Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1960-08-25

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1t was on this day that Gay
took over as owner of Station
sWQMR, and it was on this day
that WQMR became THE Voice
of Government People" Up to
THAT time, there had been no
ssiay-to-day, regularly-scheduled
dissemination of news from the
more than so separate Federal
and District Government agen-
.cies.
This news had been subject
to the needs of radio and news
publication editors, and had
been used on a basis of inter
est to the general public rather
than government personnel. In
the Washington area there are
more than $4,000 government
employees, and 1t is to this
group, Their families and
friends, that Mr.. Gay dedicated
his new station.
BY July, 1859, verified fig
.ures obtained from home inter
view and carpool drivers showed
that over 81 percent Of these
Government people turn first
10 1850 on their radio dails to
lind out what goes on in their
own departments. On August
~, 1859, Gay achieved Congress
tional recognition of his efforts
when Rep. Joel T. Broyhill read
into the Congressional Record
Gays announcement of the new
brogramming policies of the
station, plus his own personal
vote of thanks for this service.
Call Letters Changed
: Not content to rest on his
laurels, on February /, 1860,
Cay made public additional
changes and improvements in
this station. Firstly, the call
letters were changed to WQMR,
sWashington's Quality Music
Radio" and as such 1t has be-
come q special favorite with
III Metropolitan area radio lis.
teners. 1t is WQMR policy to
program only the finest record
ings by the best-known compos.
ers and performers.
The second improvement is
the result Of years Of develop
mental work by an outstanding
electronics consultant and de-
signer, who is associated with
the station. WQMR plays all
music through a new Concert
Hall Sound" This gives the
station such a burst of realism
and feeling of nearness to the
performers that 1t can only be
heard not described.
Gays latest achievement
came on his first anniversary
as owner of the station. On
June 1, 1860, WQMR began
broadcasting Musical Clusters"
This technique is sometimes
known as back-to-back music,
and assures a continuous flow
of quality music performed by
the finest contemporary artists
and groups.
Public Service
These are just the highlights.
In its day-to-day operation
WQMR is never routine. 1t is
continually searching for ways
to improve its service to the
public. In May of this year,
WQMR purchased full page
newspaper ads supporting the
pay raise bill for Federal EN-.
ployees. In addition to these
ads, the station also pro-
grammed many public service
announcements, as well as
transcribed statements of gov
eminent officials, supporting
the bill. AS one Montgomery
County resident wrote the sta
ton, Il wish to take this mo-
ment to thank Mr.. Connie B.
Gay and the fine staff at radio
Station WQMR for the part you
played in the well deserved pay
raise for government workers.
speak for myself and many of
my co-worker friends who en-
joy both your fine radio sta
tions."
Further, during the past year,
WQMR-WGAY-FM have partici-
pated in and supported the fol
lowing causes and organiza-
tons:
Montgomery County Fair
Staff member on hand covering
the three days of the event, tape
recording interviews that were
interviewer into our existing
programming; Montg ON cry
County Animal Shelter; Mont;
gomery County Association for
Retarded Children; Montgom.
cry County Education Associa.
ton; Montgomery County
Board of Education; Montgom.
cry County Home Demonstra.
ton Office; Montgomery Coun-
ty Recreation Department;
Montgomery County Mental