City | Atlanta, Georgia |
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Broadcast area | Atlanta metropolitan area |
Branding | Radio Korea |
Frequency | 790 kHz AM |
First air date | 1948 |
Format | Korean |
Power | 28,000 watts daytime 1,000 watts nighttime |
Class | B |
Facility ID | 30825 |
Transmitter coordinates | 33°48′42″N 84°21′12″W / 33.811566°N 84.353322°W |
Callsign meaning | W QuiXIe |
Owner | Atlanta Radio Korea (Atlanta Radio Korea, Inc.) |
Website | atlantaradiokorea.com |
WQXI, "Radio Korea", is a radio station licensed to the city of Atlanta broadcasting at a frequency of 790 kHz (790 AM). The station has a power of 28,000 watts in the daytime, and 1,000 watts at night. WQXI's signal is non-directional during the daytime, and directional at night. As of 2009, the station broadcast in the IBiquity HD Radio AM hybrid digital mode during daytime hours.
WQXI first went on the air in 1948 as an all music station, playing pop standards. Their independent status was unique programming as the established stations, WAGA (590 AM, now WDWD), WSB (750 AM), WGST (then at 920 AM, now WGKA; now at 640 AM), and WATL (1380 AM, now WAOK) were all network affiliates. By the 1960s, WQXI was Top 40 with the moniker "Quixie in Dixie". Among the stations personalities was Dr. Don Rose in the late 1960s, who went on to near legendary status at KFRC in San Francisco.
For a time, it was owned by Esquire Inc.. In the 1970s, WQXI became an oldies station. By the 1980s, WQXI was simulcasting with its FM sister station. By the early 1990s, WQXI was airing an adult standards format. When Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympic Games, the station simulcast the French radio news channel France Info for several hours a day. During the mid-1990s, WQXI also aired Spanish-language music for several hours a day as "La Pantera" (The Panther).