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WWNC

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Coordinates: 35°35′49″N 82°36′20″W / 35.59694°N 82.60556°W / 35.59694; -82.60556
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WWNC
Broadcast areaWestern North Carolina
Frequency570 kHz
BrandingNews Radio 570
Programming
FormatNews/talk
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WKSF, WMXF, WQNQ, WQNS, WPEK
History
First air date
1925; 99 years ago (1925)
Former call signs
WABC (1925-1926)
Call sign meaning
Wonderful Western North Carolina
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID2946
ClassB
Power5,000 watts
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live (via iHeartRadio)
Websitewwnc.iheart.com

WWNC (570 kHz) is a commercial radio station in Asheville, North Carolina. It broadcasts a news/talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station's studios and transmitter site are on Summerlin Road in Asheville.

WWNC is powered at 5,000 watts. By day, it is non-directional. At night, to protect other stations on 570 AM from interference, it uses a directional antenna with a four-tower array.[2]

Programming

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Weekdays begin with a local information and interview program, "First News with Mark Starling." Much of the rest of the schedule is nationally syndicated shows, largely from co-owned Premiere Networks: "The Glenn Beck Program," "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show," "The Sean Hannity Show," "The Ramsey Show with Dave Ramsey," "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory" and "This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal."

Weekends feature specialty shows on money, health, real estate, travel, home repair, technology and the law. Weekend syndicated shows include "The Kim Komando Show", "At Home with Gary Sullivan," "Bill Handel on the Law," "The Weekend with Michael Brown," "Sunday Night Live with Bill Cunningham" and "Somewhere in Time with Art Bell." Most hours begin with an update from Fox News Radio.

History

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Early years

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WWNC is Asheville's oldest radio station, and among the oldest in North Carolina. It was first licensed, as WABC, on June 24, 1925, to the Asheville Battery Company at 19 Haywood Street.[3] As of June 30, 1926, the station was listed on 1180 kHz with a transmitter power of 20 watts.[4]

In late 1926, it was announced that an application had been filed to transfer ownership of WABC to the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, and change its call sign to WWNC,[5][6] which stood for "Wonderful Western North Carolina".[7] (This allowed A. H. Grebe to transfer the WABC call sign to a New York City station, which was licensed to the Atlantic Broadcasting Company).[8]

In early 1927, WWNC began using an upgraded facility, which included an antenna strung between two towers constructed atop the Flatiron Building.[9]

The Chamber also financed a major upgrade, which included a power increase to 1,000 watts, and relocated the transmitter site to atop the Flatiron Building. This new configuration made its debut broadcast on February 21, 1927, at 7:00 pm.[10] The station has traditionally recognized this as its founding date.[11] On November 11, 1928, WWNC was moved to its current frequency of 570 kHz, as part of the implementation of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40.[12]

The studios were at the Vanderbilt Hotel.[citation needed] Other broadcast locations have included the Flatiron Building[13] and the Citizen-Times Building when it was owned by the daily newspaper.[citation needed] For most of its early years, WWNC was powered at 1,000 watts.[14]

In its early days, WWNC provided weather and road reports, and music at night. Country legend Jimmie Rodgers[15] and Bascom Lamar Lunsford were among the stars who performed on the station. Information included "local sporting events, crop futures and farmers markets, and social and economic affairs (billed as being everything 'from house work to bridge')."[7] WWNC also aired church services. Because the station could be heard throughout the Eastern United States and even in Canada and Mexico, WWNC became valuable in attracting tourists.[7] On October 10, 1931, WWNC changed its affiliation from CBS Radio to the NBC Red Network.[16] WWNC carried NBC's schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio."

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On September 10, 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt spoke at McCormick Field. WWNC broadcast the speech.[17] The station was the Western North Carolina home to Amos and Andy, Fibber McGee and Molly and Jack Benny. In 1938, WWNC was one of the many stations broadcasting Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds.

The first time the world heard Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys was February 2, 1939, at 3:30 pm when the group played a fifteen-minute segment on Mountain Music Time. At the time, WWNC was an NBC affiliate, owned by the Asheville Citizen-Times. Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys played the daily 3:30-3:45 Mountain Music spot until April 1, 1939.

MOR and Country

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As network programming moved from radio to television, WWNC switched to a full service, middle of the road (MOR) format, including popular adult music, news and sports.[18][19][20][21] In 1969, WWNC switched from MOR to country music.

In the days before FM became popular, WWNC was sometimes the highest-rated station in the United States with an Arbitron share over 40 percent, occasionally as high as 50 percent for morning drive time disc jockey Scotty Rhodarmer.[22] It was the top station in the Asheville radio market for many years.[23] In 2000, it was acquired by Capstar, which was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications, a forerunner of today's iHeartMedia.[24]

Talk Radio

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In 2002, WWNC changed its format from country music (except for the Scotty Rhodarmer morning show) to all-talk, taking over talk shows previously heard on WTZY (now WPEK).[25] In 2004, Rhodarmer retired as WWNC morning host after more than 40 years in the position and 50 years as a station employee. In 1979, he had 56 percent of the audience according to Arbitron, more than any other local radio personality.[19] His theme song was "Carolina in the Morning". On June 18, 2010, many of the former DJs had a reunion. They included Rhodarmer, Frank Byrd, Wiley Carpenter, John Roten, John Anderson and Randy Houston.[22]

Western Carolina University broadcast a program in December 2010 on WWNC recreating Welles' 1938 broadcast of A Christmas Carol, including Arthur Anderson, who at age 16 performed with Welles in the original broadcast.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WWNC". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Radio-Locator.com/WWNC
  3. ^ "New stations", Radio Service Bulletin, July 1, 1925, page 3.
  4. ^ Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the United States, June 30, 1926, edition, page 67.
  5. ^ "Asheville Assured Government Permit For Radio Station", Asheville (North Carolina) Times, December 2, 1926, page 1.
  6. ^ "FCC History Cards for WABC / WWNC": "Application Record - Broadcasting", Card No. 1 (scanned card #11), the application dated 11-30-26 reads: "Renewal & assignment license in name Asheville Chamber of Commerce, loc. Chamber of Commerce-requesting call letters WWNC."
  7. ^ a b c Chesky, Anne (May 24, 2024). "WNC History: Asheville's Flatiron Building, from 'Human Fly's' 1926 climb to today's hotel". Asheville Citizen-Times.
  8. ^ "Alterations and corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, December 31, 1926, page 8.
  9. ^ "WWNC Celebrates Birthday" by John D. Topping, Radio Register, April 1928, pages 7-8.
  10. ^ Neufeld, Rob (January 3, 2016). "Visiting Our Past: Recognizing history as it happens". Asheville Citizen-Times. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  11. ^ "First Anniversary: Radio Station WWNC", 1928.
  12. ^ "Revised list of broadcasting stations, by frequencies, effective 3 a. m., November 11, 1928, eastern standard time", Second Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission for the Year Ended June 30, 1928, Together With Supplemental Report for the Period From July 1, 1928, to September 30, 1928, page 200.
  13. ^ Kennell, Tiana (May 15, 2024). "Flat Iron Hotel, Luminosa restaurant opens in downtown Asheville". Asheville Citizen-Times.
  14. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1935 page 48, Broadcasting & Cable
  15. ^ Neufeld, Rob (January 23, 2023). "Visiting Our Past: Toasting ups and downs of the 1920s in WNC". Asheville Citizen-Times.
  16. ^ "WWNC, WIS Join NBC" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 15, 1931. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  17. ^ "Today in Asheville history, Sept. 10". Asheville Citizen-Times. September 10, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  18. ^ Tony Kiss, "WWNC radio celebrates three-quarters of a century", Asheville Citizen-Times, February 17, 2002.
  19. ^ a b "Rhodarmer an institution; WNC's mornings won't be the same without his voice", Asheville Citizen-Times, December 26, 2004.
  20. ^ a b Tony Kiss, "Tickets on sale for WCU's re-creation of radio 'Carol'", Asheville Citizen-Times, August 6, 2010.
  21. ^ Rob Neufeld, "Toasting ups and downs of the 1920s in WNC," Asheville Citizen-Times, January 13, 2014, p. B4.
  22. ^ a b Tony Kiss, "WWNC stars of yesteryear remember the 'magic' they created in Asheville", Asheville Citizen-Times, June 19, 2010.
  23. ^ Kiss, Tony (April 17, 1994). "Tune in new tunes across local airwaves". Asheville Citizen-Times. p. 1L – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 2005 page D-375, Broadcasting & Cable
  25. ^ Tony Kiss, "Local radio stations swap formats Monday", Asheville Citizen-Times, March 15, 2002
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35°35′49″N 82°36′20″W / 35.59694°N 82.60556°W / 35.59694; -82.60556

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