WHHQ

WIDD signed on November 11, 1964.{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1976/1976-BC-YB.pdf|work=1976 Broadcasting Yearbook|date=1976|accessdate=September 30, 2019|title=WIDD|page=C-183}} The station was originally owned by the Holston Broadcasting Corporation, broadcasting on 1520 with 1,000 watts daytime and 500 watts in critical hours.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=60667 |title= History Cards for WHHQ|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) The station was acquired in 1973 from its original ownership by Landcare, Inc. principals J. H. Lewis and Edward H. Davis, along with WLSN-FM 99.3 (changed to WIDD-FM in 1975),{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36549883/|page=2-B|work=Kingsport Times-News|title=Elizabethton Stations Sold|date=June 24, 1973|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} though Lewis had owned part of Holston since the station signed on the air.{{r|hc}} Landcare, whose other holdings included car washes, a beverage distributor and a hotel in Illinois,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36573857/|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle|title=C.M. Taylor vs. James H. Lewis|page=28|date=October 2, 1975|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} was forced into involuntary bankruptcy by its creditors in 1975, and a federal bankruptcy judge ordered in March 1976 that the stations be sold.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36549903/|page=10|title=Bankruptcy judge orders sale of station|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle|date=March 12, 1976|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} Metro Broadcasting Corporation bought WIDD-AM-FM that October for $250,000.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36549943/|title=Judge confirms sale of expanses|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle|page=11|accessdate=September 30, 2019}}

WIDD AM had been programming country music prior to the sale to Metro{{r|bcyb76}} and remained in the format while WIDD-FM played gospel music and religious programming.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36549972/|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle|date=January 3, 1977|page=2|title=WIDD-FM 99.3 Elizabethton Is Now Programming All Gospel|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} One of its songs, however, would cause a legal furor. A local artist wrote "The Ballad of Jarvis Stout", about the drunk driving arrest of a local constable; alleging the invasion of his privacy, the fact that WIDD aired the song as its "Pick Hit of the Week" (whereas WBEJ refused to air it), and the fact that the publicity around the case prompted a mistrial, he sued WIDD and others involved in the creation of the song for $300,000.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550047/|pages=1A, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550055/ 8A]|date=October 5, 1978|work=Kingsport Times|title=Constable Sues Over 'Outrageous Song'|accessdate=September 30, 2019}}

WIDD-AM-FM was sold in 1981 to attorney H. Curtis Williams and Gene Artrip, doing business as Southern Signal Corporation, for $400,000.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550209/|title=Johnson City men acquire Elizabethton stations WIDD-AM, FM|accessdate=September 30, 2019|date=July 28, 1981|page=2|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle}}{{cite news|url=https://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1981/1981-12-21-BC.pdf|title=Ownership Changes|page=68|work=Broadcasting|date=December 21, 1981|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} The new owners flipped WIDD-FM to album-oriented rock and moved its former religious programming to the AM station.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550248/|work=Kingsport Times-News|date=August 14, 1981|first=Bill|last=Lammers|title=Elizabethton station changing format to appeal to 'old hippies now in their 30s'|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} The change did not last, and within a year, WIDD was back to country music, though this time it played a blend of 1950s and 1960s oldies music and current country artists, calling itself "Country Rockin' WIDD-AM15".{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550291/|accessdate=September 30, 2019|date=April 17, 1982|title=Country Rockin' WIDD-AM15|page=14|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle}} That format did not last, and by 1983 the station had flipped to adult standards.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550374/|title=Radio alternative|date=March 4, 1983|page=4|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle|accessdate=September 30, 2019}}

Southern Signal's financial condition began to deteriorate after two years on the air, largely because the station was indebted when the company acquired the stations.{{r|area}} Late in 1983, WIDD-FM was sold off to the owner of WJSO.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550408/|page=8|date=September 15, 1983|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle|title=AM station buying WIDD|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} On March 1, 1984,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36575211/|accessdate=September 30, 2019|first=Tina|last=Hilton|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle|date=March 3, 1984|page=2|title=Area bank seizes assets of radio station owners}} the Watauga Valley Bank seized the station{{cite news|title=WIDD-AM to continue operating|first=Mary Alice|last=Basconi|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550466/|accessdate=September 30, 2019|date=May 5, 1984|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle}} after defaulting on a $225,000 loan.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550532/|title=Radio station seeks bankruptcy protection|first=Mary Alice|last=Basconi|accessdate=September 30, 2019|date=June 13, 1984|work=Johnson City Press-Chronicle}} Other creditors included United Press International, Broadcast Music, Inc., and United Telephone.{{r|seeks}} The bank, however, was in its own dire straits. On April 6, the Tennessee banking commissioner shut down the financial institution, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation taking control of Watauga Valley's assets.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36575119/|date=April 7, 1984|work=Kingsport Times|page=1A|title=More Tennessee banks close: First Security, Watauga pledge reopening Monday|accessdate=September 30, 2019|first=Tom|last=Yancey}} This put the FDIC in the highly unusual position of running a radio station,{{r|continue}} though a thunderstorm in late May or early June destroyed the WIDD transmitter{{r|seeks}} and plunged the station into a silence that would last nearly two years. The owner of the Elizabethton Star newspaper attempted to buy the station but was told by the Federal Communications Commission that he could not own both the newspaper and WIDD.{{r|seeks}}

Michael B. Glinter acquired the station at the end of 1985 and returned WIDD to air in March 1986.{{r|dies}} Among the air staff of the relaunched station was Lee Brown, who had previously been at WIDD from 1964 to 1981 and had worked at WBEJ before then. On August 22, 1986, at 12:40 p.m., Brown was on the air when he suffered a heart attack and died in the studio at the age of 61.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550642/|date=August 23, 1986|title=Disc jockey dies during broadcast|accessdate=September 30, 2019|page=2|work=Johnson City Press}} Glinter resold WIDD in 1987 to Dale Miller and Gary Ward for $165,000.{{cite news|url=https://americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/87-OCR/BC-1987-03-02-OCR-Page-0078.pdf|accessdate=September 30, 2019|work=Broadcasting|date=March 2, 1987|page=78|title=Ownership Changes}} The new ownership flipped the station from gospel music to easy listening{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550740/|first=Gerald G.|last=Ward|title=Reason for leaving|work=Johnson City Press|page=4|accessdate=September 30, 2019|date=February 25, 1988}} and changed the call letters to WITM ("In Tennessee's Mountains") on April 26, 1988; the new call letters and music format coincided with James Chambers, a Navy veteran who had lost his eyesight while serving, taking over as general manager.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36550774/|date=May 21, 1988|title=Blindness fails to dim Elizabethton man's vision|first=Tom|last=Kirkland|work=Johnson City Press|pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36575689/ 10]|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} WITM changed formats again, this time to Christian programming and southern gospel music, in 1991; the programming was simulcast from WBCV in Bristol, Virginia.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36549689/witm_returns_with_christian_format/|date=December 28, 1991|page=13|work=Johnson City Press|title=WITM returns with Christian format|accessdate=September 30, 2019}}

By 1993, however, WITM had gone silent again. That July, the Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation—owners of WKPT, WTFM, and WKPT-TV in Kingsport as well as WKTP in Jonesborough—filed to buy the inactive station from Good Shepherd Broadcasting—owned by interests that had bought out Miller and Ward over the late 80s—for $11,200, claiming that WITM's poor financial status made it a failed station which they could own.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1993/RR-1993-07-30.pdf|date=July 30, 1993|work=Radio & Records|title=WITM/Elizabethton (Johnson City–Kingsport)|page=8|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} The FCC approved the sale in June 1995{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-1995-06.pdf|page=4 (20)|work=M Street Journal|date=June 21, 1995|accessdate=September 30, 2019|title=Proposed Station Transfers}} over objections by WBEJ that the acquisition would give Holston Valley too many outlets.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1993/RR-1993-09-03.pdf|work=Radio & Records|date=September 3, 1993|title=Six Is Too Many, Competitor Charges In Duopoly Deal|accessdate=September 30, 2019|page=4}} The station became WKPP in 1995, run in a cooperative venture where Holston Valley supplied WKPT Radio Network programming, while WBEJ sold the station's advertising and handled operations.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36549558/|title=WBEJ|work=Johnson City Press|date=March 10, 1996|page=5-D|accessdate=September 30, 2019}} The station originally had an adult contemporary "mature music"{{r|mature}} format, though by 1998 it had changed to all-news.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36549592/we_bring_you_the_world_of_radio/|title=We Bring You The World Of Radio|date=March 8, 1998|work=Johnson City Press|accessdate=September 30, 2019|page=11-A}}

In 1999, the St. Thomas More Broadcasting Association acquired WKPP for $65,000;{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Annuals/Archive-BC-YB-IDX/00s-OCR-YB/2001-YB/2001-BC-YB-OCR-Page-0864.pdf|work=2001 Broadcasting Yearbook|accessdate=September 30, 2019|date=2001|page=D-414|title=WHHQ(AM)}} the call letters officially changed to WHHQ on December 8, 1998. The change coincided with the station beginning to broadcast Catholic programming as Queen of Peace Catholic Radio; the licensee name changed to Mediatrix SC, Inc., in 2004.{{cite web|website=Consolidated Database System|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=100983012&formid=316&fac_num=24624|title=BAL-20040315AEM Assignment of License — WHHQ}} The station was off air for a time but returned in September 2005 as a classic country-formatted station operated by G&G Broadcasting.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/elizabethton-star-whhq-returns-to-the-ai/133307625/|date=September 28, 2005|page=5|title=WHHQ returns to the airwaves|newspaper=Elizabethton Star|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 12, 2023}}

Citing a dispute with a party that held a time brokerage agreement with Mediatrix, the licensee received special temporary authority to take WHHQ silent, as of April 29, 2006.{{cite web|website=Consolidated Database System|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1132133&Service=AM&Form_id=910&Facility_id=24624 |title=BLSTA-20060530ALS — Request for Silent STA — WHHQ}} Though Mediatrix claimed it had found a buyer for the station,{{cite web|website=Consolidated Database System|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101164362&formid=910&fac_num=24624|title=BLESTA-20061211ADE Request for Extension of Silent STA — WHHQ}} no application to sell the station was ever filed; the license was marked as deleted by the FCC as of April 27, 2007, for failure to broadcast over 12 months.{{cite web|website=Consolidated Database System|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=24624|title=FCC Call Sign History – WHHQ}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=24624 Facility details for Facility ID 24624 (WHHQ)] in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• [https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=60667 FCC History Cards for WHHQ] (covering 1961-1981 as WIDD)

{{Tri-Cities TN / VA Radio}}

HHQ

Category:Defunct radio stations in the United States

Category:2006 disestablishments in Tennessee

Category:Radio stations disestablished in 2006

Category:1964 establishments in Tennessee

Category:Radio stations established in 1964

Category:Elizabethton, Tennessee

Category:Defunct religious radio stations in the United States

HHQ

HHQ