KGRC
KGRC is a CHR format radio station in the Quincy, Illinois, region owned by STARadio Corporation.
History
The station was purchased by STARadio Corporation in early 2004 to compete with KRRY, which was dominating the Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk market. No other Top 40/Hot AC station was in the region.Great River Country welcomed KGRC to life in 1968. It was the brain child of Mel Elzea, the stations first GM, and partner Frank Laughlin. They helped create Great River Communications, Inc., and signed the FM giant on air with the Fifth Dimension pop hit, “Up, Up and Away.” The station went on to become the dominant aural medium in the market in the 1970s. Highlights of the early years include a gold record for first airing, “Indian Reservation,” by The Raiders, and Missouri Broadcasting awards for flood coverage from up, up in a plane with Elzea and Program Director Mark Mathew.
KGRC covered many formats through the 1970s and 1980s, primarily drifting between some form of Adult Contemporary and Top 40.
The station sponsored Explorer scout "Troop 929" in the early-1970s. Scouts included John Wingate, a long-time television journalist and now a Minneapolis communications consultant and writer, Dan Matticks, a longtime radio broadcaster, video producer Louie Schaefer, IT professional Larry Schaffer, Ken Abbath, and Paula Dean.
The early-1990s brought the "Hot AC" boom, and a switch to the nickname "Variety 93".
By 2000, the station had become "92.9 The River", and flipped to its current Top-40 format. Today, it is known as "Real 92.9".