It was a surprise to turn on the radio in my car this morning and hear KISS FM come across the speaker. I thought I had been listening to Midcoast 102.5. After pushing a couple of buttons, I realized I was on the right frequency, it was just no more Midcoast 102.5. The owners, Blueberry Broadcasting of Kennebunk, had done an overnight out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new. And with it went the last vestige that Midcoast listeners had grown so accustomed to.

WQSS, Midcoast 102.5 is an FM broadcast station licensed to operate from Camden; its studios are in Augusta. Prior to Dec. 26, 2008, the station was known as 102.5 The Peak, playing a classic hits format. For many years before that, it was known as Coast 102.5 and played adult contemporary music with its studios in Camden.

In 2008, Coast was sold to Clear Channel.

Bruce Biette is vice president and CEO for Blueberry Broadcasting. He said the switch was more of a name change than format.

“We already operate stations that play that adult contemporary format; WQSK [97.5] in Madison and WQSK [95.5] in Ellsworth,” he said. “Now it’s three stations all transmitting the same thing.”

The KISS brand of programming features The Bob and Sherri Show in the morning slot.

“Bob and Sherri is a syndicated show that we’ve had on for a long, long time,” he said. “And we’ve had them on the KISS brand and are looking forward to bring them to the Midcoast area. In terms of efficiency, we had these stations that used the AC format and we felt it was the best use of our resources to put them under one brand.”

Biette said that all the full-time employees stayed on at Blueberry Broadcasting.

“There were no full-time people laid off as the result of the switch,” he said. “Between Rockland, Bangor and Augusta we have a fairly large staff. All the full-time people are still with us. We did have one part-time person who has departed.”

Blueberry Broadcasting acquired The Peak from Clear Channel as part of a purchase of a group of radio stations. The company now owns 15 radio stations in Maine.

Contact Chris Wolf at news@penbaypilot.com.