WAQZ was the alternative rock FM radio station in the Cincinnati, Ohio area for the most part of 15 years, from 1991 to 2006.

In the early 1990s, as bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Green Day dominated the music scene, there was an increasing demand for a higher-powered alternative station to serve all of Greater Cincinnati.

Jacor would eventually succeed in its mission to wipe out competitor Z-Rock, as they went off the air in September 1992, switching to a country format, leaving the Power Pig the only hard rock station, other than sister WEBN.

Immediately after the song ended, WAQZ became KISS 107 FM, with new call letters WKFS, and permanently switched to the top 40 format.

On April 3, 2000, Infinity Broadcasting, now known as CBS Radio, picked up where Jacor Communications left off in 1998 by re-introducing WAQZ as Z97.3 at 97.3 FM, replacing the former classic rock station on that frequency, WYLX.

[1] The lineup of On-Air Talent during this time was Shea Maddox, "Smokin" Sean O'Brien, Jimmy "The Weasel", Kevin "The Stupid Intern" & Rick Jamie (Also Program Director).

Throughout the next eleven months, WAQZ continued to expand its on-air playlist and remained "on shuffle" for the most part, although it also featured live DJs, some requests, and countdown shows.

[5] For the alternative stations that remained, WAQZ included, Howard Stern's show may have been the only thing keeping the format on the air.

As a 2005 article in Billboard Radio Monitor explained, "Infinity will likely flip more stations from alternative to another format to coincide with Howard Stern's January 2006 exit.

On October 30, 2006, Entercom abruptly fired the entire on-air staff at WAQZ, including "Razor", Jimmy "The Weasel", "Notorious", Miss Sally, and others.

At this time, Cincinnati's new alternative radio station, WSWD, began broadcasting on 94.9 FM, and WAQZ came to an end.

This event transformed WSWD into "97.3 The Sound," an alternative format station that remained on the air until May 2009 when it was replaced with WREW "Rewind 94.9," and WYGY "The Wolf" again returned to 97.3 FM.

Similarly, one of the modern AC stations in Cincinnati relaunched itself in 2009 as WNNF ("Frequency 94.1") and began to lean toward an adult album alternative format, picking up the other half of WSWD's former playlist.