"All-news, all the time"

The next morning, October 15, 1975, KQV switched to its present all-news format, carrying NBC Radio's 24-hour News and Information Service. [27] Even though NBC cancelled this service two years later, KQV continued as an all-news station with local elements.

In 1982 Taft executives told KQV's general manager, Robert W. Dickey (no relation to the Dickey family that founded the Cumulus Media conglomerate), that it intended to sell the station.[11] Hoping to avoid a potential format change that often results from an ownership shift, Dickey decided to make a bid to buy the station. He received financial backing from newspaper publisher Richard Mellon Scaife and together they formed Calvary, Inc., purchasing the station from Taft that same year.[28] Dickey died on December 24, 2011;[29] his estate remained a partner in the station's ownership, with Robert W. Dickey Jr. succeeding his father as general manager.

Steve Lohle was a fixture as KQV's afternoon news anchor for 34 years, until his death on June 20, 2008 of an apparent heart attack. Retired weekend anchor Bob Sprague also died of an apparent heart attack, in July 2010. He had anchored weekends for more than 25 years until his retirement.

On May 14, 2013, it was announced that Richard Mellon Scaife was selling his shares in KQV to the Dickey family, giving the Dickeys full ownership.[30] Scaife died a year later.

References

  1. ↑ McCoy, Adrian (August 5, 2011). "KQV radio adds late night talk programming - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  2. ↑ Doubleday-Hill Advertisement, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, February 15, 1920, Second section, page 4.
  3. 1 2 "Date First Licensed", FCC History Cards for KQV, card #1.
  4. ↑ "Telephone Downtown Soon", "The Radio Amateur" by C. E. Urban, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, October 26, 1919, Sixth section, page 13.
  5. ↑ "Local Commercial Station Delayed", "The Radio Amateur" by C. E. Urban, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, November 23, 1919, Sixth section, page 2.
  6. ↑ "Wireless Phone Installed by Local Firm", "The Radio Amateur" by C. E. Urban, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, January 25, 1920, Fifth section, page 9.
  7. ↑ "Preliminary Test of Radiophone", "The Radio Amateur" by C. E. Urban, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, February 1, 1920, Second section, page 2.
  8. ↑ "Radiophone Concert Schedule", "The Radio Amateur" by C. E. Urban, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, February 15, 1920, Second section, page 4. "Messrs. Williams and Devinney" were Burton P. Williams and Robert C. Devinney.
  9. ↑ "The Radio Amateur" by C. E. Urban, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, February 29, 1920, Sixth section, page 10.
  10. 1 2 "Operator Who Established KQV Calls It Second Oldest Station" by S. H. Steinhauser, Pittsburgh Press, September 19, 1934, page 27.
  11. 1 2 "KQV Just Keeps on Groovin'" by John Mehno, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 8, 1999.
  12. ↑ "New Stations: Special Land Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 4. The "8" in 8ZAE's call sign specified that the station was located in the 8th Radio Inspection District, while the "Z" indicated that it was operating under a "Special Amateur" license. Special Amateur stations were permitted to transmit on wavelengths in addition to the congested 200 meter (1500 kHz) wavelength used by standard amateur stations.
  13. ↑ Amateur Radio Stations of the United States, Edition June 30, 1920, page 90.
  14. ↑ "Going Forward with Radio" as presented by KDKA (promotional pamphlet), 1946, page 3. (americanradiohistory.com)
  15. ↑ "The Radio Amateur" by C. E. Urban, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, September 11, 1921, Sixth section, page 7.
  16. ↑ "New Stations: Commercial Land Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, November 1, 1921, page 2.
  17. ↑ Radio Station Treasury by Tom Kneitel, 1986, page 16.
  18. ↑ Doubleday-Hill Advertisement, Pittsburgh Press, August 6, 1922, Second section, page 5.
  19. ↑ "Amendments to Regulations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10.
  20. ↑ Limited Commercial license, serial #452, issued to the Doubleday-Hill Electric Company on January 9, 1922 for a 6 month period.
  21. 1 2 "National Radio Week Includes Birthdays of Pioneers Here" by Si Steinhauser, Pittsburgh Press, November 4, 1945, page 32.
  22. ↑ KQV Advertisement, Broadcasting Yearbook, 1947, page 172.
  23. 1 2 "KQV History" by Frank Gottlieb (kqv.com)
  24. ↑ Bob Wilson (Jeff Roteman's KQV Personalities Page)
  25. ↑ "Rush Limbaugh - 1974 Aircheck (KQV)" (youtube.com)
  26. ↑ "Taft in, ABC out of Pittsburgh radio." Broadcasting, April 1, 1974, pg. 22. (americanradiohistory.com)
  27. ↑ "NIS count up to 50." Broadcasting, September 29, 1975, pg. 46. (americanradiohistory.com)
  28. ↑ "Changing hands." Broadcasting, April 12, 1982, pg. 98. (americanradiohistory.com)
  29. ↑ "KQV patriarch Robert W. Dickey Sr. was dedicated to news", by Jason Cato, December 25, 2011.
  30. ↑ Sciullo, Maria (May 14, 2013). "Scaife to sell his interest in KQV". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved May 17, 2017.

Coordinates: 40°31′24″N 80°00′40″W / 40.52333°N 80.01111°W / 40.52333; -80.01111

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