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| Broadcast area | South Florida |
| Frequency | 105.1MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Hot 105 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Urban adult contemporary |
| Subchannels | HD2: Gospel/Inspirational |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | November 15, 1958 (67 years ago) (1958-11-15) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | HQT (Disambiguation of the word "Hot") |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 72982 |
| Class | C0 |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 307 meters (1,007 ft) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast |
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| Website | www |
WHQT (105.1FM, "Hot 105") is acommercial radio station owned byCox Media Group and airing anurban adult contemporaryradio format. The station is licensed toCoral Gables and it servesSouth Florida including theMiami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywoodradio market.
WHQT's studios and offices are located in Hollywood along with itssister stationsWEDR,WFLC, andWFEZ. It is licensed as aClass C0 station with aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, broadcasting from atransmitter site inMiami Gardens, which also serves as the site for eleven other FM radio stations and five TV stations. The station usesHD Radio technology and offers contemporaryGospel music, branded as "Joy 105", on the HD2 channel.
"Hot 105" airs thenationally syndicatedRickey Smiley Morning Show from 6 to 10 am.
On November 15, 1958, 105.1 FMsigned on as WVCG-FM.[2] Itsimulcast its AMsister station, 1070 WVCG (now 1080WQOS), the "Voice of Coral Gables." WVCG was the firstclassical music station in Florida, and was the first FM station in Florida to broadcast instereo. In 1968, the station became WYOR, "YOuRbeautiful music station", airing mostly instrumental versions of popular songs and music fromBroadway andHollywood. WYOR promoted itself using an FM radio dial card, listing WYOR at 105.1 along with the dial positions of other FM stations in the Miami radio market. The card was updated each year.
The station enjoyed agrandfathered license, allowing it to transmit with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 160,000 watts while most Miami FM stations ran with much less power. Its signal really wasn't much stronger than other stations because its antenna was under sixty meters (200 feet)height above average terrain (HAAT). The grandfathered power ended when the transmitter was relocated to a 600-foot tower in downtown Miami in the early 1970s. The station's power then dropped to 100,000 watts, similar to other Miami FM outlets.
In 1983, the station was sold toEZ Communications, which changed itscall sign to WEZI, and rebranded as "E-Z 105." The station continued with itseasy listening format, although it began making the transition to asoft adult contemporary format by reducing the instrumentals and adding more vocals. By the mid-1980s, the audience for the easy listening format was aging, while advertisers prefer younger to middle-aged listeners.
On January 10, 1985, at 6 am, the station changed to a hybridCHR/Urban Contemporary (or "CHUrban") format as WHQT under the new moniker "Hot 105". "Yo Little Brother" byNolan Thomas was the first song for WHQT. The station's initial musical slant was described as "triethnic", playing a mix ofR&B,FreestyleDance,Hip-Hop, andPop hits, all targeted at Miami's young black, white, and Hispanic audience, but by 1987, WHQT moved a bit closer to Mainstream Top 40, playing a larger dose of contemporary artists popular at the time such asRick Astley,Madonna andDef Leppard. Another notable feature of the station during this era was a noDJ music intensive daypart from 9 am to 5 pm, predating the current trend inautomated jockless radio.
With fierce competition fromY100 andPower 96, Hot 105 dropped their highly successful Mainstream Top 40/CHUrban format and went into a full-fledged Urban Contemporary format in September 1988 with the new sloganThe fresh new sound of Hot 105. The main competitor was soon to be future sister station,WEDR (99 Jamz). The two stations competed for the 18-49 year oldAfrican-Americandemographic until 1992, when WHQT evolved to Urban Adult Contemporary. Around that time, Cox purchased both stations, which led to the end of their competition.
For some time, Hot 105 was the only Adult R&B/Soul station in the market until October 2006, when it gained competition fromWMIB, a formerHip Hop station that moved to Urban AC under the ownership of Clear Channel Communications (nowiHeartMedia, Inc.). WMIB returned to Urban Contemporary in late 2008.
Hot 105 was one of the originalaffiliates of the nationally syndicatedTom Joyner Morning Show when it debuted in 1994. The show now has about 100 affiliates around the U.S. Joyner announced he would retire from the show in 2019.
WHQT has been committed to public service and excellence in the Miami community for over three decades. WHQT has won the prestigiousNAB Marconi Radio Award for "Urban Station of the Year" under Director of Branding and Programming Phil Michaels-Trueba, 4 times, starting in 2014, and then again in 2017, 2019, and most recently in 2023. Michaels-Trueba has been associated with Hot 105 on and off since 1991 when he started as an intern and rose through the ranks thru 1999 and returned as Program Director in March 2006. In 2023, Phil Michaels-Trueba was promoted to Director of Operations.
Previous program directors include Jeff Tyson, Bob McKay, Bill Tanner, Keith Isley, Hector Hannibal, Tony Kidd, Derrick Brown, Tony Fields and Duff Lindsey.
25°58′05″N80°12′32″W / 25.968°N 80.209°W /25.968; -80.209
