WLBQ

WLBQ
City Morgantown, Kentucky
Broadcast area Butler County, Kentucky
Morgantown, Kentucky
Beaver Dam, Kentucky
Bowling Green
Branding Beech Tree Radio
Q101.5 (for W268CE)
Slogan Local Radio the Way it Should Be
Frequency 1570 kHz
Translator(s) 101.5 FM (W268CE) Morgantown, KY[1]
First air date 1976 (on AM 1570)
August 21, 2014 (on FM 101.5)
Format Full service
(Featuring Classic Hits)
Power AM: 1,000 watts day
150 watts night
ERP FM: 250 watts
Class AM & FM: D
Facility ID 7904
Transmitter coordinates 37°13′9.00″N 86°41′21.00″W / 37.2191667°N 86.6891667°W / 37.2191667; -86.6891667
Callsign meaning W Lincoln Broadcasting Q
(derived from a previous owner)
Affiliations Kentucky News Network
ABC News Radio
Owner Beech Tree Publishing
Webcast Listen Live
Website wlbq1015.com
beechtreenews.com

WLBQ (1570 AM), known locally on air as "BeechTree Radio," is a radio station broadcasting a Classic Hits format. Licensed to Morgantown, Kentucky, USA. The station is currently owned by Beech Tree Publishing. Its transmitter is located along south Main Street (US 231/KY 79) [2][3] The studios are located at 210 South Main Street in downtown Morgantown.

History

The station first signed on the air sometime in August 1976 when it became fully licensed by the FCC.[4] Its original owner was Joseph W. Meyers, the controller of Lincoln Broadcasting of Hodgenville, Kentucky. The station was operated under the licensee name of Lincoln Broadcasting until the license was reassigned to Butler County Broadcasting in the 1977-1978 winter season.[5] In April 1978, the station was under ownership of the late Charles Black, who was also mayor of Morgantown at the time.[6] Butler County Broadcasting was renamed BeechTree Publishing sometime in the 2000s, hence the previous branding that was used by the station until 2015.

On May 20, 2014, WLBQ-AM was granted a construction permit for a new FM translator, W268CE, licensed to Morgantown, broadcasting at 101.5 on the FM dial, operating on 250 watts of effective radiated power, transmitting from a tower along Veterans Way near the Charles Black City Park in Morgantown.[7][8][9][10] The new translator signed on the air on the morning of August 21, 2014 during WLBQ's morning program, Out On A Limb. The station began branding by their FM frequency as soon as September 2014. After launching their FM translator, the station now occasionally competes with WXMZ in nearby Hartford, in Ohio County due to that station's oldies format.

In Fall 2015, WLBQ, in conjunction with the Butler County High School, began the Broadcasting and Media Class at the high school, providing high school students an opportunity to learn the behind-the-scenes work in the radio industry, This included how to write for radio, including commercials, promos, and newscasts. That class took part in WLBQ's broadcast of senior night activities during a BCHS basketball broadcast, including pre- and post-game programming, and color analogy during the game.[11]

Local news and programming

WLBQ's news department is Butler County's only news source without stories from other areas. Their news department uses the moniker "Beech Tree News."

Out On a Limb is the local radio show that focuses on current issues and public affairs in Butler County. The show is hosted by John Embry, and is broadcast on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:00 am, with replays at 10:00 am and 7:00 pm.[12][13] The Leadership Limb, a "leadership Edition" of Out on A Limb is broadcast on Wednesdays at 7 a.m., with same replay times, with Jim Green and Landon Hampton hosting.

The local news at 12 noon every day consists of these segments in broadcast order: Local news, obituaries, local sports, community news, swap shop, and weather. WLBQ also broadcast statewide news updates from the Kentucky News Network, a statewide network that brings news headlines from across Kentucky. On Sundays, WLBQ also broadcast locally based religious radio shows, including broadcasts of worship services from local churches.[14]

As of 2015, the station broadcasts a full-service format with local news, and the station plays music from four genres of music, including Classic Top 40, Hot Adult Contemporary, Classic Country, and Classic Rock, with all songs played released no later than the mid-1990s. Except for news and classic rock, this practice is also followed by WIFX-FM of Jenkins, Kentucky. WLBQ is the exclusive radio home of sporting events involving the teams of Butler County High School, home of the Butler County Bears. Sporting Events include football, boys and girls basketball, baseball, and softball. Additional sports-related content is provided by the Kentucky News Network's sports division.

In December 2015, WLBQ began providing hourly national news updates from ABC News Radio.

List of local programs

The following is a list of locally produced programs broadcast by WLBQ outside of music programming:

Advertising

WLBQ Beech Tree Radio also offers ads to local businesses in Butler and surrounding counties. Business owners can contact the station by phone or email to place an ad to attract customers. Listeners of the station can also place an ad to be displayed on the web site and in the "Swap Shop" segment of the 12 noon local news that is broadcast every day (including weekends).[15]

On-air staff [16]

Coverage area

WLBQ's AM signal covers mainly the Butler County, Kentucky area during the night hours. During the daytime hours, when the signal consumes more power, its signal would cover the same areas as at night, but also reach parts of, if not all, of nearby sections of neighboring counties, like Edmonson, Grayson, Logan, Muhlenberg, Ohio, and Warren counties. Under the right conditions during the daytime, the signal may also reach northern Todd County, and parts of Simpson County.[18] But for best quality when listening to this station, listeners can listen online at the station's website.

Translators

In addition to the main station at 1570 on the AM dial, WLBQ is relayed by an additional translator on the FM dial to widen its broadcast area and to provide a better quality radio signal to listeners within the regular WLBQ coverage area.

Call sign Frequency
(MHz) 		City of license ERP
W 		Class FCC info
W268CE 101.5 Morgantown, Kentucky 250 D FCC

References

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