WLTJ

WLTJ (92.9 FM, "Q92.9") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Saul Frischling, through licensee WPNT Media Subsidiary, LLC, and broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format.

WLTJ
CityPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Broadcast areaPittsburgh metropolitan area
Frequency92.9 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingQ92.9
SloganReal Variety
Pittsburgh's 10 in a Row Station
Programming
FormatHot Adult Contemporary
SubchannelsHD1: WLTJ analog
HD2: Variety hits "A Bit of Everything"
HD3: Classic rock "We Will Rock Q"
HD4: Soft rock "Lite FM"
Ownership
OwnerSaul Frischling
(WPNT Media Subsidiary, LLC)
WRRK-FM
History
First air date
1940 (as W75P)
Former call signs
W75P (1940-1943)
KDKA-FM (1943-1979)
WPNT (1979-1986)
Former frequencies
47.5 MHz (1940-1946)
94.1 MHz (1946)
Call sign meaning
LiTe (former branding)
Technical information
Facility ID73889
ClassB
ERP43,000 watts
HAAT260 meters (850 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
40°29′43.2″N 80°00′16.2″W
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websiteq929fm.com

The broadcast tower used by the station is located in the Summer Hill area of Pittsburgh at (40°29′43.0″N 80°00′16.0″W)[1] and is co-located with the transmission facilities of WPGH-TV and WPNT. Its studios are located in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburbs at 5000 McKnight Road, Suite 401.

WLTJ is a grandfathered “superpower” station. While the station’s effective radiated power (ERP) is within the maximum limit allowed for a Class B FM station, its antenna height above average terrain (HAAT) is too high for its ERP according to current FCC rules.[2][3]

History

Early Years as W75P/KDKA-FM

On November 19, 1940, Westinghouse Radio Stations, Inc. applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a construction permit for a new FM station on 47.5 MHz on the original 42-50 MHz FM broadcast band.[4] The FCC granted the application on January 14, 1941 by which time the commission had assigned the W75P call sign to the station.[4] The station was granted its first license by the FCC on March 2, 1943.[4]

On November 1, 1943, the station was assigned the KDKA-FM call sign.[4] After the FCC created the current FM broadcast band on June 27, 1945,[5] the commission granted Westinghouse Radio Stations the authority to begin operating the station on 94.1 MHz on March 19, 1946. On April 8, 1946, the FCC reassigned the station to 92.9 MHz while allowing continued operation on 94.1 MHz.[4] On July 26, 1946, the FCC granted a license renewal for operation on both 47.5 MHz and 92.9 MHz.[4] The FCC on January 23, 1947 granted Westinghouse Radio Stations a construction permit to build new facilities for operation on 92.9 MHz, including installation of a new transmitter and antenna at a new site.[4] The FCC granted a new license with the new facilities on June 26, 1952.[4]

Experimental stereo

In the late 1950s, several systems to add stereo to FM radio were considered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Included were systems from 14 competitors, such as Crosby, Halstead, EMI, Zenith Electronics Corporation and General Electric. The individual systems were evaluated for their strengths and weaknesses during field tests in Uniontown, Pennsylvania using KDKA-FM in Pittsburgh as the originating station. While credit is given for WEFM Chicago and WGFM Schenectady, New York on June 1, 1961 as the first stereo FM broadcasters, KDKA-FM was the first to broadcast in stereo, albeit on an experimental basis.

During the 1970s, KDKA-FM was an automated station that played beautiful music during the day, and classical music at night. During morning and afternoon drive periods, the station joined its AM sister for rebroadcasting its intensive news blocks.

The Point

In October 1979, the station changed its call sign from KDKA-FM to WPNT (The Point), completely separating its programming from that of its AM sister. While still under the same ownership umbrella, Westinghouse also dropped the classical music for an all-beautiful music format with live announcers. It had a good debut, taking ratings away from the beautiful music station next to it on the dial, WJOI (93.7 FM, which later took the KDKA-FM call sign). The station then moved its studios from the KDKA home at One Gateway Center to 1051 Brinton Road, in suburban Pittsburgh community of Forest Hills.

In 1984, WPNT was purchased by Long Island-based entrepreneur Saul Frischling in April 1984 for $3 million. Though Frischling himself is listed as the licensee, the station did business at that time as Legend Communications and then changed its name to Steel City Media in the late 1990s.

Almost immediately after Saul Frischling purchased WPNT, it switched its format from easy listening to a totally live format of light adult contemporary, yet the station retained the WPNT calls and continued to bill itself as "The Point". WPNT's original lineup of on-air personalities at the time of start-up under the new format was Program Director Nat Humphries hosting mornings, John Gallagher for middays, Jon Summers for afternoons, Peter Morley for evenings, Jean Lam hosting overnights, and news anchors Jeff Long and Rick Charles. A year after the ownership change, KQV legend George Hart replaced Humphries as Program Director and morning show host.

Enter WLTJ

In May 1986, in an effort to better reflect its image as that of a light adult contemporary station, the station changed its call sign to WLTJ and rebranded as "Lite FM 92.9". (The WPNT callsign would resurface in the Pittsburgh market nearly three decades later when MyNetworkTV affiliate WPMY unexpectedly changed its callsign to WPNT.) Not long after the change, the station moved to a new, state-of-the-art broadcast facility at Seven Parkway Center in Green Tree borough. Music was a mixture of current and recurrent adult contemporary hits with a mix of standard hits from artists such as Sérgio Mendes, Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, and Andy Williams. Songs by those artists became a featured part of WLTJ's playlist and later became known as "Lite FM Encores". In addition, a new program known as "Heartlite" was created as a three-hour request and dedication show from 9 to midnight, hosted by Morley. The show was one of the first of its kind in the nation at the time.

Weekend and fill-in announcer Gary Love would later assume responsibilities for the morning show from Hart, and Beth Bershok would assume Jean Lam's overnight shift by the end of the 1980s, in addition to doing traffic reports with Love on the morning show. The chemistry between Gary and Beth worked so well that the decision was made in the early 1990s to pair them together and bill them as equals. "Gary and Beth in the Morning" aired from 1991 until the station's format change in 2008.

WLTJ became a dominant force among Pittsburgh Arbitron ratings, and among listeners as an office favorite. In 1989, WLTJ's position as a listen-at-work radio station was challenged when Pittsburgh's longtime easy-listening institution, WSHH, switched to a soft adult contemporary format and used its existing audience base to replicate WLTJ's ratings successes.

WLTJ and WSHH often ran neck-and-neck in the ratings with similar formats, with one or the other occasionally shifting to the older or younger core of the 25-54 age demographic in order to keep up with ratings trends. That competition continues between the two stations today. Both WLTJ and WSHH share the distinction of being held by private owners, as opposed to publicly traded multiconglomerate broadcast operations. In 1993, after the FCC relaxed its ownership rules and allowed companies to own more than one FM station in the same market, Legend Communications purchased album rock formatted WRRK-FM (licensed to Braddock) from WHYW Associates. The station, which had been known as 97 Rock, reverted to its previous format of classic rock and its former moniker, Magic 97. The call sign, however, did not revert to WMYG, and the station became known as "Magic 97 WRRK".

In 1999, both stations moved to a new, more spacious location on Smithfield Street in downtown Pittsburgh, with state-of-the-art, all-digital Equipment & Studios built by Chief Engineer, Paul Carroll from August to November of that year.

Of the original WPNT adult contemporary weekday lineup, John Gallagher lasted until the entire staff was dismissed during the format adjustment made the weekend of March 23, 2008. George Hart died of complications from liver transplant surgery in 1993. Pat Bridges, who had joined the station in the early 80s in a part-time capacity, returned in 2004 to assume the role of host for "Heartlite".

The new "Q92.9"

After consistently disappointing ratings, the WLTJ identity disappeared the weekend of March 23, 2008 and the station was immediately rebranded as "Q92.9" (a somewhat ironic brand, as the station does not have, nor has it ever had, a Q in its call sign) with a different music mix. Station executives said they wanted to add more '90s music and felt the station needed an imaging overhaul to complete the transition. Most of the music from the 1970s was dropped, and more upbeat material from the 80s and 90s was added along with more current hits.

The station began with no DJs. The station has a live air staff from 5:30 am to 12 am weekdays and 9 am to 7 pm on weekends. They also have weather, traffic, and entertainment reports, which were not initially run in the early days of the format.

In November 2009, WLTJ shifted directions to Hot Adult Contemporary, with most of the musical mix focusing on more current product with some classics from the 1980s and 1990s getting less playtime.

In addition to this change, the Q-Tags that were heard at the beginning of the Q's days, which stated the name and artist of every song at the end, were eliminated to create a faster paced, less interruptive musical selection, stemming from the opinions of some listeners.

On July 5, 2016, WLTJ went jockless as it let the entire air staff go with the exception of afternoon host/PD Zack Szabo, presumably due to ratings, which has seen the station trailing its competitors since the shift to Adult Top 40. It also displayed a new slogan, billing themselves as "Your 10 In A Row Station." They have since reinstated morning, mid-day, evening, and weekend air staff.[6]

HD Radio
WLTJ's HD Radio Channels on a SPARC Radio with PSD and EAS.
WLTJ HD2 During the 2017 Holiday Season with PSD and EAS.

WLTJ uses HD Radio and broadcasts a variety hits format on its HD2 subchannel branded "A Bit of Everything", a classic rock format on its HD3 branded "We Will Rock Q", and a soft rock format branded "Lite FM" on its HD4. These subchannels appear to change and move around from time to time as the station once broadcast an urban adult contemporary format, branded "Q in the City" and subsequently a soft rock format branded "Q2 Lite Rock" on their HD2. WLTJ also has carried Christmas programming on their HD4 and then later their HD2 during the holiday season.[7]

References
  1. "FM Query Results for WLTJ". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  2. "FM Broadcast Station Classes and Service Contours". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  3. Smith, D. (July 5, 2013). "Superpower FMs". w9wi.com. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  4. "History Cards for WLTJ". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  5. "In the Matter of Allocation of Frequencies to the Various Class of Non-Governmental Services in the Radio Spectrum from 10 Kilocycles to 30,000,000 Kilocycles (Docket No. 6651)" (PDF). fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. June 27, 1945. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  6. https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/107139/jim-krenn-exits-q92-9-pittsburgh-goes-jockless/
  7. https://soundcloud.com/bbabybear02/wltj-hd4-toth-id-q-929-christmas-music
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