WQTT

WQTT (1270 AM) — branded True Oldies QT 1270 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Marysville, Ohio. The station primarily serves the Union County region, with limited coverage in the Columbus market. The station is under ownership of Brent Casagrande through licensee Delmar Communications, Inc, and features a locally-programmed oldies format. WQTT launched a FM translator on October 29, 2016. It broadcasts from north of town on state route 4, 250 watts, at 98.7FM.

Early history

WQTT signed on in 1984 as WUCO with a country music format, switching to oldies in 1991 and adult contemporary in the late 1990s. It was previously owned by Frontier Broadcasting, based in the Columbus suburb of Westerville, and was founded by Bart Johnson, the son of the late farm broadcaster Ed Johnson. WPTW in Piqua was also owned by Frontier Broadcasting (now owned by Miami Valley Radio LLC).

It switched again to a classic country format in 2003 before the station was sold to St. Gabriel Radio in 2005. Afterward, Bart Johnson and former ABN Radio farm director Dale Minyo formed Ohio Ag-Net under the umbrella of Agri Communicators Inc., the former parent company of ABN.

St. Gabriel Radio

In August of 2005, WUCO was purchased by St. Gabriel Radio Inc. -- formed in 1998 and named for the Archangel Gabriel, the patron saint of communication workers worldwide --and adopted a Catholic-centered format aimed towards the Columbus market, with studios in Columbus. The majority of WUCO's programming schedule included content from EWTN Radio. Beginning in February of 2007, WUCO was also near-simulcast on FM via Lexington-licensed WFOT 89.5 mHz, which services the Mansfield area and is now a repeater of WNOC-based Annunciation Radio.

When WUCO moved its studios to Columbus in July 2007 as part of St. Gabriel Radio, Gene Kirby, a community-minded local citizen, stepped up to help fill the void for local community radio when he started up WMHO, a micropower AM broadcaster at 1620 kHz. This Part 15-compliant broadcast first aired classic country and later an oldies format. WMHO was on the air until the summer of 2011 until its tower was irreparably damaged by a lightning strike.

WUCO's connection to St. Gabriel Radio would last until December 2008, when the organization began leasing time on Columbus-licensed WVKO, at the time owned by Bernard Ohio, LLC. This enabled St. Gabriel Radio to expand its reach into the Columbus market and its volunteer base (culminating in the purchase of WOSU (AM) from The Ohio State University in December 2011, rechristened as WVSG), while also necessitating a divestiture of WUCO.

True Oldies Channel

WUCO was leased over in late 2009 to ICS Holdings Inc., also then the owner of WDLR in Delaware, adopting The True Oldies Channel a satellite-feed service of Citadel Media, and branded itself as "True Oldies 1270 WQTT," despite the WUCO calls still in use and aired at the top of the hour. ICS Holdings eventually purchased the station in February 2010, changing its name to ICS Communications.

In the summer of 2010, WUCO briefly aired Spanish language programming (not dissimilar to WDLR's Spanish-language format at the time) although the WUCO website - then using the WDLR domain and URL - did not initially reflect this change. WUCO changed back to The True Oldies Channel in December 2010, again with the "1270 WQTT" brand. WUCO's callsign finally changed to WQTT in September 29, 2011.

WQTT's studios and offices were briefly located in the Journal-Tribune building in downtown Marysville while its transmitter and directional towers remain located on U.S. Route 36 east of town.

In August 2011 Gene Kirby, a Marysville resident, became operations manager of the station. WQTT's studios and offices now are located at 113 South Main Street in downtown Marysville. Kirby also manages WRPO-LP in Russells Point on behalf of its owner, the Village of Russells Point (under the moniker of Gray Fox Broadcasting) which helps acquire funding for the station through local underwriting and donations.

In the summer of 2011, Gene Kirby officially shut down WMHO Micropower Radio following an irreparable lightning strike to its transmitter.

ICS Holdings sold WQTT, along with WDLR and WVXG, to Delmar Communications, Inc. effective December 30, 2014. The price for the transaction was $250,000.

See also

• Oldies
• WDLR
• Scott Shannon

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WQTT
• Radio-Locator Information on WQTT
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WQTT