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WTOS-FM

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WTOS-FM
WTOS 105 logo.gif
Broadcast areaAugusta, Maine
Frequency105.1 MHz
Branding105 & 101 TOS
Programming
FormatMainstream rock
Ownership
Owner
  • Blueberry Broadcasting
  • (Blueberry Broadcasting, LLC)
History
First air date
1969 (1969)
Former call signs
WGHM-FM (1969–1972)
Call sign meaning
Top of Sugarloaf
Technical information
Facility ID46352
ClassC
ERP57,000 watts
HAAT747 meters (2,451 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
45°01′55″N 70°18′47″W / 45.032°N 70.313°W / 45.032; -70.313Coordinates: 45°01′55″N 70°18′47″W / 45.032°N 70.313°W / 45.032; -70.313
Repeater(s)910 WTOS (Bangor)
101.1 WTUX (Gouldsboro)
Links
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.wtosfm.com

WTOS-FM (105.1 MHz), known as "The Mountain of Pure Rock", is a commercial mainstream rock radio station licensed to Skowhegan, Maine whose studios are located in Augusta.

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History

WTOS-FM originated as a free-form rock music station in 1973 started by John Pineau on 107.1 MHz, with a studio based in Skowhegan, Maine. The tower was moved to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain with an upgrade to 57,000 watts effective radiated power on the current frequency of 105.1 MHz.

WTOS-FM remained locally owned by Mountain Wireless, and gained a reputation as one of the region's more daring stations throughout the 1980s, due to its penchant for playing harder or more obscure rock bands that did not normally appear on commercial radio stations. Music directors Annie Earhardt and Duane Bruce helped to take WTOS-FM in a direction that many others followed. The DJs also had input into what selections were played and an eclectic mix soon prevailed, separating the station from other rock-oriented stations in the region. WTOS-FM struggled with ratings, but was #1 in the Canadian province of Quebec where the signal is heard quite well.

In October 1987 the station changed format from an eclectic college alternative format to a more commercial classic rock format. After a public funeral through downtown Skowhegan for the previous format (organized by then-Music Director Duane Bruce), "The Mountain" continued to build up a large local following of fans, which was especially obvious at its frequent on-location remotes, usually at area bars and nightclubs.

WTOS-FM was acquired by Cumulus Media in late 2000, and the main studios were moved from Skowhegan to Augusta. The association with Cumulus did not last long, as only months later, WTOS-FM was purchased by media giant Clear Channel Communications. In May 2008, WTOS and the 16 other Clear Channel stations in the Augusta and Bangor markets were sold to Blueberry Broadcasting, a Maine-based company headed by Louis Vitale and Bruce Biette. On July 28, 2008, the newly formed Blueberry Broadcasting LLC assumed control of WTOS-FM.

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Rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the blues and rhythm and blues genres of African-American music and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical, and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 44 time signature using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the United States and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s.

1973 in radio

1973 in radio

The year 1973 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting history.

Skowhegan, Maine

Skowhegan, Maine

Skowhegan is the county seat of Somerset County, Maine. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,620. Every August, Skowhegan hosts the annual Skowhegan State Fair, the oldest continuously held state fair in the United States. Skowhegan was originally inhabited by the indigenous Abenaki people who named the area Skowhegan, meaning "watching place [for fish]," and were mostly dispersed by the end of the 4th Anglo-Abenaki War.

Sugarloaf Mountain (Franklin County, Maine)

Sugarloaf Mountain (Franklin County, Maine)

Sugarloaf Mountain is a ski mountain located in Carrabassett Valley, Franklin County, Maine. It is the third highest peak in the state, after Mount Katahdin's Baxter and Hamlin peaks. Sugarloaf is flanked to the south by Spaulding Mountain.

Alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop music. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock.

Classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid-1990s, primarily focusing on commercially successful blues rock and hard rock popularized in the 1970s AOR format. The radio format became increasingly popular with the baby boomer demographic by the end of the 1990s.

Cumulus Media

Cumulus Media

Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 media markets. It also owns and operates Westwood One. Its headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Its subsidiaries include Cumulus Broadcasting LLC, Cumulus Licensing LLC and Broadcast Software International Inc.

Broadcast area

With a 57,000-watt signal and the advantage of having a tower placed at such a high elevation, WTOS-FM reaches a significant portion of northern New England. The station can be heard over the airwaves from its studios in Augusta to Bangor and as far north as Houlton. It carries into the Estrie region of Quebec province to places such as Cookshire-Eaton, Lac-Mégantic and Thetford Mines, and can be received in eastern Maine in places such as Bar Harbor and Vinalhaven. The station is also heard by listeners in northern New Hampshire and parts of Vermont, although reception can be sporadic in those areas due to interference from the White Mountains.

In March 2009, Blueberry Broadcasting began to simulcast WTOS-FM's signal on its former talk station WCME on 96.7 FM, expanding to Mid Coast Maine (in May 2009, WCME's call letters were changed to WTQX) and in June 2010 WTUX signed on the air simulcasting WTOS-FM to the Downeast Maine region on 101.1 FM. The 96.7 frequency was sold to Maine Public Broadcasting in July 2017; it is now classical music station WBQA.

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Bangor, Maine

Bangor, Maine

Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's third-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121).

Houlton, Maine

Houlton, Maine

Houlton is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, on the Canada–United States border. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 6,055. It is perhaps best known for being at the northern terminus of Interstate 95 and as the birthplace of Samantha Smith, a goodwill ambassador as a child during the Cold War. The town hosts the annual Houlton Agricultural Fair.

Estrie

Estrie

Estrie is an administrative region of Quebec that comprises the Eastern Townships. Estrie, a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of est, "east". Originally settled by anglophones, today it is about 90 per cent francophone. Anglophones are concentrated in Lennoxville, home of the region's only English-speaking university, Bishop's University. The Eastern Townships School Board runs 20 elementary schools, three high schools, and a learning centre.

Quebec

Quebec

Quebec is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the largest province by area and the second-largest by population. Much of the population lives in urban areas along the St. Lawrence River, between the most populous city, Montreal, and the provincial capital, Quebec City. Quebec is the home of the Québécois nation. Located in Central Canada, the province shares land borders with Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast, and a coastal border with Nunavut; in the south it borders Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York in the United States.

Lac-Mégantic, Quebec

Lac-Mégantic, Quebec

Lac-Mégantic is a town in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. It is located on Lac Mégantic, a freshwater lake after which the town was named. Situated in the former Frontenac County in the historic Eastern Townships, Lac-Mégantic is the seat of Le Granit Regional County Municipality and of the judicial district of Mégantic.

Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. During the summer and fall seasons, it is a popular tourist destination and, until a catastrophic fire in 1947, the town was a summer colony for the wealthy.

Vinalhaven, Maine

Vinalhaven, Maine

Vinalhaven is a town on the larger of the two Fox Islands in Knox County, Maine, United States. Vinalhaven is also used to refer to the island itself. The population was 1,279 at the 2020 census. It is home to a thriving lobster fishery and hosts a summer colony. Since there is no bridge to the island, Vinalhaven is primarily accessible from Rockland via an approximately 75-minute state ferry ride across West Penobscot Bay, or by air taxi from Knox County Regional Airport.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Of the 50 U.S. states, New Hampshire is the fifth smallest by area and the tenth least populous, with slightly more than 1.3 million residents as of the 2020 census. Concord is the state capital, while Manchester is the largest city. New Hampshire's motto, "Live Free or Die", reflects its role in the American Revolutionary War; its nickname, "The Granite State", refers to its extensive granite formations and quarries. It is well known nationwide for holding the first primary in the U.S. presidential election cycle, and for its resulting influence on American electoral politics.

Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Admitted to the Union in 1791 as the 14th state, it is the only state in New England not bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the state has a population of 643,503, ranking it the second least-populated in the U.S. after Wyoming. It is also the nation's sixth-smallest state in area. The state's capital Montpelier is the least-populous state capital in the U.S., while its most-populous city, Burlington, is the least-populous to be a state's largest.

Talk radio

Talk radio

Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews with guests, and/or listener participation which may be live conversations between the host and listeners who "call in" or via voice mail. Listener contributions are usually screened by a show's producers to maximize audience interest and, in the case of commercial talk radio, to attract advertisers.

WTUX

WTUX

WTUX is an American mainstream rock radio station licensed to Gouldsboro, Maine, United States. The station is owned by Blueberry Broadcasting, LLC and simulcasts co-owned WTOS-FM.

WBQA

WBQA

WBQA is a non-commercial FM classical music radio station located at 96.7, owned by Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation and licensed to Boothbay Harbor, Maine. The station serves Mid Coast Maine with studios in Portland, Lewiston and Bangor. WBQA operates as part of the Maine Public Classical network.

WTOS Battle of the Bands and benefit concerts

The WTOS Battle of the Bands took place annually at the Skowhegan fairgrounds in mid-August. The event gained a great deal in popularity over time, and almost 6,000 fans attended the final battle in 2008. The winners of the events included Emptyhead (2003) and Dead Season (2004, 2005, 2006), Civil Disturbance (2007) and Soundbender (2008). Blueberry Broadcasting ended their involvement in the contest after the August 2008 show.

WTOS also hosted Rock Relief every year, raising funds for a different charitable organization each summer. It originated as a response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and became an annual event to raise money for charities in need, up through July, 2008. In 2009, Rock Relief took on a year-round dimension as the "WTOS School of Rock" concert series. The series features local and regional bands playing concerts at area high schools that raise money for the school's music program. Several Maine high schools have hosted shows, and as of 2010, over 20 different bands have performed. The concert series was discontinued in 2014.

Pure Rock logo.png

Source: "WTOS-FM", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, December 22nd), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTOS-FM.

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