The station's license was revoked by the Federal Communications Commission after it was revealed that its principal owner, Entertainment Media Trust (doing business as Insane Broadcasting), was set up as a shell company for a convicted felon.
The translator had been acquired by Emmis Communications, KFTK-FM's owner, from Cornerstone Community Radio earlier in 2016 and relocated from Atlanta, Illinois to be used by WQQX.
The simulcast allowed KFTK-FM (whose transmitter is located in O'Fallon, Missouri, west of St. Louis) to improve its coverage of the Illinois side of the market and downtown St.
[9] In 2012, St. Clair County board chairman Mark Kern challenged the license renewals of then-WQQX and its sister stations.
[11] On June 5, 2019, following a seven-year investigation, the Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau designated all four EMT stations' licenses for hearing.
[15] The day after the auction process started, blank applications for new stations, using the facility ID numbers for KFTK and WQQW, appeared in the FCC database.