WQRZ-LP

WQRZ-LP
City Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi
Broadcast area Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Frequency 103.5 MHz
Format 24-Hour EAS
ERP 100 watts
HAAT 27.8 meters (91 ft)
Class L1
Facility ID 126435
Transmitter coordinates 30°18′40.00″N 89°24′14.00″W / 30.3111111°N 89.4038889°W / 30.3111111; -89.4038889
Owner Hancock County Amateur Radio Association, Inc.
Website WQRZ Community Radio

WQRZ-LP (103.5 FM) is a low-power FM radio station licensed to Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, USA. The station is currently owned by the Hancock County Amateur Radio Association.[1][2]

History

On August 14, 2001 Brice Phillips (KB5MPW), President of the Hancock County Amateur Radio Association, was granted a construction permit to build the first solar powered LPFM Broadcast Station, which combined Broadcasting with Amateur radio. WQRZ-LP signed on the air January 29, 2003.

Hurricane Katrina

On August 27, 2005 Brice Phillips moved WQRZ-LP to the Hancock County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in advance of Hurricane Katrina. WQRZ-LP was one of the 4 out of 41 Broadcast Stations that survived Katrina, the only station at Ground Zero. After Katrina the Federal Communications Commission allowed WQRZ to increase their power from 100 watts to 4000 watts under special temporary authority, another first in history. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) distributed 3,500 FM radios so survivors could tune into WQRZ-LP to listen to information directly from the EOC.

WQRZ-LP was the first Broadcast Radio First Responder which earned American Radio Relay League Member Brice Philips the Small Business Administration's Phoenix Award, for "Outstanding Contributions to Disaster Recovery by a Volunteer". [3]

The future

WQRZ-LP operated out of the Hancock County EOC from August 27, 2005 until November 30, 2007. The future is unclear for WQRZ as they have not received any public assistance from FEMA. WQRZ-LP remains the only local 24-hour Emergency Alert System station in Hancock County.

References

  1. "WQRZ-LP Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. "WQRZ-LP Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  3. Jackson, BILL MINOR (September 6, 2007). "This little radio station saved lives". Sun Herald. pp. C2.


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