WPXZ is a commercial FM radio station, licensed to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, known as the "Weather Capital of the World". The station operates at a federally-assigned frequency of 104.1 mhz and an effective radiated power of 3,000 watts. WPXZ, and its co-located WECZ-AM and WYTR-FM sister stations, are all owned by Pittsburgh-based Renda Broadcasting Corporation. FM radio is a broadcast technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. ... WECZ is a commercially-licensed daytime-only AM radio station, licensed to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. ...

WPXZ orginally signed on the air at 105.5 mhz as WPME-FM and as a simulcast of its daytime-only AM sister, which bore the same call letters until an ownership change in 1981. Both stations continued to simulcast one another until 1989, when management decided to split both stations in response to the growing number of vehicles equipped with FM radios, as well as an effort to increase revenue.

While WPXZ-AM became WECZ and adopted its own new format of MOR and nostalgia music, WPXZ continued to operate under its longtime format of soft adult contemporary music. The station had a full-service feel to it, as it offered ABC national news, high school sports, Pittsburgh Pirates baseball (the day games were on WECZ and the night games on WPXZ), and other local themed programming.

In early 1991, and in a tragic story that made world news headlines, WECZ/WPXZ news director Robert L. Curry was murdered in his home by a known intruder. The accused murderer who broke into the house and fatally shot Curry turned out to be the ex-boyfriend of his teenage daughter. The man is now serving a life prison sentence without parole for the crime. Curry had been employed at the station since 1962, while he was still in high school and before the FM went on the air.

In 1996, Renda received permission to put another FM station on the air. In order for the new station to go on the air, many existing FM stations would have to shuffle their frequencies in order to fit the channel in its assigned community of Brookville, some 15 miles away from Punxsutawney. One of the affected stations was WPXZ. Renda gave up the 105.5 frequency for WPXZ to move to 104.1. The new Brookville station debuted in 2000 under an oldies format, the call letters WBHV (later changed to WYTRand later still to WKQL. and the moniker "Kool 103.3."

In a 2004 management change, WPXZ moved to more CHR-based adult contemporary format in an effort to hip up WPXZ's stodgy image of tired music. The change also resulted in scaling back the station's news content, which did not go over well with listeners.

The following year, Marty McMillen, a longtime part-time employee that had left the station some time ago, was rehired as the station's new program director. The station moved to a bright adult contemporary format with an 80's music core, bearing a much larger music library. Renda also brought in a new news director, Ken Hawk, who had been the morning news anchorman at Renda's co-owned WCCS in Indiana, to overhaul the station's news presentation. Hawk had been known for his past turnaround successes in Indiana and at other stations in the region as well. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The additions of both staff members had an immediate positive impact on the station's image and ultimately, its finances, as WPXZ's revenue grew. The station also hired a new general manager, Jason Hill, in the summer of 2005. Hill, who like Hawk, had come from Renda's cluster stations in Indiana with a highly successful track record as sales manager. Hill's efforts resulted in a successful turnaround for the three Punxsutawney-based stations.