WCQS
| City | WCQS: Asheville, North Carolina WFQS: Franklin, North Carolina WMQS: Murphy, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Western North Carolina |
| Branding | Western North Carolina Public Radio |
| Slogan | "NPR news, classical music & more" |
| Frequency | 88.1 MHz (WCQS)(also on HD Radio) 91.3 MHz (WFQS) 88.5 MHz (WMQS) |
| First air date | Early 1980s |
| Format |
Classical music/news/talk BBC World Service on HD2 (via WYQS) |
| Power | 1600 watts (WCQS) 265 watts (WFQS) 49 watts (WMQS) |
| HAAT | 356 meters (WCQS) 702 meters (WFQS) 196 meters (WMQS) |
| Class | C3 (WCQS) C3 (WFQS) A (WMQS) |
| Facility ID | 71923 (WCQS) 71880 (WFQS) 173770 (WMQS) |
| Transmitter coordinates |
35°35′23″N 82°40′26″W / 35.58972°N 82.67389°W (WCQS) 35°10′24″N 83°34′52″W / 35.17333°N 83.58111°W (WFQS) 35°07′37″N 83°04′35″W / 35.12694°N 83.07639°W (WMQS) |
| Affiliations | NPR |
| Owner | Western North Carolina Public Radio |
| Sister stations | WYQS |
| Webcast | Listen |
| Website | www.wcqs.org |
WCQS (88.1 FM) is the flagship National Public Radio member station for Asheville, North Carolina and Western North Carolina. The station is currently owned by Western North Carolina Public Radio.
WCQS began in the early 1980s as WUNF-FM, a 10 Watt station later upgraded to 110-watt station operated by the University of North Carolina at Asheville from the Lipinski Student Center. Western North Carolina Public Radio bought the station in 1984, changed the calls to WCQS, and immediately secured a membership agreement with NPR. While most of the station's coverage area was served by South Carolina Educational Radio's Upstate outlet, WEPR in Greenville, WNCPR wanted to build a station that would be tailored to the area's interests.
Eventually, the station increased its power to 1,600 watts, still a fairly modest level for a full NPR member on the FM band. This may be due to the need to protect WRVL in Lynchburg, Virginia, located at adjacent 88.3. As a result, even though its transmitter is located 3,609 feet (1,100 m) above sea level, its coverage area is effectively limited to Asheville and its close-in suburbs in Buncombe, Haywood and Henderson counties.
In 2005, WNCPRI bought WVMH, a radio station operated by Mars Hill College, and changed its calls to WYQS. Originally a straight simulcast of WCQS, it broke off in 2008 and now airs the BBC World Service full-time. WYQS operates at only 100 watts, but is available on WCQS' HD subcarrier.
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