End of an Era: QWK Rock Changes Format
August 8, 2009 at 5:02 pm Tina Hay 2 comments
I spent most of last week in Burlington, Vt., where I was on the faculty at a communications conference, and am just now catching up on a week’s worth of CDTs. Here’s a story that caught my eye: QWK Rock, the longtime FM rock station, has changed to a conservative talk radio format.
I have a special interest in the subject because my first job in State College was at that radio station. The late Bob Zimmerman ’58, who was general manager at the time, hired me to be the all-night DJ on QWK Rock—for those of you not familiar with State College, it’s pronounced “quick rock”—way back in 1976. I did that for about a year, then spent three years as news director of QWK’s AM counterpart (WRSC) before enrolling as a student at Penn State.
I really haven’t listened to the station in a long time—the various State College radio stations have changed ownership and formats so many times over the years that it’s hard to keep track of it all. But for QWK to go from rock to conservative talk is a bit of a change, to say the least.
Tina Hay, editor
Entry filed under: Penn State alumni, State College. Tags: Bob Zimmerman, conservative talk radio, QWK Rock, WQWK-FM, WRSC-AM.
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1. Matthew (In The Morning) Haywood | November 7, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I really enjoyed my time at 97 QWK-FM.
We were top 40 at the time and it was killing me because I was/am a rocker and was playing Madonna and Prince and people would bust my chops.
Sure enough, I left and the ratings tumbled (you can look it up) and they went back to being a rock station !
Now they are conservative talk.
Gene Ramano is crying somewhere.
I very much enjoyed my time in State College but am now living in Cleveland.
God Bless.
2. Becoming a Penn Stater « | December 17, 2009 at 8:00 pm
[...] in radio for a while instead, moving up to State College at the age of 18 to be the all-night DJ on QWK Rock. From there I worked in radio journalism for a few years, and finally, at the age of 22, I decided, [...]