WQXI (AM)

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WQXI
Image:WQXI790.PNG
City of license Atlanta, Georgia
Broadcast area Atlanta metropolitan area
Branding 790 The Zone
Frequency 790 kHz (AM)
First air date 1967
Format Sports radio
Power 28,000 watts daytime
1,000 watts nighttime
Class B
Facility ID 30825
Transmitter Coordinates 33.811566° N 84.353322° W
Callsign meaning W QuiXIe
Affiliations Fox Sports Radio
Owner Lincoln Financial Group
(operated by Big League Broadcasting under an LMA)
Webcast Listen Live
Website 790thezone.com

WQXI AM, "790 The Zone", is a radio station licensed to the city of Atlanta broadcasting at a frequency of 790kHz. The station has a power of 28,000 Watts in the daytime, and 1,000 Watts at night. WQXI's signal is non-directional during the daytime, and directional at night.

The station's original moniker was "Quixie in Dixie". Among the stations personalities was Dr. Don Rose in the late 1960s, who went on to near legendary status at KFRC in San Francisco.

The former WQXI-FM is now WSTR FM (94.1), and WQXI-TV is now WXIA-TV (11).

The station is now a local sports radio talk format owned by Lincoln Financial Media, but operated by Big League Broadcasting under an LMA. WQXI is the flagship station[1] of the Arena Football League's Georgia Force and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and is the radio home of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. The station broadcasts the syndicated Fox Sports Radio during the overnight hours.

WQXI was broadcast in HD Radio on WSTR-FM's HD3 subchannel starting in 2006, but sometime in early 2007 WSTR-FM dropped broadcasting its HD2 and HD3 subchannels along with it, the simulcast of WQXI's programming. WQXI's audio is also broadcast on Channel 18 of the Georgia Tech Cable Network.

WQXI was the inspiration for the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Series creator Hugh Wilson dealt with the station when he worked in advertising. WKRP episodes which included dropping turkeys from a helicopter as the "dancing ducks promotion," with ducks dancing on hot plates, were actually done by Jerry Blum at WQXI. Blum leased an 18-wheeler and tossed hundreds of live turkeys from a suburban Atlanta shopping center.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Georgia Force Football - Official Site
  2. ^ "Radio honors real-life WKRP manager", Atlanta Journal Constitution, November 14, 1996. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. 

[edit] External links