WBLQ (AM)
full service radio station in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States
WBLQ (1230 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Westerly, Rhode Island. The station is owned by Rick W. Schmidt's Turn Up Your Radio, LLC. Its programming is also carried on FM translator W276DF (103.1).
History
WERI
The station, then called WERI, began broadcasting on 1230 kHz on July 1, 1949, using a daytime and nighttime power of 250 watts, non-directional. The station still uses its original 185-foot, Blaw-Knox, self-supporting tower, on Margin Street, beside the Pawcatuck River.
In the 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) increased the daytime power of all Class IV AM stations to 1,000 watts. WERI still had to reduce power to 250 watts at night, as did all other stations on the same frequency.
In 1966, WERI added FM service with WERI-FM 103.7 (now WPVD-FM). The FM antenna was initially mounted to the side of the AM tower on Margin Street in downtown Westerly. The FM station broadcast for only a few days from this location before it was shut down due to harmonic interference to TV channel 12. In 1968, WERI-FM moved its transmitter to a new location on Route 3 in Ashaway, and began regular broadcasting.
The public source identifies “WBLQ (AM)” as full service radio station in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around WBLQ, full and service.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “WBLQ (AM)”, the useful work is to connect “full service radio station in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7947273. Authority coordinates are 41.366, -71.836. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1230, 1949, 1966 and 1968.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow WBLQ (AM) primary sources, WBLQ (AM) archive and WBLQ research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “WBLQ (AM)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.