Hempfield owners bring KQV-AM back on the air in Pittsburgh with instrumental music

It’s not broadcasting in an all-news format, but KQV-AM is back on the air in the Pittsburgh area.

The station, which had been off the air after an ownership change in 2018, has a storied history as Pittsburgh’s oldest all-news radio station.

At 11:10 a.m. Dec. 19, KQV-AM 1410 returned to the airwaves, now broadcasting instrumental, easy listening music, known as “beautiful music” in years past, said its owner, Robert Stevens of Hempfield.

Stevens and his wife Ashley own Broadcast Communications Inc. and a separate nonprofit, Broadcast Education Communications Inc.

In 2018, BCI bought KQV, and its ownership has been transferred to the nonprofit entity, Stevens said. The station is simulcasting the programming already available on the Murrysville-based 88.1 WKGO.

The instrumental, easy listening format was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. It remains popular with some listeners, Stevens said.

“A lot of people have given us feedback,” he said. “We’ve gotten a good response.”

Broadcasting the programming on KQV’s signal gives the format a reach beyond the Murrysville area.

Both KQV and WKGO are noncommercial stations that rely on listener support and other funding resources.

KQV started in 1919 and is one of only three radio stations east of the Mississippi — including KDKA and KYW, in Philadelphia — with call letters beginning in K.

In 1982, Robert W. Dickey Sr. and Tribune-Review publisher Dick Scaife formed Calvary Inc. and bought the station from Taft broadcasting. Scaife sold the station to Dickey Jr. and his sister, Cheryl A. Scott, after their father died in 2011.

Scaife died in 2014.

Stevens and his wife bought the station last year and initially hoped to continue the all-news format, but that wasn’t financially feasible, Stevens said.

Through BCI, the Stevenses also operate stations in Westmoreland County, including WKFB 770 AM (talk/oldies) in Jeannette; WKHB 620 AM (talk/oldies) in Irwin; WKHB 103.9 FM (variety/oldies) in Scottdale; WKVE 103.1 FM (classic rock) in Mt. Pleasant; WANB 1210 AM (country) in Waynesburg.