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| Broadcast area | Owensboro, Kentucky;Evansville, Indiana;Madisonville, Kentucky;Bowling Green, Kentucky |
| Frequency | 101.9MHz |
| Branding | K-Love |
| Programming | |
| Format | Christian adult contemporary |
| Network | K-Love |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Educational Media Foundation |
| History | |
First air date | December 18, 1956; 69 years ago (1956-12-18) |
Former call signs |
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| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 46945 |
| Class | C1 |
| ERP | 100kW |
| HAAT | 204 metres (669 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°35′03″N86°59′29″W / 37.58427°N 86.99149°W /37.58427; -86.99149 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
WEKV (101.9FM) is aK-Loveowned-and-operatedradio station that is licensed toCentral City, Kentucky,United States. The station serves the Central City,Owensboro, Kentucky, andEvansville, Indiana areas. The station is currently owned byEducational Media Foundation, the owner of the K-Loveradio network.
The station's transmitter is located alongU.S. Highway 231 in northwesternOhio County nearPleasant Ridge, located along the Ohio-Daviess County line.
On, November 2, 1955, Muhlenberg Broadcasting Company (later Starlight Broadcasting Company, Inc., now Radio Active Media, Inc.), the original owner ofWNES-AM, was granted aconstruction permit by theFCC to launch an FM radio service.[2] Over a year later, the station signed on the air asWNES-FM on December 18, 1956.[3] From the beginning and throughout the station's ownership with Muhlenberg Broadcasting Company and its successors, the station has maintained shared facilities with WNES-AM and theGreenville Leader-News newspaper, located on Everly Brothers Boulevard (U.S. Highway 62) on the west side of Central City. For WNES-FM's first 24 years and four months on the air, it was as a simulcast of its AM sister station.[4][3] This ended on April 23, 1980, when the station became a separate entity and started broadcasting an easy listening format.
On December 1, 1981, the station increased its transmitter power to 50,000 watts, and switched to aHot AC format and changed the call letters toWKYA. The radio station employed local radio talent during this period and experienced a great deal of success.[5] However, head-to-head competition with "Hot AC" giantWSTO, based at that time in Owensboro, took its toll on the station. After a slow down in listenership and sales, "KY-102" ceased to exist and it changed its format to country music sometime during the 1989–90 winter season. From that point on, it called itself "K-Country KY-102". This was successful for a period of time until another Owensboro station, in this case beingWBKR, clamped down on the market by increasing theeffective radiated power on their transmitter in southern Daviess County near the community ofUtica.
On February 23, 1993, WKYA discontinued their country format and changed the call letters toWQXQ.[6] Along with the new callsign, the station built a new transmission tower in northwesternOhio County nearPleasant Ridge; its signal was previously broadcast from the WNES transmission tower at the studio. Once the station began broadcasting on the new tower, it returned to its previous "Hot AC" style format; this time featuring a local talent in the mornings only and then satellite powered broadcast for the rest of the day. The new format and the new tower also came with the increase of power to 100,000 watts for the purpose to have the station focus on the Owensboro area but still serve their original broadcast area. In 1996, theWKYA callsign was reassigned to itsGreenville-licensed sister station, a country (nowOldies) station broadcasting at 105.5 MHz, which also shared studios with WNES and WQXQ since that station's 1981 sign-on.
After being branded as "Q-101.9 FM" for a time during the mid and late-2000s, the station's branding changed to "Q-102" around 2011, and the format was changed to aCHR/Top 40 format, which mostly included new music.
The Top 40 format lasted for only two years on WQXQ as it renewed the rivalry with the now-Evansville-based WSTO. In October 2013, WQXQ switched to a sports radio format after becoming an automated affiliate ofFox Sports Radio, bringing that format to the area.[7] During its tenure as a Fox Sports Radio affiliated station, the station also broadcastUniversity of Louisville football and men's basketball games from theU of L Sports Network from 2014 to 2020.
On July 22, 2020, after more than 63 ½ years under locally based ownership, Radio Active Media sold WQXQ toEducational Media Foundation for$617,000; the sale was approved on September 25, 2020.[8] Four days later, the new owners changed the station's call letters to the currentWEKV and changed its programming to broadcast its currentChristian adult contemporary format in the company-ownedK-Love radio network. This change proved to be unpopular with some of the former WQXQ listening audience.[9]
The station's previous call letters WQXQ were previously assigned to an FM station inNew York City in the 1940s. It was a sister station to WQXR (nowWFME), operating on 96.3 MHz.[10]
With its 100,000 watt signal coverage from a tower 669 feet in height above average terrain, the station can be heard about 80 miles away in every direction from the tower site in northern Ohio County. The coverage area includes much of theWestern Coal Field andPennyrile regions of western and west-centralKentucky, and much of southernIndiana. The signal reaches several areas within the signal range, including all three major cities in the Evansville Tri-state area, and can reach as far east as theElizabethtown/Fort Knox area, theMammoth Cave National Park area, and some far western suburbs of the metroLouisville area. It can also reach as far south as a few areas inMontgomery andRobertson Counties inTennessee, as far north as an area halfway between Evansville andBloomington, Indiana, and as far west asGallatin andHardin Counties inIllinois andCrittenden County, Kentucky.[11]