WTBQ
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| City | Warwick, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Orange County and Northern New Jersey, including Sussex and Passaic Counties |
| Branding | "WTBQ" |
| Slogan | "Radio Worth Listening To"; "The Best Music" |
| Frequency | 1110 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 93.5 W228CG (Warwick) |
| First air date | July 27, 1969 |
| Format | Full service |
| Power | 500 watts daytime |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 22292 |
| Callsign meaning | See "Station History" section |
| Affiliations | ABC, MRN |
| Owner | Frank R. Truatt (FST Broadcasting Corporation) |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wtbq.com |
WTBQ is an independent radio station broadcasting from Warwick, New York. The last locally-owned radio station in Orange County, New York (and one of the few in the entire Hudson Valley), WTBQ broadcasts on 1110 AM and 93.5 FM, throughout Orange County and Northern New Jersey. The station has a diversified format consisting of news, oldies music, specialty music shows, talk shows, and specialty programming.
Local media figure Ed Klein brought WTBQ to air July 27, 1969 with studios originally located in the village of Warwick. The call letters come from Klein's young daughter's affection for her teddy bear. Originally, WTBQ had a "Beautiful Music" format (dubbed "The Casual Q"), in contrast to Top 40 music, which Klein hated. WTBQ also had a strong emphasis on news, both local and national (the station was a Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate in the 1970s before later switching to ABC). In the mid 70's the station evolved to more of a Middle Of The Road format. By 1978, the station switched to a "town and country" format playing half Adult Contemporary songs and half Country Music.
In 1982, WTBQ was purchased by Jimmy Sturr, who in 1984 moved the studios to the "Professional Building" at 62 North Main Street in nearby Florida, New York. The station moved to more of a Mainstream Adult Contemporary music format but ran Jimmy Sturr's Polka Show once a week on the weekend. After another change in ownership later in the 1980's, the station switched to Adult Standards. The ownership was George Dacre's "Goodtime Broadcasting". By the early 90's, the station had financial problems and went silent in 1992. In May of 1994, the station's current owner Frank "Smokin'" Truatt bought the station. He put the station back on the air on July 1, 1994.
The station initially carried a 1970's based Oldies format with several 60's oldies an hour, a couple pre 64 oldies an hour, and several 80's hits an hour. The station soon added local newscasts for morning and afternoon drives plus ABC News. WTBQ had been and still is strictly an AM daytimer having to sign off 15 minutes after official dusk and only allowed to sign on 15 minutes before official dawn. Exceptions are made in event of a local news emergency such as a snowstorm. Still, WTBQ became the first station in the Hudson Valley to carry its programs on the internet in 1999; it was also the first area radio station with a website, back in 1995. Beginning in 1997, WTBQ began adding more specialty shows on weekends such as a polka show, classic country music show, NASCAR racing, an Irish program, a diversified music show, among others. By 1999, the station was running mostly specialty shows on weekends and a few during the week. By about 2003, the station began gradually adding more such programming during the week.
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