KMCQ

Infobox Radio station
name = KMCQ


city = Covington, Washington
area = Seattle, WA
branding = "KMCQ"
slogan =
airdate = June 20, 1984
frequency = 104.5 MHz
format = Oldies
power =
erp = 25,000 watts
haat = 97 metres
class = C3
facility_id = 41861
callsign_meaning = Mix (C(Q)olumbia River)
former_callsigns =
owner = First Broadcasting
webcast =
website =
affiliations =

KMCQ (104.5 FM), is a oldies radio station based in Covington, Washington, targeting the Seattle market. The First Broadcasting outlet broadcasts at 104.5 MHz with an effective radiated power of 25 kw.

History

KMCQ, who signed on the air on June 20, 1984, had been serving the The Dalles/Hood River area since its sign on, mostly as a Hot AC until March 30, 2007. Oldies is their current format. In 2005 a realignment of FM frequencies in the Pacific Northwest area resulted in several stations moving to new locations.

KMCQ would end up being one of the stations relocating in the shuffle as the 104.5 signal changed its city of license to Covington, Washington, a suburb of Seattle in southeastern King County. As a result of this move, KMIH, a class-D FM station licensed to Mercer Island, Washington, vacated the 104.5 signal to make room for KMCQ and moved to 88.9 after the changes were made. Already another station at this same frequency, KCFL-LP, has since relocated to Ocean Shores, Washington at 89.5.

KMCQ was testing its signal and allowed KMIH to remain at their current frequency, but requested that they sign-off their 104.5 transmission occasionally at night in order to do the testing. The testing was done most of time with programing provided by KMIH, possibly to lower the number of listener complaints. At the same time there were several issues holding up the move-in as they also waited on KAFE-FM/Bellingham, Washington's planned move from 104.3 to 104.1 which is currently being delayed by the coordination process with Canada as the stations are all in the Canadian border zone. But due to the CRTC's recent decision to add the 104.1 signal to Vancouver, British Columbia, KAFE's future is uncertain at this point.

On August 27, 2008, it was announced that KMIH and KMCQ finalized their frequency swap. The move now paved the way for KMCQ to finally target the Puget Sound area. KMCQ also announced that on August 31, 2008, that they will flip from Adult Contemporary to Oldies, filling the void left open by KBSG, who dropped the format for All-News as KIRO-FM two weeks earlier [ [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/376749_radiobeat28.html Mercer Island school station gets new home] From Seattle Post-Intelligencer (August 27, 2008)] .

References

External links