WLEQ

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WLEQ (106.9 FM) and W247AD (97.3 FM) are a pair of American radio stations broadcasting an Oldies format. Licensed to Bedford, Virginia and Vinton, Virginia, they serve the Lynchburg, Virginia and Roanoke, Virginia areas, respectively. The station is currently owned by Centennial Broadcasting.

[edit] History

WLEQ signed on in 1993 as WLUB. The station transmitted from Thaxton Mountain in Bedford County, the same location as TV stations WSET and WWCW, and still does to this day.

In 1996, the station flipped to smooth jazz as "The Lake," WLQE, named for its location near Smith Mountain Lake. However, the station has a weak signal in Lynchburg and mountains made reception in Roanoke problematic. W247AD was put on the air in 1999 to help the latter situation, but it was not enough to save the station from going up for sale.

In 2001, the station was sold and became a simulcast of classic rock WBRW in Blacksburg, taking the callsign WBWR. This made the station a direct competitor with WROV.

By 2005, Cumulus had decided to focus the station on Blacksburg, and sold WBWR to Centennial Broadcasting. After simulcasting Oldies "Bob-FM" with co-owned WZZI and WZZU for several days, the station played "lake" sounds before becoming "The Lake" once again, this time broadcasting a standards format with the callsign WLEQ, similar to the old callsign.

That format lasted just over a year before Centennial moved its "Bob-FM" oldies format from WZZI and WZZU in order to launch classic rock "The Planet" on those frequencies.

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WLEQ
• Radio Locator information on WLEQ
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WLEQ
• Query the FCC's FM station database for W247AD
• Radio Locator information on W247AD
• Official Website

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