Locals show up at daybreak on Friday morning to claim a space to spread out their blankets and set up their lawn chairs in front of stage in north Central Park. More than just a concert, the event takes on the feeling of a neighborhood party with elaborate spreads of food and drink.
WLOQ went off the air in and funding for the concerts decreased without their industry connections and advertising support. But the excitement continued.
The festival took over the booking of talent and sponsorships with the help of board member Wayne Osley of Oz Media, who continued to secure outstanding, crowd-pleasing headliners. Originally Licensed: Original City of License: Winter Park. Original Frequency: Original Power: 3, watts. Original Location: Langford Hotel, E. New England Ave. Winter Park. Original Format: Beautiful Music.
Network Affiliation s :. I got out of school to go over and watch the Poli Brothers put up the monopole for the antenna. It was a cool operation. He formatted these beautiful music stations himself, no announcers, production was done at WLOF -AM , almost a forerunner of the automation of today. In the station broadcast classical and beautiful music from a room in the Langford Hotel and kept its library of albums in a bathtub.
Its signal was spotty even in Winter Park. It had no ratings. More than that, WLOQ needed to be unloaded fast by a broadcaster who would have broken federal radio ownership rules if he had kept it. Today that broadcaster wouldn't have had to sell. The rules have changed over the years and Herbert Gross was in the right place at the right time.
WLOQ will move its primary FM antenna to a new "twice taller tower" in Winter Garden, just west of its current tower site, giving the new signal far greater geographic coverage of the three county Orlando, FL, Metro Survey Area, and beyond, as well as far greater signal density to better penetrate office buildings, and homes within existing WLOQ coverage areas.
Lake County, one of the fastest growing areas of Orlando's greater metro area, will now enjoy higher quality primary signal coverage, as will Leesburg to the Northwest, Sumter to the West, Lakeland to the Southwest, and Southern Osceola County to the South-Southeast. Photo property of Winter Park Public Library. In introducing the smooth jazz format, Gross passed on mainstream music and the prospect of being No.
Instead he carved a niche with a powerfully loyal upscale audience. Herb Gross' son John became general manager in Federal rules prevented stations from owning more than one AM and FM in a market. Enter Herb Gross. Gross said WLOQ was worth more than he paid, but he knew it would cost him plenty more. The first format was beautiful music with a jazz twist. In , WLOQ became one of the first stations in the country to base its programming on the instrumentals and vocals of such artists as George Benson and Al Jarreau.
In , the station increased its signal from 3, watts to 25, watts, strengthening its reach into the outlying areas of metro Orlando. According to Radio Info.
You'll be able to hear us on your computer, your smart phone, and any web-enabled device -for free- without subscription or other fees. The technology may have changed Bear with us over the next few days and weeks as we navigate our way into this new way of doing business It is our desire to bring you the programming, events, and concerts you have supported and attended for the past three decades.
It is your support that made the past 33 years possible, with that same support, we'll look forward to bringing you WLOQ now and in the future! Thank you for listening! WLOQ's The antenna was on a mast on the roof of the hotel and was just over feet high. For many years WLOQ only played instrumental music and toned things down even more at night making it more of a background music station.
To some degree the music became a bit more lively over the years. During the early s WLOQ had a fairly good place in the ratings. In the mid s the station added some newer music and began to play a few easy listening vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Ray Conniff Singers, and Barbara Streisand. A good number of people made their entry into broadcasting by starting at WLOQ in the earlier years. Many have spoken of the record library being in the bathtub, but over the years a small library was built in the walk-in closet.
It was a rather cozy little station. To add some more variety there was a weekly jazz show with Alan Rock. Classical music segments were also experimented with during the mid s beginning with a weekly pre-recorded program by Paul Neal then expanding to daily segments with pre-recorded shows from Parkway Productions.
While the jazz and classical added variety and enthusiasm for those who enjoy those types of music, ultimately the stations ratings and sales suffered and the classical and jazz were discontinued. We continued with the easy listening music with plans to go live mike, but the control board was very close to the transmitter and too noisy. The board was moved into the adjoining room and we opened up the mike for the first time.
Ron Louis started it off in the morning, but this was a gradual change over a few weeks for the rest of the announcers who initially just gave the time, weather, and a few brief news stories. In the late summer of the studios moved over to W Comstock with the transmitter remaining at the Langford briefly then was moved over to Johnson Communications on Minnesota Ave.
Soon the station started moving towards the jazz music that it has now become well known for over the past 30 years. The change from the once all-classical station comes as a result of a recent management and ownership takeover. Some of the disc jockeys have personal favorites they highlight during their shifts.
He has a good ear for jazz and he plays some good jazz numbers. Wheeler is on the air from 6 to 10 a. Brewer, a former talk show host and newscaster, said the station's license allows it to broadcast 24 hours a day, and station management will consider such an operating schedule when it becomes economically feasible. The foot tower the station now uses is at the Langford Hotel but plans are to move it and raise it to feet.
It would not necessarily widen the listening area, which would be the case if the 3,watt station were to increase its power. That would require government approval, he said. The location of the new antenna has not been determined. Also in the offing for WLOQ, Brewer said, would be more public-interest personality features, similar to the ones the station airs on the "Saturday in the Park" program, broadcast at noon Saturdays.
Live coverage of special events also is planned, and a possible on-the-scene broadcast from the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival Saturday would be the first effort in that direction. We want to become active in the community, to be a part of the community," Brewer said.
The station runs several public service announcements and will upgrade its community affairs efforts, he said. News is broadcast every hour on the half hour. The station's offices are at W.
Comstock Ave. WLOQ Personalities. Another memorable time was with headphones on in the wee hours while cranking out the elevator hits when I was startled by a police officer who I didn't hear open the door.
He informed me a bomb threat had been received for the Langford hotel and I must evacuate immediately. This wasn't exactly on our list of "what to do" so I faded out the song on the air and started a new album.
Once across the street at Langford Apartments I called Louis manager at the time to let him know. Fortunate once again, we were allowed to return without incident, still had an extra song or two to go on the album as well! In Memory.
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