The original construction permit for what became WRNQ was awarded in December 1985, several years after the FCC amended the table of allotments to allow for the 92.1 frequency to become active in Poughkeepsie.

Due to potential ratings confusion with WLTW ("Lite FM") from New York City the call letters were replaced with WRNQ in 1989, a decision made by then-General Manager Don Verity.

With no real competition in the format (WHUD was still easy listening and WKIP had changed to all-talk programming), Q-92 reached top of the ratings its first year on the air.

Eric Straus decided to leave radio ownership in 2000 to start two online ventures (Regional Help Wanted and Cupid.com), selling the cluster to Clear Channel Communications.

Outside of some music refocusing and the addition of a Saturday night dance programming, no major changes were made until October 2011, when WRNQ switched to Premium Choice and Premiere Networks for content outside of Joe Daily in Morning Drive.