WFAY
Encyclopedia
WFAY is a radio station
licensed
to serve Fayetteville, North Carolina
, USA. The station is owned by CRS Radio Holdings Inc. WFAY broadcasts a Sports radio
format that serves the Fayetteville area.
At one time, WFAI was a CBS Radio
affiliate carrying Arthur Godfrey
, Art Linkletter
and Ma Perkins
.
Jack Lee
bought WFAI in 1960, and his "Open Mike" may have been the first talk show in Fayetteville. Danny Highsmith hosted "Talk Back" in the 1970s. "Talk Back" aired from 10–11 am Monday to Friday. Lee had worked with Joy Pyne in Delaware, and her show was on WFAI at one time. Curt Nunnery hosted "Curt's Coffee Club" from 1960 to 1991, later moving the show to WFLB
.
WFAI was owned by Beasley Broadcasting in late 1970s and early 1980s. In the 1970s, WFAI carried ABC Radio News from the American Entertainment Radio Network. The radio station slogan as a country station was "Fayetteville's Friend WFAI." Other slogans used were "WFAI Plays Favorites" coming out of ABC news at the bottom of the hour and the Station ID was "A Proud Part of the Beasley Broadcast Group, WFAI Fayetteville, NC". The line up on WFAI in the mid to late 1970s was Rudy Hickman 6-10, Smoky King 10-2, Terry Jordan 2-6, and Scott Matthews 6 to midnight. Also on the air was Ted Harris, who had come from WFNC; Mike Edwards, who had come from WHPY Clayton; and overnights 12-6 was Mike Huffman. Bob Brandon, who was in high school, went under the name Bob Clark at that time, and worked weekends. He went on to WFNC Fayetteville, and later, WSOC-FM in Charlotte. Bob Lee Chilcote handled Sunday mornings. Such programs as Fort Bragg Public Affairs, FCCYC, and Country Crossroads aired. Using the name "Bob Lee" and his show was "Turn Your Radio On" from 9–10:30 am, Bob played southern gospel music and used the Ray Stevens' song "Turn your Radio On" as the theme. Woody Gosnell usually handled the Sunday afternoons from 12–6 pm. One of the Sunday standards was Terry Jordan's "At the Console" in which he played organ music both church oriented and classical, recorded at various churches in the Fayetteville area. "At the Console" aired from 10:30–11 am. From 11–12 noon a church service aired live. In the area of local news, the standard bearer was Johnnie Joyce, having come over from WFBS Spring Lake, whose newscasts aired from 5:30 am to 9:30 am each day Monday to Friday and also in the afternoons, with updates as needed. Sue Morrison, a graduate of the Radio TV program at CCTI, now CCCC in Sanford, provided those news updates in the late 1970s. In the 1970s WFAI also carried Winston Cup NASCAR races,now known as Sprint Nextel racing, which at that time was provided by MRN the Motoring Racing Network.[15]
In 1980, WFAI became a Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate of the Larry King Show, which aired from 12 midnight to 5 am. WFAI management cancelled the show after numerous complaints from its country listening audience. As a country station, WFAI was a reporting station for Billboard magazine and had been awarded numerous platinum and gold records for its contribution to country music. In summer of 1981, WFAI hosted a free country concert. The top act was Ronnie McDowell. The opening act was Alabama. In the early 1980s the on-air staff included Tim Williams, Mike Kirchen, Mike Hankey. Keith Cramer [Keith Eckhardt], worked overnights until he graduated from Westover Sr. High.
On March 1, 1991, WFAI changed from music of the big band
era to traditional gospel music
targeting African-American listeners. Station owners Henry Hoot and Rev. Gardner Altman also owned WFLB, which played more contemporary gospel music. WFAI would play Shirley Caesar
, Willie Neal Johnson and The Gospel Keynotes, and the Rev. James Cleveland
, while WFLB would play The Kingsmen
, Chuck Wagon Gang and The Bishops. Station manager Rosa "Lady Gospel" Freeman said the station's announcers would be Don Reid, Bob Gay, Omega Sutton, Danny Davis and Dwayne Collins, and that WFAI would also have area ministers.
Jeff Andrulonis and Colonial Radio Group bought WFAI from Altman in 1995 and changed it to news/talk. At the time, it had Spanish language
broadcasts at night. The station began airing Michael Reagan
and Oliver North
, "Fayetteville's Morning News," and sports broadcasts including the Carolina Panthers
, North Carolina State, and college and professional basketball playoff games. After a year, "The Fort" made changes to de-emphasize "political" talk. Gary Burbank
was added and Reagan and Pete Rose
were dropped. WFAI later added The Fabulous Sports Babe
and G. Gordon Liddy
.
Madeleine Raymond hosted a controversial, often sexually-oriented talk show from 1997 to 1999, with a target audience that included men on the nearby military bases.
WFAI became WFAY and dropped the "Fort" name in 2000 as part of an image change, though the station kept its talk format.
In 2001, WFAY added a full-time sports talk station, WCIE. Allen Smothers, news director for WFAY and WCIE, started Fayetteville's first local sports talk show in June 2001.
WFAY changed to mostly ESPN Radio
in 2002 with drive-time sports talker Ryan Kilbane taking over as Operations Director. WFAY also carried Shaw University football games in 2004 through the Shaw Bear Sports Radio Network as Shaw won the CIAA Championship and Pioneer Bowl that year.
In January 2006, Norsan Consulting and Management applied to buy WFAY from Colonial Radio group, and began Spanish language
broadcasts.
On April 17, 2008 WFAY returned to a Sports radio
format, broadcasting the ESPN Radio Network and some local programming. WFBX ESPN 1450 Spring Lake airs the same programming. The two stations operate under a management agreement between DR Media LLC and C.R.S. Radio Holdings.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
to serve Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....
, USA. The station is owned by CRS Radio Holdings Inc. WFAY broadcasts a Sports radio
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
format that serves the Fayetteville area.
History
WFAI signed on in 1947.At one time, WFAI was a CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
affiliate carrying Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
, Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter
Arthur Gordon "Art" Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, on NBC radio-TV for 19 years...
and Ma Perkins
Ma Perkins
Ma Perkins is an American radio soap opera which was heard on NBC from 1933 to 1949 and on CBS from 1942 to 1960. Between 1942 and 1949, the show was heard simultaneously on both networks...
.
Jack Lee
Jack Lee
Jack Lee is an American songwriter and musician best known for composing the song, "Hanging on the Telephone."-Biography:...
bought WFAI in 1960, and his "Open Mike" may have been the first talk show in Fayetteville. Danny Highsmith hosted "Talk Back" in the 1970s. "Talk Back" aired from 10–11 am Monday to Friday. Lee had worked with Joy Pyne in Delaware, and her show was on WFAI at one time. Curt Nunnery hosted "Curt's Coffee Club" from 1960 to 1991, later moving the show to WFLB
WAZZ
WAZZ is an adult standards radio station in Fayetteville, North Carolina, owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, playing "Radio the way it WAZZ".-Programming:...
.
WFAI was owned by Beasley Broadcasting in late 1970s and early 1980s. In the 1970s, WFAI carried ABC Radio News from the American Entertainment Radio Network. The radio station slogan as a country station was "Fayetteville's Friend WFAI." Other slogans used were "WFAI Plays Favorites" coming out of ABC news at the bottom of the hour and the Station ID was "A Proud Part of the Beasley Broadcast Group, WFAI Fayetteville, NC". The line up on WFAI in the mid to late 1970s was Rudy Hickman 6-10, Smoky King 10-2, Terry Jordan 2-6, and Scott Matthews 6 to midnight. Also on the air was Ted Harris, who had come from WFNC; Mike Edwards, who had come from WHPY Clayton; and overnights 12-6 was Mike Huffman. Bob Brandon, who was in high school, went under the name Bob Clark at that time, and worked weekends. He went on to WFNC Fayetteville, and later, WSOC-FM in Charlotte. Bob Lee Chilcote handled Sunday mornings. Such programs as Fort Bragg Public Affairs, FCCYC, and Country Crossroads aired. Using the name "Bob Lee" and his show was "Turn Your Radio On" from 9–10:30 am, Bob played southern gospel music and used the Ray Stevens' song "Turn your Radio On" as the theme. Woody Gosnell usually handled the Sunday afternoons from 12–6 pm. One of the Sunday standards was Terry Jordan's "At the Console" in which he played organ music both church oriented and classical, recorded at various churches in the Fayetteville area. "At the Console" aired from 10:30–11 am. From 11–12 noon a church service aired live. In the area of local news, the standard bearer was Johnnie Joyce, having come over from WFBS Spring Lake, whose newscasts aired from 5:30 am to 9:30 am each day Monday to Friday and also in the afternoons, with updates as needed. Sue Morrison, a graduate of the Radio TV program at CCTI, now CCCC in Sanford, provided those news updates in the late 1970s. In the 1970s WFAI also carried Winston Cup NASCAR races,now known as Sprint Nextel racing, which at that time was provided by MRN the Motoring Racing Network.[15]
In 1980, WFAI became a Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate of the Larry King Show, which aired from 12 midnight to 5 am. WFAI management cancelled the show after numerous complaints from its country listening audience. As a country station, WFAI was a reporting station for Billboard magazine and had been awarded numerous platinum and gold records for its contribution to country music. In summer of 1981, WFAI hosted a free country concert. The top act was Ronnie McDowell. The opening act was Alabama. In the early 1980s the on-air staff included Tim Williams, Mike Kirchen, Mike Hankey. Keith Cramer [Keith Eckhardt], worked overnights until he graduated from Westover Sr. High.
On March 1, 1991, WFAI changed from music of the big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
era to traditional gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
targeting African-American listeners. Station owners Henry Hoot and Rev. Gardner Altman also owned WFLB, which played more contemporary gospel music. WFAI would play Shirley Caesar
Shirley Caesar
Shirley Ann Caesar is an American Gospel music singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned six decades...
, Willie Neal Johnson and The Gospel Keynotes, and the Rev. James Cleveland
James Cleveland
The Reverend Dr. James Cleveland was a gospel singer, arranger, composer and, most significantly, the driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound, bringing the stylistic daring of hard gospel and jazz and pop music influences to arrangements for mass choirs...
, while WFLB would play The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen is a 1960s garage rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the #2 spot on the Billboard charts for six weeks...
, Chuck Wagon Gang and The Bishops. Station manager Rosa "Lady Gospel" Freeman said the station's announcers would be Don Reid, Bob Gay, Omega Sutton, Danny Davis and Dwayne Collins, and that WFAI would also have area ministers.
Jeff Andrulonis and Colonial Radio Group bought WFAI from Altman in 1995 and changed it to news/talk. At the time, it had Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
broadcasts at night. The station began airing Michael Reagan
Michael Reagan
Michael Edward Reagan is a former American radio host and Republican strategist. His nationally syndicated radio show, The Michael Reagan Talk Show, aired on stations throughout the United States on the Premiere Radio Networks before being dropped, after which it moved to Radio America...
and Oliver North
Oliver North
Oliver Laurence North is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer, political commentator, host of War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News Channel, a military historian, and a New York Times best-selling author....
, "Fayetteville's Morning News," and sports broadcasts including the Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...
, North Carolina State, and college and professional basketball playoff games. After a year, "The Fort" made changes to de-emphasize "political" talk. Gary Burbank
Gary Burbank
Gary Burbank is an American radio personality. He was heard daily on WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio, from June 15, 1981 until December 21, 2007, when he signed off for the last time.-Career in Radio:...
was added and Reagan and Pete Rose
Pete Rose
Peter Edward Rose , nicknamed "Charlie Hustle", is a former Major League Baseball player and manager. Rose played from 1963 to 1986, and managed from 1984 to 1989....
were dropped. WFAI later added The Fabulous Sports Babe
The Fabulous Sports Babe
Nanci Donnellan, best known by her title of "The Fabulous Sports Babe," is an American sports radio broadcaster, currently broadcasting on WHBO in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. She is best known nationally for being syndicated across the United States on both ESPN Radio and ESPN2, from 1994 until 2001...
and G. Gordon Liddy
G. Gordon Liddy
George Gordon Liddy was the chief operative for the White House Plumbers unit that existed from July–September 1971, during Richard Nixon's presidency. Separately, along with E. Howard Hunt, Liddy organized and directed the Watergate burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in...
.
Madeleine Raymond hosted a controversial, often sexually-oriented talk show from 1997 to 1999, with a target audience that included men on the nearby military bases.
WFAI became WFAY and dropped the "Fort" name in 2000 as part of an image change, though the station kept its talk format.
In 2001, WFAY added a full-time sports talk station, WCIE. Allen Smothers, news director for WFAY and WCIE, started Fayetteville's first local sports talk show in June 2001.
WFAY changed to mostly ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
in 2002 with drive-time sports talker Ryan Kilbane taking over as Operations Director. WFAY also carried Shaw University football games in 2004 through the Shaw Bear Sports Radio Network as Shaw won the CIAA Championship and Pioneer Bowl that year.
In January 2006, Norsan Consulting and Management applied to buy WFAY from Colonial Radio group, and began Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
broadcasts.
On April 17, 2008 WFAY returned to a Sports radio
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
format, broadcasting the ESPN Radio Network and some local programming. WFBX ESPN 1450 Spring Lake airs the same programming. The two stations operate under a management agreement between DR Media LLC and C.R.S. Radio Holdings.