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WQSR (102.7 FM broadcasting, "102.7 Jack FM") is a commercial radio station licensed to Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The station is owned by iHeartMedia through licensee iHM Licenses, LLC. It broadcasts an adult hits format, using the syndicated "Jack FM" service and trademark. There are no DJs. Instead, a prerecorded male voice representing himself as "Jack" makes sarcastic and ironic quips.
WQSR has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 50,000 watts. The transmitter is in Pikesville, next to the Pikesville Reservoir and the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695). The radio studios and offices are at The Rotunda Shopping Center in Baltimore.
As network programming moved from radio to television, WCAO-AM-FM switched to a full service, middle of the road (MOR) format of popular music, news and sports. By the late 1960s/early 1970s, the two stations began airing separate programming, with WCAO-FM concentrating on classical music.
By 1995, WXYV and then-sister station WCAO were sold to Granum Communications. The following year, the stations were sold again to Infinity Broadcasting, a division of CBS. That made it a sister station to Hot AC-formatted WWMX, Mix 106.5. (WCAO was later sold to Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), and eventually become a sister station to WQSR).
The new format started with a dance lean, before repositioning to a hip-hop lean, and then alternative; this was done in search of an audience. The station changed branding to B102.7 on August 7, 1998, shifting the playlist to a more mainstream direction the following year. WXYV and WWMX competed against each other due to the similarity of their formats, despite being sister stations. While WXYV had higher ratings than WWMX, the latter station had better advertising revenue, so WXYV was chosen to flip to end the competition.
The call sign swap between the two stations took place four days later. In addition, WQSR acquired the rights to Baltimore Ravens games from sister station WLIF, and retained those rights until 2006, when WBAL (1090 AM) and WIYY (97.9 FM) took over. Musically, WQSR's playlist also changed a little, cutting back the pre-1964 songs and some 1980s music was introduced. By 2003, the station was playing mostly songs from 1964 to 1979, with a handful of pre-1964 and post-1979 titles.
On December 15, 2008, CBS Radio announced that it would be swapping WQSR and four of its other medium-market radio stations to Clear Channel Communications for two radio stations, KLOL and KHMX in Houston. Clear Channel took over WQSR at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
After playing songs at CBS Radio's Baltimore studios such as "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men, R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" and "Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp at roughly 11:57 pm, the station went to dead air as Clear Channel officially took ownership of the station. Shortly thereafter, the station returned to the air at the Clear Channel Baltimore studios. The sale also resulted in the station reuniting with former sister station WCAO under common ownership for the first time since 1998.
Although there are no on-air personalities on the station, the station carries classic episodes of American Top 40: The 1980s, with host Casey Kasem, which are heard on Sunday evenings from 7 pm to 11 pm. WQSR is one of two Jack-FM stations owned by iHeartMedia, with KJAQ in Seattle also under iHeart ownership.
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