Portland is not the first city people associate with Christian broadcasting, but 93.9 KPDQ has been a fixture of the city's airwaves for well over sixty years, quietly outlasting most of the radio trends that came and went around it.
A Family Broadcasting Legacy
The station's roots trace back to George W. Davis, who founded the original AM station KPDQ in 1947. The FM sister signed on 8 October 1961 at 93.7 MHz, initially simulcasting the same religious programming as its AM counterpart before developing its own identity through the 1970s, according to station history records. Davis's son, George Davis II, later took over as president of the family's Inspirational Broadcasting Corporation, keeping the stations under local ownership for decades before selling to Salem Media in August 1986, the company that still operates KPDQ today.
Talk and Teaching, Not Just Music
KPDQ's identity is built around Christian talk and teaching rather than a music-first format, carrying nationally recognized voices including Chuck Swindoll, David Jeremiah, Jim Daly, Tony Evans and John MacArthur. It is a model common across the Salem Media network, where individual hosts pay for airtime and use their broadcasts to reach listeners directly and fund their ministries, giving the station a lineup that feels closer to a curated set of teaching programs than a typical rotation.
A Frequency Change That Cost Power
In early 2006, KPDQ-FM moved from 93.7 to its current 93.9 MHz as part of a broader multi-station frequency realignment in the Portland market. The switch meant a downgrade from Class C to Class C1, which cut the station's power output nearly in half, from roughly 97,000 watts down to about 50,000. Despite the reduced reach, the station has held its place serving the Portland metro area and the Northern Willamette Valley from its studios in Milwaukie.
Listen In
For listeners looking for steady Christian talk and teaching from established voices in the faith broadcasting world, 93.9 KPDQ offers a lineup shaped by more than six decades on the Portland airwaves. Tune in on Radio Shuffle to hear it for yourself.