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WPAQ
WPAQ (740 kHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Mount Airy, North Carolina, serving the Piedmont area of North Carolina, Southwest Virginia and Southside Virginia. WPAQ is owned and operated by WPAQ Radio, Inc. It airs a mix of Americana, Bluegrass, Classic Country and Southern Gospel music, along with some brokered Christian talk and teaching shows. The transmitter and studios are on Springs Road at Mount View Drive in Mount Airy.
By day, WPAQ is powered at 10,000 watts non-directional. But 740 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A station CFZM Toronto. To avoid interference with CFZM, WPAQ must reduce power to 1,000 watts during critical hours and to only 7 watts at night. Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator W294CE at 106.7 MHz.
Ralph Epperson observed in 1948 that the popularity of old-time music was falling off, and one area radio station needed to take on the job of preserving it. As a child he enjoyed listening to distant AM radio stations, and in college he changed his major to radio technology. He worked for the United States Naval Research Laboratory before going into broadcasting, and he never dreamed he would own a radio station. But Epperson, his father, and cousin, literally built the new radio station, including the 305-foot tower still used over 65 years later. So much cursing took place that, according to Epperson, one minister said it would take a six-month revival meeting to make up for it. Fiddle player Benton Flippen helped dedicate the new studio February 1, 1948, the night before actual broadcasts began.
Epperson's "Merry Go-Round," which began airing on WPAQ in 1948, was the third-longest live-music show on radio in 1998 (The Grand Ole Opry was the longest-running). In the mid-1990s, the show moved to the Downtown Cinema. At one time, Epperson made recordings of the live performances to air later, and he continued to play these recordings in the 1990s on another show he hosted.
Epperson did pretty much everything, working as a DJ during the day, selling air time, repairing equipment, sometimes sleeping on a cot at the station before he got married.
Among the big names who played on WPAQ: Bill Monroe's brother Charlie Monroe, Grandpa Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, Del Reeves, Ralph Stanley, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, and Mac Wiseman. Among those local performers making appearances was Tommy Jarrell, a fiddle player from Surry County.
In the 1950s, WPAQ increased its power to 10,000 watts.
WPAQ has consistently aired Christian music and preaching with entirely a bluegrass and old-time music format, and big band music in the evenings from 6 p.m. until sundown. In addition to music, WPAQ offered local news, community announcements and obituaries. Live broadcasts aired on weekends, with performers waiting as long as six months to go on the air.
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WPAQ
WPAQ (740 kHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Mount Airy, North Carolina, serving the Piedmont area of North Carolina, Southwest Virginia and Southside Virginia. WPAQ is owned and operated by WPAQ Radio, Inc. It airs a mix of Americana, Bluegrass, Classic Country and Southern Gospel music, along with some brokered Christian talk and teaching shows. The transmitter and studios are on Springs Road at Mount View Drive in Mount Airy.
By day, WPAQ is powered at 10,000 watts non-directional. But 740 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A station CFZM Toronto. To avoid interference with CFZM, WPAQ must reduce power to 1,000 watts during critical hours and to only 7 watts at night. Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator W294CE at 106.7 MHz.
Ralph Epperson observed in 1948 that the popularity of old-time music was falling off, and one area radio station needed to take on the job of preserving it. As a child he enjoyed listening to distant AM radio stations, and in college he changed his major to radio technology. He worked for the United States Naval Research Laboratory before going into broadcasting, and he never dreamed he would own a radio station. But Epperson, his father, and cousin, literally built the new radio station, including the 305-foot tower still used over 65 years later. So much cursing took place that, according to Epperson, one minister said it would take a six-month revival meeting to make up for it. Fiddle player Benton Flippen helped dedicate the new studio February 1, 1948, the night before actual broadcasts began.
Epperson's "Merry Go-Round," which began airing on WPAQ in 1948, was the third-longest live-music show on radio in 1998 (The Grand Ole Opry was the longest-running). In the mid-1990s, the show moved to the Downtown Cinema. At one time, Epperson made recordings of the live performances to air later, and he continued to play these recordings in the 1990s on another show he hosted.
Epperson did pretty much everything, working as a DJ during the day, selling air time, repairing equipment, sometimes sleeping on a cot at the station before he got married.
Among the big names who played on WPAQ: Bill Monroe's brother Charlie Monroe, Grandpa Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, Del Reeves, Ralph Stanley, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, and Mac Wiseman. Among those local performers making appearances was Tommy Jarrell, a fiddle player from Surry County.
In the 1950s, WPAQ increased its power to 10,000 watts.
WPAQ has consistently aired Christian music and preaching with entirely a bluegrass and old-time music format, and big band music in the evenings from 6 p.m. until sundown. In addition to music, WPAQ offered local news, community announcements and obituaries. Live broadcasts aired on weekends, with performers waiting as long as six months to go on the air.
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