The station went on the air in 1919. It will go off the air in two weeks. Owner Robert Dickey told his staff on Friday the all-news station will end its run at the end of the year. Dickey told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “It’s fair to say we’ve been trying to provide a community service. The bottom line is I just can’t sustain the business model. We’re an independent, labor-intensive format, and we were happy to take it on as long as we could financially do it.”
Dickey has owned or co-owned the station since 1982, The station has 20 employees. Dickey tells the newspaper he plans to suspend operations allowing for the possibility some investor or buyer may come along in the interim, though he’s made no effort to sell the station.
I hope the Pittsburgh School District is listening(at least, reading this)in which they can use it as a listener-supported station & it would originate from one of the local High Schools in Greater Pittsburgh.
Wen radio was a good show n titbites as well as news was good janice meehan I will miss it
Sadly it’s called progress. Over the years the AM band has been ruined by the lack of attention to the rules, the technology and choice. In the 70s you had some pretty good sounding stations in Pittsburgh. FM came on and AM was pushed aside. Even before the demise of KQV count the number of stations you could hear on AM vs. FM. It’s only gotten worse and radio has done little to get it fixed. Nevermind translators. I know of one AM station (regional frequency) that’s had to put on 4 translators to cover the same territory as the AM signal. How do you brand a product with 5 different frequencies? All news isn’t a cheap format. Even the “big” stations in NY and LA are struggling to keep up. Kudos to the KQV people for keeping it going as long as they did. A lot of other stations tried things and failed. WTAE was the personality variety station in Pittsburgh. Where is it now? They tried talk. Failed against powerhouse KDKA. 13Q was “the” Top 40 station until WPEZ and WXKX double-teamed the AM station into oblivion. Even the WJAS “Nostalgia” format was trashed by new owners looking to create the need for something that didn’t need to be created. Could AM nostalgia survive? Not without people looking to work hard to sell time, meet operating budgets and make a profit. With Pittsburgh’s expansion over the decades a signal like KQV’s would have to improve immensely-and that’s unlikely. Sometimes reality sucks -and for KQV the reality that it’s an inferior facility in 2018 has finally set in.
i am listening to KQVs final broadcast right now:( I have heard the station is to be liquidated, the license sold off, the land in ross twp where the towers and transmitters to be sold off too. I am in field service and travel all over the western pa area. reception isnt like it used to be. both of the dickeys were happy to talk to listerners when they called in. at midnite they turned off the transmitter after a nice message from bob dickey junior. I left a message on his voice mail suggesting they sell off some stuff as collectibles. I would be happy to have a small piece of one of their towers
Truly a sad day in the history of radio broadcasting, to see 14KQV fade into darkness.
Bobby Mitchell, Former KQV Jock during the Mid 70’s
It would be interesting to hear from the engineer whether their 2.5 mv/M coverage is no longer “local” due to the noise floor reportedly having gone up 10 dB, which would almost make the signal to noise ratio equivalent to “distant” and cut the listenership and ad revenues by more than half. Format change may not overcome this.
Unfortunately, the noise problem is currently getting worse. RIP
Big Al – correction: I meant to say, “having a low power (500) at a high frequency (1410).” Big difference.
Sorry, but still sad.
Pity seeing a station like KQV, that was once great, just shut down. In the early years, it was one of the best. I had the privilege to help start the All News format when they/we first started back in l977. The problem was, in my opinion, having a low frequency. No news station can compete without being able to reach beyond the city limits. The original staff was experienced and professional. We covered and broke many top stories with accuracy and completeness. As one of the station’s alumnus used to say: “Good night, good luck and good news tomorrow.” (That was Bill Burns at KDKA-TV). It is not good news when a once-great radio station goes away. It is very sad.
It’s a shame we are loosing the real radio people. Radio is being taken over by non broadcast types who don’t have a clue on how to run a radio station. Turn your radio on it’s obvious.
I wish iHeart would pick it up.
That is a crime! One would think that an all-news format would work in a market the size of Pittsburgh. If news is too expensive, try a different format…Pittsburgh has format holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through! People will listen to AM radio for programming that they can’t get on FM. How about jazz? Since Duquesne University sold WDUQ-FM, that format has disappeared from the Steel City. Or adult standards…not all of us who love classic American music are confined to walkers and eating cat food for dinner! Pre-Beatles oldies? Those are hard to find on the radio nowadays…and an AM station would be a good home for them. Some 50 years ago, KQV was owned by ABC and ran a Top-40 format…maybe the station could rediscover the music of its glory days?
Granted, KQV’s frequency (1410) leaves much to be desired…but why not try to get one or more FM translators? Watch for the FCC to open a filing window for new ones.
It’s simply a crime to shut down the oldest radio station in America!