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City | Park Forest, Illinois |
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Broadcast area | Chicago, Illinois |
Branding | Daytime: Polski FM Nighttime: Dance Factory FM |
Frequency | 99.9 MHz |
First air date | 1962 (as WKAK) |
Format | Daytime: Polish Nighttime: Dance hits |
ERP | 50,000 watts |
HAAT | 150 meters |
Class | B |
Facility ID | 23476 |
Callsign meaning | W Chicago's Progressive Talk Q (previous format) |
Former callsigns | WRZA until 10/27/2008 WBUS until 09/23/1996 WBSW until 04/01/1987 WBYG until 02/15/1985 |
Owner | Newsweb Corporation |
Sister stations | WCPY |
Website |
Polski FM website Dance Factory FM's website |
WCPQ (99.9 FM) is a radio station located in Park Forest, Illinois, south of Chicago. WCPQ is part of a simulcast with WCPY. During the daytime, the trimulcast simulcasts WCPY's Polish format from 5 A.M.-9 P.M., and operates a Dance Hits format at night known as Dance Factory FM. WCPQ is owned by Newsweb Corporation. Studios are located on Chicago's Northwest Side.
From its launch in 1962 until 1977, the station had the WKAK call sign. From 1977 until 1985, it was WBYG. In February 1985, as WBSW, the station launched a Top 40 format as 99.9 The Bus and changed call letters to WBUS on April 1, 1987. The Bus lasted until August 31, 1996, when it was replaced with Spanish language format La Raza 99.9 with the WRZA call sign. In order to be eligible for inclusion in the Chicago Arbitron ratings, the city of license was changed from Kankakee, Illinois to Park Forest, Illinois.
Nine FM originally started out on 99.9 FM, and had rimshot coverage into Chicago. With owner Newsweb's purchase of three other rimshot stations in 2005, Nine FM's programming expanded to WKIE (92.7 FM) in the north suburbs and WDEK (92.5 FM) west of the Chicago area. The third station, WKIF, was broken off from the trimulcast due to overlapping with the stronger WRZA signal and began airing the audio feed from CNN Headline News.
Sky Daniels was the original program director for Nine FM. When he left in 2005, he was replaced by Matt DuBiel. Nine FM's format tightened a bit over time, to attract more casual listeners, eliminating many of the more obscure songs on the station's playlist.