The Grandstander is not going to consider a corporate entity an "Absent Friend" in the usual sense, but Pittsburghers, and especially Pittsburghers of a "certain age" (my age or older) had to be taken aback a bit with the news that radio station KQV, 1410 on your AM dial, will be signing off as of January 1, 2018.
Prior to 1975, KQV was the radio station in Pittsburgh to listen to for Top Forty rock & roll hits. (Do Top Forty radio stations even exist any more?) Chuck Brinkman, Dave Scott, Henry DiBecco, the "Fun Loving Five", weekly Top 40 sheets that you would pick up at the National Record Mart, the station that presented The Beatles when they played Pittsburgh in 1964, even Jim Quinn before he lost his mind. Yep, if you are north of age 60 and grew up in Pittsburgh, chances are you were a regular listener to the "Groovy Q-V".
Of course, that all ended in 1975 when KQV went to an "all news, all the time" (with a right wing slant) format. However, the Dickey Family, which owns the station, has thrown in the towel, saying that due family circumstances and the current radio marketplace, the current business model is no longer sustainable, so the plug gets pulled in 15 days when this calendar year ends.
What I don't get is how an individual, Robert Dickey Jr. in this case, can just shut down something that is, in theory at least, a community asset? What happens to the station that exists on this frequency? Can an entity that is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission simply just go away, as if it never existed? Why isn't the Dickey family selling the station to someone who will continue to operate a station at 1410 on the dial? Or, maybe they did try and found no takers. Such is the radio business these days, I suppose.
By sheer coincidence last week, someone added me to a Facebook group called "KQV Radio Pittsburgh Fans". I didn't expect that I would be adding much to it, but I have found myself enjoying the group in these few days that I have been a part of it. Who knew that the end was so near?
Oh, well, as Bogart might have phrased it, "We'll always have the corner of 7th Street and Liberty Avenue."
Nice write up Bob. Unfortunately many AM radio stations have been shut down in the last year. I KQV's heyday the were many fewer radio stations in the Pittsburgh area. There were basically 5 major AMs and FMs didn't matter through most of the 60s. Now many more station are available with many niche formats and FM translators have been added to the mix. KQV did not do what so many others have done, They kept a live and local news staff and support team for a stand alone AM. So many others have brought in voices from out of market and put everything on the bird. KQV will be missed as a news station, It has been news for 42 years. If you love the old KQV, check out my tribute website. http://thebig14.radiosite.org
ReplyDeleteWe will miss the groovey QV located on the corner of "Walk and Don't Walk"
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