WQLN-FM
WQLN-FM is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. Co-owned with PBS station WQLN, the station carries a mixed public radio format of talk, classical and jazz. The studios and transmitter are in Summit Township, south of the Erie city limits, adjacent to WJET-TV and WFXP off Peach Street ; WQLN's address is on Sesame Street, named for the popular PBS children's show.
WQLN-FM's signal covers Northwest Pennsylvania and small parts of New York State, Northeast Ohio and the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario. In addition, WQLN-FM programming is heard on a network of FM translators around the region.
History
WQLN-FM signed on the air in 1973. It is the sister station to Northwest Pennsylvania's PBS member station WQLN. A group of volunteers seeking to establish a non-commercial public television station had been working on securing a construction permit and funding since the 1950s. WQLN-TV 27 finally hit the airwaves on August 13, 1967.The same organization, Public Broadcasting of Northwest Pennsylvania, decided to pair the TV station with a public radio station as well. A frequency was sought and WQLN-FM made its first official broadcast on January 7, 1973. At first, most of its programming was classical music. But over time, WQLN-FM has added more news shows from NPR and other public networks, as well as jazz and other genres of music.
In 2024, WQLN-FM received a grant of $87,059 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to replace aging equipment and upgrade monitoring of its HD Radio signal to help its translators retransmit programming.