WAQZ
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| Broadcast area | Cincinnati, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Branding | Channel Z (1991-2003) New Rock 97.3 (2003-2005) Everything Alternative (2006) |
| Frequency | 107.1 MHz (1991-1998) 97.3 MHz (2000-2006) |
| First air date | May 15, 1991 at 107.1 MHz April 1, 2000 at 97.3 MHz Ended on November 9, 2006 |
| Format | Alternative rock |
| Callsign meaning | WAQZ (Channel Z) |
| Owner |
Clear Channel (1991-1998) CBS Radio (2000-2006) Entercom Communications (2006) |
WAQZ was the alternative rock FM radio station in the Cincinnati, Ohio area for the most part of 15 years, from 1991 to 2006. Throughout its history, the station was broadcast at 107.1 FM from 1991 to 1998, and it was broadcast at 97.3 FM from 2000 to 2006.
The station was known as Channel Z from 1993 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2003, New Rock 97.3 from 2003 to 2005, and finally 97.3 Everything Alternative in 2006. WAQZ went off the air on November 9, 2006, replaced by another alternative rock station, WSWD, from 2006 to 2009.
The independently owned WOXY (97X), based in Oxford, Ohio, was the first alternative station in the region, as it launched in 1983. However, WOXY's signal did not serve the entire Cincinnati area, so some listeners could not pick up the signal. In the early 1990s, as bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Green Day dominated the music scene, there was an increasing demand for a higher-powered alternative station to serve all of Greater Cincinnati.
In early 1993, Jacor Communications, now Clear Channel, would eventually answer this demand. In 1991, WRBZ changed its call letters to WAQZ. The station was called 'The Heat' and carried a satellite-fed top 40 format (there were no local jocks on air). Jacor Communications, who at the time also owned the market's long time album-oriented rock station WEBN, wanted to compete with new rival Z-Rock, at 96.5, a satellite-fed hard rock station based out of Dallas, TX. Jacor purchased the station in late 1991 and flipped formats to a locally programmed hard rock format. The name was changed to the 'Power Pig'. There were no on-air personalities, only voice overs and jocks from WEBN would do rock reports which would air occasionally. The voice-overs which aired often took aim at Z-Rock and jocks from other local stations, one being Mark Sebastion, who at the time was at Top 40 station Q102. Jacor would eventually succeed in its mission to wipe out competitor Z-Rock, as they went off the air in September 1992, switching to a country format, leaving the Power Pig the only hard rock station, other than sister WEBN. In the spring of 1993, in the wake of a changing music scene and the decline in popularity to the station's hair-metal rock format, Jacor flipped the format and the 'Power Pig' name and switched to a new alternative format called Channel Z.
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