radio station on 101.1 fm . for other radio stations which have been known as wkqx see wkqx . not to be confused with q101 chicago . wkqx city chicago illinois broadcast area chicago market branding 101 wkqx slogan the new home for alternative frequency 101.1 fm mhz also on hd radio first air date 1948 as wmaq fm format alternative rock erp 5 700 watts haat 425 meters 1 394 ft class b facility id 19525 callsign meaning first used for the station s experimental aor format in the 1970s and the q in wmaq former callsigns wmaq fm 1948 1973 wjoi 1973 1975 wnis fm 1975 1977 wkqx 1977 7 2011 wwwn 7 2011 12 2011 wiqi 12 2011 1 2014 owner merlin media llc operated by cumulus media via lma merlin media license llc sister stations wls wls fm wlup fm webcast listen live website www.101wkqx.com wkqx 101.1 fm branded 101 wkqx is a radio station serving the chicago metropolitan area . the station is owned by merlin media llc and operated by cumulus media under a local marketing agreement announced in january 2014 . a former nbc radio owned and operated station wkqx is best known for carrying a long running alternative rock format from 1992 until 2011 as q101 . wkqx aired an alternative rock music format that originated on the former wkqx lp 87.7 fm or lptv channel 6 from 2012 until 2014 . from 2001 to 2016 wkqx s studios were co located with sister station wlup in the merchandise mart ; the station is expected to relocate to nbc tower by summer 2016 . its transmitter is located atop the john hancock center . wkqx broadcasts two channels in the hd radio format . 1 contents 1 station history 1.1 the nbc years 1.2 emmis communications purchases wkqx and the beginning of q101 1.3 change to alternative music 1.4 on shuffle 1.5 image change 1.6 q101 live music festivals 1.6.1 twisted 1.6.2 jamboree 1.6.3 block party 1.7 purchase by merlin media 1.8 fm news 101.1 1.9 i101 1.10 101 wkqx 2 programming lineup 3 references 4 external links station history edit the nbc years edit 101.1 fm was originally wmaq fm co owned by nbc with wmaq . wmaq fm generally simulcast the am station eventually developing its own format . in 1974 wmaq fm changed call letters to wjoi and adopted an adult contemporary format . in late 1975 the station again changed call letters and format to wnis fm carrying the nbc radio network s all news radio news and information service which failed to compete against news stalwart wbbm . in 1977 the station repositioned itself as wkqx the x stood for experimental which played an album oriented rock format that was more adventurous than wdai but more accessible than wxrt . the program director and midday host was bob pittman who later created mtv and is now ceo of clear channel communications . 2 bob heymann served as assistant program director and morning drive host and bob king was the music director . mitch michaels did afternoon drive and lorna ozmon did nights . it broadcast commercial free for the first two months of the format . the station was an immediate success debuting with a 3.9 aqh m s 6 am to 12 m 12 share in the 1977 january february arbitron ratings . in the spring of 1977 chicago gained another aor station wlup . this meant that there were four fm rock stations wkqx wxrt wdai and wlup competing against each other . after almost two years of battling for ratings both wdai and wkqx coincidentally quit playing rock independently of one another at the end of 1978 . wdai became all disco and wkqx became an adult contemporary station . emmis communications purchases wkqx and the beginning of q101 edit by the mid 1980s the station had evolved into a hot ac format dropping the 1960s music by 1988 and was known on air as q101 . starting in 1987 nbc began a two year long divesture of their radio properties a consequence of general electric acquiring nbc s parent company rca . while wmaq was spun off to westinghouse broadcasting emmis communications which also purchased the am and fm licenses to nbc s new york stations as well as kyuu in san francisco and wjib in boston bought wkqx in 1988 . robert murphy was the successful morning drive host on q101 competing with the likes of wlup s jonathon brandmeier . the station s slogan in the mid late 1980s was today s music . by 1989 wkqx evolved into an adult top 40 station and by 1991 it had transitioned to a modern ac format preceding wtmx . change to alternative music edit q101 continued to evolve and on july 15 1992 wkqx completed its shift to modern rock . 3 4 program director bill gamble used kroq in los angeles as a model for the format change . much of the input for the music playlists came from the staff of the music research department at q101 . it was the music research department led by mary shuminus that gave gamble the word on the street of what was hot in the alternative rock world . it was this staff between 1990 1994 that helped mold the radio station . however q101 did have trouble finding talent that could be hip and know the alternative market . they failed to mold robert murphy and his contract was not renewed . 5 then they hired former mtv vj mark goodman but that did not bring emmis the ratings they wanted in morning drive . in the mid 1990s q101 s morning show saw many hosts come and go but not until 1998 did they sign mancow muller s morning show away from the now defunct wrcx and mancow began to syndicate the show . the station helped launch the career of chicago acts disturbed and fall out boy particularly through their prominent local music show local 101 . during the alternative era q101 was home to many popular specialty shows that helped to foster the thriving independent music scene in chicago . some of these shows included zoltar s industrial zone local 101 hosted by james vanosdol and later chris payne and q101 s sonic boom hosted and produced by joey swanson . q101 has also been known to occasionally play songs from the hip hop genre featuring chicago native artists such as kanye west and lupe fiasco . they also played the beastie boys cypress hill eminem and fort minor . on shuffle edit on april 1 2005 wkqx went completely on shuffle . 6 while not a format change per se it was the largest shift in the station s format since they became an alternative station . instead of focusing on new music solely they expanded their playlist to include classic alternative rock from the 1980s and 1990s and even 1970s artists like the sex pistols bob marley and the clash . the new slogan for the station became everything alternative . in on air liners they even apologized for the hard rock excesses of the past when they competed with wzzn which by then had become an oldies station . the q101 on shuffle approach extended throughout the summer . the summer of shuffle returned for summer 2006 . mancow was dropped by the station on july 14 2006 . q101 felt they had lost control of their morning slot and desired a more chicago oriented show that blended better with their format in contrast to the syndicated feel of mancow s morning madhouse . on september 18 2006 q101 would launch the morning fix a tightly formatted ensemble morning show that included fixed elements such as news sports weather traffic interviews parodies and other bits presented in a manner similar to that of a news radio clock approach combined with the approach of popular comedy shows such as the daily show the colbert report and saturday night live s weekend update . the ensemble cast led by former wxdx pittsburgh personality alan cox was a mix of experienced radio personalities comedy actors and writers . 7 however on november 9 2007 the morning fix underwent major changes when it was decided that morning airtime would be more wisely used playing music ; the changes resulted in only 2 of the shows original 6 members remaining alan cox and jim jesus lynam . 8 in the fall rating period released in early 2007 the arbitron media research group reported that wkqx fm q101 slipped from a 1.8 share to a 1.2 m s 6a 12m aqh metro 12 . consequently the show dropped alan cox and jim lynam on august 1 2008 and moved sherman and tingle from afternoons to the morning slot 1 with alex quigley replacing them as afternoon host . image change edit q101 logo used for much of the station s existence as an alternative format in november 2007 q101 changed their slogan from q101 everything alternative to q101 .1 chicago s alternative . the logo changed as well with the added .1 as part of an industry trend to sound out the entire frequency for the sake of digital tuning radios which have begun to overtake radios with needle tuners beginning to lean towards an active rock direction with harder artists such as pantera bullet for my valentine and metallica added to the playlist ever since wzzn flipped to oldies because their shuffle format had poor ratings . despite their active rock lean during these times no classic rock except for alternative based classic rock was played . adult album alternative artists not played on the alternative chart today such as counting crows gin blossoms and alanis morissette with only their songs from the 1990s were dropped despite competitor wxrt playing those artists . in 2009 the station was rebranded again as q101 dropping the .1 although retaining the chicago s alternative slogan . as of 2011 q101 began adding more newer hard rock that used to belong on sister station wlup fm since wlup reverted to classic rock . q101 live music festivals edit during its tenure as an alternative rock station wkqx served as host to several music festivals and events including the following twisted edit twisted was an annual music festival each december the first being in 1994 . twisted christmas bad religion killing joke dinosaur jr. veruca salt weezer and hole . twisted 2 alanis morissette porno for pyros white zombie oasis silverchair tripping daisy goo goo dolls soul asylum twisted 3 fiona apple bloodhound gang sheryl crow gravity kills korn stabbing westward the violent femmes the wallflowers weezer twisted 4 311 bj rk cancelled chumbawamba the cure duran duran everclear sarah mclachlan sugar ray twisted 5 beck cake everlast garbage goo goo dolls soul coughing third eye blind twisted 6 fiona apple blink 182 bush the chemical brothers filter foo fighters moby oasis run dmc twisted 7 cypress hill deftones disturbed everlast incubus live the offspring orgy papa roach twisted 8 311 alien ant farm blink 182 bush the crystal method puddle of mudd sum 41 pete yorn twisted 9 3 doors down box car racer disturbed jimmy eat world local h moby cancelled public enemy sugarcult the vines twisted 10 311 afi dashboard confessional jane s addiction korn twisted 11 califone franz ferdinand the hives modest mouse my chemical romance secret machines snow patrol taking back sunday the used twisted 12 the all american rejects coheed and cambria death cab for cutie fall out boy hot hot heat the lovehammers o.a.r. the psychedelic furs twisted 13 disturbed flyleaf guster gym class heroes jet my chemical romance red jumpsuit apparatus rise against stone sour twisted 14 the almost atreyu drowning pool cancelled replaced by danger is my middle name coheed and cambria the secret handshake silverchair silversun