| Simulcast ofWCYY,Biddeford–Portland, Maine | |
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 | |
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| Broadcast area | NorthernNew England |
| Frequency | 103.7MHz |
| Branding | WCYY |
| Programming | |
| Format | Alternative rock |
| Affiliations | New England Patriots Radio Network |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | March 1952; 73 years ago (1952-03) (as WMOU-FM) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | "Peak" (former branding); also remnant of former simulcast of WOKQ |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 48401 |
| Class | C |
| ERP | 22,500 watts |
| HAAT | 1,159 meters (3,802 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 44°16′13.2″N71°18′15.2″W / 44.270333°N 71.304222°W /44.270333; -71.304222 (WPKQ) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | wcyy |
WPKQ (103.7FM) is acommercial radio stationlicensed toNorth Conway, New Hampshire.[2] It is owned byTownsquare Media andsimulcasts thealternative rock format of 94.3WCYY from thePortland, Maine, area. It is anaffiliate of theNew England Patriots Radio Network. WPKQ shares its main studio with WCYY at One City Center in Portland, Maine, with its sales office and auxiliary studio located in North Conway.
WPKQ has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 22,500 watts. Itstransmitter is atopMount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeast, alongsidesister stationWHOM (94.9 FM).[3] It primarily serves northernNew Hampshire and westernMaine, but its city-grade signal can also be heard in parts ofVermont andQuebec.
The 103.7 frequency now occupied by WPKQ began in March 1952 as WMOU-FM, the FM sister station toWMOU (1230 AM) inBerlin.[4] The stations became WKCB and WKCQ in 1957,[5] but returned to their original callsigns two years later.[6] WMOU-FM separated from the simulcast of WMOU in 1972 and became WXLQ-FM, airing arock andoldies format. This evolved to a mix oftop 40 and oldies in 1975.[7] The station reverted to the WMOU simulcast in 1977 (but retained the WXLQ call letters).Aconstruction permit for a new 103.7, using WXLQ's former transmitter, was granted on August 8, 1983,[8] to New England Broadcasting, Inc. (formed by Steve Powell, the son of previous WMOU owner Bob Powell) and revived the WMOU call letters (without the "-FM" suffix),[9] with a license to cover issued on March 15, 1984.[10]
The station moved its transmitter to Mount Washington in 1990, and changed its format tohot adult contemporary as WZPK, "103.7 Peak-FM". Branding themselves as "The Peak of New England" with a Class C flamethrower signal that reached fromBoston toMontreal, the station debuted by asking on-air to its audience what they wanted on air by airing the message "We are building YOUR Superstation. Please tell us what you would like to hear", and supplied a 1-800 number for listeners to contact the station.
In 1996, 103.7 adopted its present callsign and acountry music format, simulcast fromWOKQ inDover, upon its sale toFuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting.[11][12] The city of license was changed to North Conway in 1999.[13]
On July 6, 2015, WPKQ split from its simulcast with WOKQ and rebranded as "103.7 The Peak". In doing so, it moved its studios from WOKQ's facility in Dover to Townsquare's studios in North Conway andPortland, Maine, alongside fellow Mount Washington broadcasterWHOM.[14] By 2021, the station's programming was again largely originated from WOKQ, though it retained localized commercial breaks and the "Peak" branding.[15]
On October 22, 2021, at noon, WPKQ dropped its country format and beganstunting towards a new format to launch on Monday, October 25. That day, the station began simulcasting a relaunched version of thealternative rock format fromPortland, Maine-market sister stationWCYY; owing to WPKQ's Mount Washington's transmitter, the change resulted in WCYY's programming becoming available in much of northern New England.[15] WCYY's expansion, which also includedWJZN inAugusta, Maine, coincided with thesyndication launch ofToucher and Rich fromWBZ-FM in Boston, with the WCYY stations, along withBangor sister stationWEZQ, serving as the program's first affiliates.[15] The WCYY stations droppedToucher and Rich in October 2023.[16]
Due to its transmitter location on the top ofMount Washington, the station has one of the largest coverage areas in North America, reaching most of New Hampshire (except whereWKNE comes in better), theNortheast Kingdom and other portions of Central and NorthernVermont (includingMontpelier,Saint Johnsbury andBurlington), Western, Central and Southern Maine (including theLewiston/Auburn,Augusta andPortland areas), Southern Quebec (including eastern exurbs ofMontreal and theSherbrooke/Estrie area), and small portions of northeastMassachusetts (the northernmost areas ofEssex County).
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