WLOQ-FM 103.1 
Winter Park 

Original Call Letters: WLOF-FM
Originally Licensed: 1966
Original City of  License:  Winter Park
Power: 3,000 watts                               
Original Format: Beautiful Music
Original Location: Langford Hotel, E. New England Ave.

Owner(s): 1966-Clarke and Rutledge 
                1972-Rounsaville Radio, Atlanta
                       -Home Security Broadcasting Co.
                1977-Gross Communications  (John Gross) ($210,000)  
                

History Of Call Letters and Formats: WLOF-1966-
                                                         WLOQ-1972-Beautiful Music/Light Classical
                                                         WLOQ-1977-Jazz
                                                         

History of WLOQ 
From Steve Rutledge whose father John Rutledge was a co-founder of WLOQ in 1966.  "...He put WLOQ on the air in the Langford Hotel.  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 950), almost a forerunner of the automation of today.
In June of 1977 Herbert Gross buys WLOQ from Home Security Broadcasting Co. for $210,000. In 1977 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. Looking to expand into a metropolitan area, WLOQ was his doorway to the fast-growing Orlando market.





For many years WLOQ would broadcast from the Langford Hotel in Winter Park.

Photo property of  
Winter Park Public Library




In introducing the smooth jazz format Gross passed on mainstream music and the prospect of being No. 1 in the market. Instead he carved a niche with a powerfully loyal upscale audience. Herb Gross' son John became general manager in 1980.  During his career, Herbert Gross owned five radio stations and a small cable television system; all but WLOQ were in Minnesota. WLOQ is Gross Communication Corp.'s only property now, but in the early days the company needed its other stations to generate cash flow. In 1977, WLOQ was the neglected stepsister to then powerhouse Top 40 station 
WLOF-AM 950. The late Robert Rounsaville of Atlanta, who also owned Top 40 station WBJW-FM 105.1 at the time, couldn't buy WLOF without selling WLOQ for Home Security Broadcasting first. Federal rules prevented stations from owning more than one AM and FM in a market. Enter Herb Gross. Rounsaville wound up paying Home Security $165,000 on top of Gross' $210,000 to seal the WLOQ deal. Gross said WLOQ was worth more than he paid, but he knew it would cost him plenty more. ''I bought the frequency,'' Gross said. ''I bought the potential, but you had to rebuild it from the ground up.''  For years, Gross turned all revenues back into the station. The first format was beautiful music with a jazz twist. In 1980, 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 1994, the station increased its signal from 3,000 watts to 25,000 watts, strengthening its reach into the outlying areas of metro Orlando. 

WLOQ - The Early Years    Dennis Snyder
WLOQ joined the Orlando area airwaves in 1966 licensed to Winter Park where their "Beautiful Music In Stereo" came from studios in the Langford Hotel for many years. Since this was a sister station to WLOF-AM 950 it was often said the letter F stood for "Fun" and the Q stood for "Quality".  WLOQ's 103.1 FM signal was only 2.1 KW with antenna gain boosting it to 3 KW.  The antenna was on a mast on the roof of the hotel and was just over 100 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 1970s WLOQ had a fairly good place in the ratings.  In the mid 1970s 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. The station was "closed mike", so the board operators never talked on the air, with commercials, news, and PSA's recorded at WLOF.  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 1970s 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. In June 1977 WLOF and WLOQ were split and Herb Gross purchased WLOQ.  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 1977 the studios moved over to 174 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 present day studios are on Fairbanks Ave close to the Comstock location while the transmitter (with higher power) is now just a few blocks from the old WLOF studios in the Old Winter Garden Rd area of Orlando. 

WLOQ  Personalities
Dennis Snyder-1972-1977-Biography In his latest email Dennis tells a couple of "tales".  Dick's (Camnitz's)  account of walking out on the WLOQ balcony and locking the door behind him brings to mind the same experience I had; must have been a WLOQ tradition.  With a long cut on the turntable, I dashed across the parking lot to the drink machine only to return and find the front door had locked behind me. Checked with the hotel desk clerk who had no key, but suggested I check the sliding glass door on the balcony because some of the WLOQ folks leave the door cracked for that reason.  What a relief it was to find the door cracked so I returned without incident.

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! 

Dick Camnitz-Dick tells a tale about himself. "WLOQ was all in a single hotel room when I worked there and albums were stored in the bathtub.  Some have heard this story before but one morning I walked out on the balcony for fresh air....probably trying to stay awake and locked the sliding glass door when I closed it.  I managed to climb down the balcony and get to the front desk to call Violet (Sidebottom) in time for her to jump out of bed and get to the station before the album ran out.  Luckily, I played the first cut.  She was livid, but got over it."
Bud Brewer Biography
Bill Bauman-News Biography
Byron Holden
Russ Wheeler Biography
Richard Andrews
Bob Church-1987-Mornings/Program director
Sabrina Kershner-1999-Morning co-host with Bob Church
Alicia Rivas



Mark Taylor-Mornings



Eileen Foster-Morning Co-host



Robyn Austin-2000-2003-"Smooth Jazz After Hours"/ Mornings



Alan Spector-1999
Bob O'Brien-1999-2001-Mornings/production director

Bob Stephenson-2000-Production Director, then Morning show host, now evening host. My current show was just ranked number 3 in the market. In the early -mid 70s I was Program Director and morning show host at WSIR in Winter Haven.



Brian Morgan-2003-Program Director


Anne Jeffries shares "Radio Tales" from the "media table" at Malcolm's Hungry Bear Restaurant



Bill Gable-2001-2002-Morning Drive

Stan Rearden
Al Crom
Lon Wagner
Melissa Algood
Aldie Beard
Jay Klassen
Lucy Barnard
Jim Kirk
Brock Lesperence
Joe Francis-1977-Operations Manager 
Drew Townsend  
Kerry Gardner   
Brian Schmitz   
Dave Mills   
Lee Hogan   
Patricia James   
Laura Bourdeau   
Tom Brooks   
Mark Butler   
Yvonne Coleman   
Cathy Johnson   
Lee Randall   
Kenneth Troy  
Scot Wade
Sabrina
Don Kirby
Paul Thomas
Bob Kelly-1978-1992
Steve Huntington-Program director
Lee Hogan
Ken Dixon 
Scott Silver Biography

Dan Jones Biography


Patrick Riley-nights
Mick Dolan-morning co-host, nights
Paul Newnum-1994-"Smokestack Lightnin'"
Tom Barry-1983-1994-movie and theater critic 
Louis Satmaria



Greg Warmoth


Ash Kimble-2005-Host of "The Chill Lounge" (aka Kid Cruz when he worked at WXXL-FM 106.7)
Robin Austin
Allen Moore-News
Kevin Baldinger-Traffic Biography

Other Names in WLOQ History
John Rutledge-1966-Partner/General Manager-Clarke and Rutledge In Memory Biography
Bill Clarke-1966-Partner-Clarke and Rutledge
Don Welsh-1966-Sales Manager-Clarke and Rutledge
Bob Corley-1966-Operations Manager-Clarke and Rutledge
Violet Sidebottom-1966-Operations Manager/Chief Engineer-Clarke and Rutledge
Robert Rounsaville-1972-President-Rounsaville Radio
Warren Chenevert-Chief Engineer
John Gross-1980-Vice President and General Manager
Bill Wise-1998-Program director
Jamie Roberts-2002-2004-Production Director from Jan 2003 to March 2004, did swing shifts, and did weekends prior to that from Sept 2002 to Dec 2002.
Dave Kosh-Program Director-now PD of WJZZ Atlanta

Paul Lavoie-2007-Program director
Herb Gross-1977-Owner


Rick Weinkauf-2000-2007-Vice President/General Manager  Rick announced his retirement in 2007 Biography




Jennifer Rabaja-2007-Sales Manager
Jim Gross-1995-General Sales Manager
Mark Steinmetz-2008-President and Chief Operating Officer

Others programs carried on WLOQ
Ramsey Lewis-syndicated

                                                    
                Here is a photo of the WLOQ studio in 1972.                    Another photo of WLOQ, this time after a little   
                         Courtesy of Dennis Snyder                                          updating, new cart machines, new turntables, 
                                                                                                    and the addition of reel to reel machines for 
                                                                                                    the classical programs.
                                                                                                                                                               Courtesy of Dennis Snyder    
      
                                        
                                               WLOQ studio in 1977                                 Dennis kicks back while "Bertha" the time and           
                                    Courtesy of Dennis Snyder                                      temperature machine keeps watch
                                                                                                                     Courtesy of Dennis Snyder   
                                                                                                                                            

                                                         
                                        WLOQ Program Log                                                WLOQ studios in 2004
                             Courtesy of Dennis Snyder                                                              Courtesy of Dennis Snyder   
                                                     
                                                                   
                                                                                WLOQ Tower 
                                                                             courtesy of Paul Walker


              

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