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WSRQ - A History

WSRQ-AM 1220 Sarasota & WSRQ-FM 106.9 Zolfo Springs – SRQ Radio LLC (Don Murphy, president) acquired Nova Broadcasting’s WIBQ in 2006 and flipped its calls to WSRQ (SRQ stands for the three-letter IATA designating code for Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport) in early 2007. The one-kilowatt AM programmed a news/talk and sports format.

WSRQ began simulcasting its programming via an FM translator on 106.9 in the fall of 2009, which enabled it to reach a larger coverage area along Florida’s Suncoast.

In 2011, the station’s tower site relocated from Birky Street, near Beneva Road and Bahia Vista, to a new directional two-tower array off Palmer Boulevard, west of Debrecen Road.  That same year, WSRQ was acquired by Florida Talk Radio LLC, a management/ownership group established by Lauren Rudd, Susan Nilon (GM and co-host of “Sarasota Talks”), Kent Kirschner and Jim Lampl. In 2012, offices and studios moved from 2127 Ringling Boulevard in Sarasota to 1100 S. Tamiami Trail. Jim Lampl became the sole owner of WSRQ in 2015.

After programming a syndicated talk-show format for six or seven years, WSRQ flipped to oldies on June 29, 2018, and re-branded itself Hitland SRQ with a focus on hits of the 60's and 70's. Shortly thereafter, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), which operates a campus at Lakewood Ranch near Bradenton, acquired WSRQ from Florida Talk Radio, Inc. for $520,000 and converted the station to non-commercial status with a classic hits format.

In August 2019, LECOM acquired Zolfo Springs' 106.9 WZZS-FM and changed the call letters to WSRQ-FM, using the outlet to expand signal coverage of the Sarasota AM's oldies format. The FM's coverage area includes the cities of Wauchula, Arcadia, Avon Park, Sebring, and Lake Placid. Studios relocated to a shopping center site in Sarasota at the corner of S. Beneva Road and Webber Street.

Other names in WSRQ history include Doug Miles (station manager, host/producer of the "Suncoast Magazine" and "Big Band Files," news/sports director/play-by-play 2007-2008), James Grady (GM-2008), Bob Biermann (chief engineer/station manager 2008/2009), Lisa Murphy (PD-2009), Kathy Schille (sales-2010), Matt Bruce (host of “Suncoast Morning News”), Steve Huggins (PD-2011), and David Wolfe (ops manager/mornings - 2018).

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Station History