WQDR-FM (94.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, broadcasting to the Research Triangle, including the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, Rocky Mount, Wilson, and Goldsboro. "94.7 QDR" presents a country music radio format and is owned by the Curtis Media Group.
WQDR-FM's studios and offices are on Highwoods Boulevard in Raleigh. The transmitter is off Business Route 70 in Garner, on an antenna used by many Raleigh TV and FM stations. WQDR-FM is a Primary Entry Point (PEP) station for the Emergency Alert System, and was previously the Common Program Control Station (or CPCS-1) for the Raleigh operational area of the Emergency Broadcast System. WQDR-FM broadcasts in the HD Radio format, with its HD2 subchannel carrying the Top 40/CHR programming of co-owned WPLW-FM. WQDR-FM's HD3 subchannel airs the classic rock programming of AM 570 WQDR.
History
Early years
In August 1949, the Durham Life Insurance Company signed on WPTF-FM, then at 94.5 MHz. The station, which moved the following year to 94.7 MHz, transmitted from atop one of co-owned AM 680 WPTF's three towers in what is now Cary, near Interstate 40. Both stations had studios and offices in downtown Raleigh at 410 Salisbury Street. During its early years, WPTF-FM simulcast its sister station. In the 1960s and early 1970s, WPTF-FM was separately programmed, airing a classical music format.
The creative force behind a change to a rock music format was Durham Life Broadcasting's then President and General Manager, Carl Venters. Venters, who succeeded Richard Mason in June 1972, believed quadraphonic (four channels versus the two channels of the dominant audio format, stereo) music, particularly rock music, to be the wave of the future for FM radio. The new call letters of WQDR were selected to match the phrase "quadraphonic rock".
Quadraphonic rock
Venters hired Lee Abrams, a 19-year-old broadcaster then working for ABC Radio's progressive rock station in Detroit, WRIF. Abrams' mission was to create an Album Rock format for the Raleigh radio market. Abrams' idea was that album sales should determine a rock station's playlist, with songs from the hottest selling LPs played the most often. Venters also appointed David Berry as station manager. David Sousa was hired as program director, having previously worked with Abrams at WMYQ in Miami. Abrams, Sousa, and Robert W. Walker (an associate of Abrams) created an Album Rock music playlist and a program structure that was later known as the "Superstars" format. WQDR became the first FM station in the nation using this guide.
The new format went on the air on December 26, 1972 at midnight. The last song on WPTF-FM was "Jingle Bell Rock", while the first on WQDR was "Bitch" by the Rolling Stones. Within a year the station had double-digit ratings. After that first year, the "Superstars" format was being used in over 30 markets around the country. Abrams teamed up with veteran consultant Kent Burkhart, and later helped develop music formats for XM Satellite Radio.
In its rock days, WQDR garnered some impressive listener ratings. Among the many memorable on-air personalities during the WQDR rock era were David Sousa, Frank Laseter, Mike Koste, Bill Hard, Jason Janulis, Roger Nelson, Bob Heymann, Steve Mitchell, Mark Silver, John Scott (John Chrystal), Chris Miller, Keith Wilson, Jim Huste, Sean Sizemore (Sean Scott), and Rad Messick. In later years, the air staff included Greg Wells, Jo Leigh Ferriss, Bob Kirk (Robert Kirk), Daniel Brunty, Tom Gongaware, Bob Walton, Rockin' Ron Phillips, Tom Guild, Tim Sullivan(Tim Sampair over-nights), John Lisle, Steve Kahn, Tom Evans, Brian McFadden, Cabell Smith (who was previously WDBS's morning classical DJ), Bob Robinson, and Pat Patterson, who was hired for mornings in 1978 after years at crosstown Top-40 station WKIX. In 1981, WQDR's News Department won a Peabody Award for a series produced by News Director Gayle Rancer and Joan Siefert on Vietnam Vets, entitled "Our Forgotten Warriors." It was an accomplishment almost unheard of at the time for a rock-music radio station and a first for a North Carolina radio station. This extensive and comprehensive investigative news series also reeled in an Ohio State Award and other honors regionally and nationally.
In 1977, the Durham Life Broadcasting Company bought a local television station, Channel 28 WRDU-TV (now WRDC) in Durham. WQDR's transmitter joined Channel 28, renamed WPTF-TV, using a tower that stood off Penny Road in Apex.