WTOP (AM)
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| City | Silver Spring, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Washington, D.C. Baltimore, MD Southern Maryland |
| Branding | La Mera Mera 1050 |
| Slogan | ¡Aqui Suena! |
| Frequency | 1050 kHz |
| First air date | December 7, 1946 (as WGAY) |
| Format | Regional Mexican |
| Language(s) | Spanish |
| Power | 10,000 watts (day) 44 watts (night) |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 8673 |
| Former callsigns | WTOP (2010) WZAA (2009–2010) WTOP (2008–2009) WFED (2004–2008) WPLC (2000–2004) WKDL (1993–2000) WNTR (1984–1993) WGAY (c. 1973–1984) WQMR (1960–c. 1973) WGAY (1946–1960) |
| Owner |
Hubbard Broadcasting (operated by United Media Group) (Washington DC FCC License Sub, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WFED/WWFD, WTOP-FM |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | lameramera1050.com |
WBQH (1050 AM) is a radio station in the Washington, D.C. region, licensed to Silver Spring, Maryland. It broadcasts a Regional Mexican format.
The station signed on December 7, 1946 as WGAY, airing a beautiful music format. It was believed that WGAY was named for one-time owner, Connie B. Gay, though it was merely coincidental; at the time, "beautiful music" connoted a "bright and gay" happy sound. However, Gay bought the station in the late 1950s/early 1960s. It was later purported that the station initially broadcast government job openings, and that WGAY stood for "Government And You."
The original owners and operators, Ed Winton and Bob Chandler, are credited with creating the beautiful music format, which was mostly instrumental music, with orchestral covers of showtunes, soundtrack excerpts, and standard popular songs. Chandler was known to arrange for recording of music that he did not have in the station's library. In addition, on Sunday afternoons at 1:00 p.m., Matinee at One played a complete Broadway show soundtrack with an explanation of the plot.
Despite its sobriquet of "elevator music", WGAY was popular, and was soon sold to Connie B. Gay. On February 1, 1960, the WGAY calls were moved to the FM band at 99.5 MHz, while the AM station became WQMR, for "Washington's Quality Music Radio." WGAY initially operated as an experimental country music station (Gay was a country and western music promoter) but started simulcasting WQMR full-time around 1961.
These simulcasts would usually end nightly at sunset when WQMR had to sign off as required by the FCC, and WGAY was rarely mentioned on the air or in advertisements. WQMR soon increased in power from 1000 watts on the AM band, while WGAY would upgrade from 20 kilowatts monophonic on the low power FM band to a 50 kilowatt stereo signal. Both WQMR and WGAY moved to the World Building, located on Georgia Avenue, just north of the intersection of Maryland Route 410 (East-West-Highway) in Silver Spring, in 1966.
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Wikipedia