WKQW is a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 broadcasting an Oldies

Oldies

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

 format. It previously had a Classic Country

Classic country

Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country hits from past decades.This genre generally follows one of two formats: those specializing in hits from the 1920s through the early 1970s, and focus primarily on innovators and artists from country music's Golden...

 format until August 15th of 2008. Licensed to Oil City, Pennsylvania

Oil City, Pennsylvania

Oil City is a city in Venango County, Pennsylvania that is known in the initial exploration and development of the petroleum industry. After the first oil wells were drilled nearby in the 1850s, Oil City became central in the petroleum industry while hosting headquarters for the Pennzoil, Quaker...

, USA, the station is currently owned by Clarion County Broadcasting Corporation. WKQW remains Venango County's only locally operated, programmed, and managed full-service radio station.

History

WKQW was founded in 1982 by local broadcaster and engineer Stephen M. Olszowka, but would not go on the air until December of 1987. For most of its early years, WKQW operated out of an office at 234 Elm Street in Oil City. The station moved to its present location in 1993 when WKQW-FM went on the air.

Olszowka died suddenly on February 14, 2004 at age 54 and ownership of the station passed to his mother Helen Gesing Olszowka. She sold the station less than a year later to William Hearst's Clarion County Broadcasting for $540,000.

Hearst is also the owner of WWCH

WWCH

WWCH is an American radio station, licensed to Clarion, Pennsylvania, the seat of government for Clarion County. WWCH is licensed to operate at the federally-assigned frequency of 1300 kHz at a maximum power output of 850 watts...

 and WCCR

WCCR (FM)

WCCR is an American radio station licensed to the borough of Clarion, Pennsylvania. WCCR operates at the federally-assigned frequency of 92.7 MHz , with an effective radiated power of 3,000 watts...

, both of which are also licensed to Clarion County Broadcasting. Though controlled from its Clarion County base, WKQW is still a very separate operation, maintaining its studio and office presence and its own independent staff at its longtime location: 222 Seneca Street in downtown Oil City.