WRBZ
Encyclopedia
WKIX is a radio station
broadcasting an oldies
format. Licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina
, USA, the station serves the Research Triangle, North Carolina
area. The station is currently owned by Curtis Media Group
.
WYYD in the 1970s.
Holder operated WKIX as a top 40 radio station
, serving the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill market. Known as "Channel 85, WKIX", the station was one of the most successful top-40 outlets in the country from the 1950s through the late 1970s when FM
began to dominate the music formats. Following Holder, WKIX was owned by Henderson Belk, Southern Broadcasting, and Mann Media, and the station's slogan was the "10,000-watt Giant of the South".
and is also an accomplished musician; Mike Blackmon, who went onto WPTF Radio; Scott White, who later went onto WBT
in Charlotte; Steven Reid; Max Powell; Raymond Caulder; Bill McQuage; Joe Goodpasture; John Tesh, who went on to co-host Entertainment Tonight and now writes and produces music; Steve Shumake, who later moved to the North Carolina News Network; the late J. Paul McGonagal; Doug Limerick
of ABC Radio News and others.
WKIX had what was called "20/20" news. News brief at 20 past the hour and a full newscast at 20 before the hour. This was very effective since most other Triangle stations had news at the top of the hour, bottom of the hour or at 55 past the hour.
, Rick Dees
,
WKIX changed format to Country
in the summer of 1981, with such announcers as Joe Wade Formicola, who had come down from KENR
in Houston and Jay Butler, a graduate of the Central Carolina Technical Institute
Radio-TV program, who later went to WQDR-FM
, where he stayed for many years as morning personality. Butler passed on in February 2010. WKIX became the first significant country station in the Raleigh market. After several years of ratings success, WQDR-FM changed to country on Labor Day in September 1984 and shortly after, WKIX went oldies
on Wednesday September 17, 1986 at 4:00 PM. The first DJ on the air after the format switch was Dale Van Horn and first song played was the Rolling Stones "Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown".
with some talk shows and sports programming. The letters changed to WYLT in 1994 when the co-owned FM station traded letters with the AM. The station went all-talk in 1995 as WRBZ, for its "850 The Buzz" branding, but gradually added more sports programming before becoming an all-sports radio
station in April 1998.
Don Curtis of Curtis Media had planned to buy WRBZ from Alchemy Communications early in 2005 but was prevented by FCC
rules from owning any more stations. His son-in-law Billy McClatchey bought the station instead.
For six years, The Buzz was an ESPN Radio
affiliate. When ESPN insisted that The Buzz carry its shows instead of local programming, The Buzz changed to Fox Sports Radio
effective August 1, 2005. Unlike sister station WDNC which relied more on network programming from ESPN, WRBZ's lineup consisted almost entirely of locally produced sports talk local programming from morning hosts Adam Gold, Joe Ovies and Tony Rigsbee; David Glenn; and Morgan Patrick (the Sports Pig). Jim Rome
's weekday afternoon show and network programming from Fox Sports Radio
on weekend afternoons and daily overnights rounded out the lineup. Until October 2008, WRBZ aired The Herd with Colin Cowherd
, from ESPN; both WDNC and WRBZ dropped ESPN programming because the network wanted a stronger commitment than McClatchey was willing to provide.
The Don Imus
morning show aired on WRBZ from the time the station switched to sports until the Rutgers University controversy that caused CBS
to drop his show.
WRBZ was the second flagship station of the Carolina Hurricanes
. When the team moved there from Hartford, Connecticut
, in 1997, WPTF was the first flagship station. WRBZ later carried Duke University
football and basketball games, Carolina Panthers
football games, select East Carolina University
football games, the Roy Williams
and Butch Davis
shows, and several other seasonal play by play games.
WRBZ celebrated 10 years in the sports radio format on April 10, 2008, with a special guest hosting appearance by The Fabulous Sports Babe
, who has largely been in retirement since 2001.
On August 10, 2009, Curtis Media Group
announced an intent to purchase WRBZ from McClatchey Broadcasting, with plans to convert the sports-talk station to a music format. Gold and Ovies moved to former sister station WDNC to host a local morning program, while David Glenn hosts an afternoon show on WCMC-FM
.
Early in 2010, WRBZ ended a simulcast of sports talk to switch to oldies from the late 50s and the 60s, with a few 70s songs. The playlist started with 3000 songs but was expected to be reduced. The target audience is 55 to 70. The station reclaimed its former WKIX callsign soon afterward. WKIX has a very broad-based playlist incorporating some adult standards
and classic country
material into an oldies playlist spanning the early 1950s to early 1980s.
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...
broadcasting an oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
format. Licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
, USA, the station serves the Research Triangle, North Carolina
The Triangle (North Carolina)
The Research Triangle, also known as Raleigh-Durham and commonly referred to as simply "The Triangle", is a region in the Piedmont of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and cities of...
area. The station is currently owned by Curtis Media Group
Curtis Media Group
Curtis Media Group is a broadcast media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. The company owns and operates several North Carolina radio stations and four radio networks.-AM:*WPTF 680 AM *WQDR 570 AM...
.
History
WKIX (AM) signed on in 1947 as WNAO, owned by the News and Observer newspaper. As of 1948, WNAO was an ABC radio affiliate. WNAO-FM was added in 1949. The Raleigh-Durham market's first TV station, WNAO-TV, signed on at channel 28 in 1953, but went off the air in 1957. The fiscal loss for the News & Observer resulting from WNAO-TV's failure was so great that it decided to get out of broadcasting entirely; in 1958, Hugh Holder, a former CBS network announcer, bought the radio stations which had been already renamed WKIX and WKIX-FM. The FM continued to air the AM station's programming (due to a limited nighttime signal on the AM) until it became easy listeningEasy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
WYYD in the 1970s.
Holder operated WKIX as a top 40 radio station
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...
, serving the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill market. Known as "Channel 85, WKIX", the station was one of the most successful top-40 outlets in the country from the 1950s through the late 1970s when FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
began to dominate the music formats. Following Holder, WKIX was owned by Henderson Belk, Southern Broadcasting, and Mann Media, and the station's slogan was the "10,000-watt Giant of the South".
News
WKIX in the 1970s had a strong news department, with such news icons as: Bill Leslie, who is now at WRAL-TVWRAL-TV
WRAL-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Raleigh, North Carolina. WRAL-TV has been the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company since its inception, and is currently the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Fayetteville area, known collectively as the Triangle...
and is also an accomplished musician; Mike Blackmon, who went onto WPTF Radio; Scott White, who later went onto WBT
WBT (AM)
WBT is a radio station in Charlotte, North Carolina, broadcasting on the AM dial at 1110 kHz. A 50,000-watt clear-channel station, it can be heard across most of the eastern half of North America at night. It simulcasts on WBT-FM, at 99.3 MHz in Chester, South Carolina. It is owned by Greater...
in Charlotte; Steven Reid; Max Powell; Raymond Caulder; Bill McQuage; Joe Goodpasture; John Tesh, who went on to co-host Entertainment Tonight and now writes and produces music; Steve Shumake, who later moved to the North Carolina News Network; the late J. Paul McGonagal; Doug Limerick
Doug Limerick
Doug Limerick is an American radio personality. He has been a news correspondent for ABC Radio Networks since 1982. In March 2009, he was chosen as a possible successor to Paul Harvey on the radio show The Rest of the Story...
of ABC Radio News and others.
WKIX had what was called "20/20" news. News brief at 20 past the hour and a full newscast at 20 before the hour. This was very effective since most other Triangle stations had news at the top of the hour, bottom of the hour or at 55 past the hour.
Format
WKIX as a Top 40 station was home to some legendary names in North Carolina radio including Tom Scott; Jack Kane; Rich Reim; Mike Reineri; Al Smith; Tommy Woods; Bob Kelly; Bob Jones; Mark Starr; Steve Roddy; the legendary Jimmy Capps, with his show called "Our Best to You",Capps passed on in 1967; Dale Van Horn, who passed on in August 2001; Pat Patterson, Ron McKay, Mike Mitchell, Mark Mitchell, Bob Bolton, James K. Flynn, Russ Spooner, Gary Edens, Tommy Walker, Charlie BrownCharlie Brown (DJ)
Ed Weiss, known on-air as Charlie Brown, is a disc jockey on WPCM radio in Burlington, North Carolina, United States, and host of the syndicated beach music program On the Beach with Charlie Brown, heard on nearly 40 stations, mostly in The Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia.-Radio career:Charlie...
, Rick Dees
Rick Dees
Rigdon Osmond "Rick" Dees III is an American comedic performer, entertainer, and radio personality, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown and for the novelty song "Disco Duck." He is a People's Choice Award recipient, a Grammy-nominated...
,
WKIX changed format to Country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
in the summer of 1981, with such announcers as Joe Wade Formicola, who had come down from KENR
WDTW-FM
WDTW-FM is a classic rock formatted radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications. WDTW-FM is licensed for HD Radio operations; its secondary channel carries Clear Channel's "Pride Radio" format, which features music geared toward the LGBT audience...
in Houston and Jay Butler, a graduate of the Central Carolina Technical Institute
Central Carolina Community College
Central Carolina Community College is a tax-supported public, non-profit, two-year college in the North Carolina Community College System. It offered its first classes in 1961. The college has campuses in Chatham, Harnett, and Lee counties, as well as a number of centers to serve those areas...
Radio-TV program, who later went to WQDR-FM
WQDR-FM
WQDR is a radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, broadcasting to the state's central and eastern regions, including the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, Rocky Mount, Wilson, and Goldsboro...
, where he stayed for many years as morning personality. Butler passed on in February 2010. WKIX became the first significant country station in the Raleigh market. After several years of ratings success, WQDR-FM changed to country on Labor Day in September 1984 and shortly after, WKIX went oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
on Wednesday September 17, 1986 at 4:00 PM. The first DJ on the air after the format switch was Dale Van Horn and first song played was the Rolling Stones "Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown".
Call Letters
From 1990 to 1995 the format was satellite adult standardsAdult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
with some talk shows and sports programming. The letters changed to WYLT in 1994 when the co-owned FM station traded letters with the AM. The station went all-talk in 1995 as WRBZ, for its "850 The Buzz" branding, but gradually added more sports programming before becoming an all-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...
station in April 1998.
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
rules from owning any more stations. His son-in-law Billy McClatchey bought the station instead.
For six years, The Buzz was an 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...
affiliate. When ESPN insisted that The Buzz carry its shows instead of local programming, The Buzz changed to Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio, abbreviated FSR, is an international radio network consisting of sports talk programming. The network is a service of Premiere Networks...
effective August 1, 2005. Unlike sister station WDNC which relied more on network programming from ESPN, WRBZ's lineup consisted almost entirely of locally produced sports talk local programming from morning hosts Adam Gold, Joe Ovies and Tony Rigsbee; David Glenn; and Morgan Patrick (the Sports Pig). Jim Rome
Jim Rome
Jim Rome is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications....
's weekday afternoon show and network programming from Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio, abbreviated FSR, is an international radio network consisting of sports talk programming. The network is a service of Premiere Networks...
on weekend afternoons and daily overnights rounded out the lineup. Until October 2008, WRBZ aired The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a sports talk radio show hosted by Colin Cowherd and broadcast on ESPN Radio from Bristol, Connecticut. The show is heard Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. ET until 1 p.m. ET on most ESPN Radio stations and is simulcasted on ESPNews...
, from ESPN; both WDNC and WRBZ dropped ESPN programming because the network wanted a stronger commitment than McClatchey was willing to provide.
The Don Imus
Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
morning show aired on WRBZ from the time the station switched to sports until the Rutgers University controversy that caused CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
to drop his show.
WRBZ was the second flagship station of the Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League , and play their home games at the 18,680-seat RBC Center...
. When the team moved there from Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, in 1997, WPTF was the first flagship station. WRBZ later carried Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
football and basketball games, 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...
football games, select East Carolina University
East Carolina University
East Carolina University is a public, coeducational, engaged doctoral/research university located in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. Named East Carolina University by statute and commonly known as ECU or East Carolina, the university is the largest institution of higher learning in...
football games, the Roy Williams
Roy Williams (coach)
Roy Williams is head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of North Carolina. After averaging nearly an 80% win percentage in 15 seasons at the University of Kansas, he became the eighteenth head coach at North Carolina when he replaced Matt Doherty in 2003...
and Butch Davis
Butch Davis
Paul Hilton "Butch" Davis, Jr. is an American football coach and former player in the United States. He was the head coach at the University of Miami from 1995 to 2000, the Cleveland Browns of the NFL from 2001 to 2004, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2007 to 2011.-Early...
shows, and several other seasonal play by play games.
WRBZ celebrated 10 years in the sports radio format on April 10, 2008, with a special guest hosting appearance by 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...
, who has largely been in retirement since 2001.
On August 10, 2009, Curtis Media Group
Curtis Media Group
Curtis Media Group is a broadcast media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. The company owns and operates several North Carolina radio stations and four radio networks.-AM:*WPTF 680 AM *WQDR 570 AM...
announced an intent to purchase WRBZ from McClatchey Broadcasting, with plans to convert the sports-talk station to a music format. Gold and Ovies moved to former sister station WDNC to host a local morning program, while David Glenn hosts an afternoon show on WCMC-FM
WCMC-FM
WCMC-FM is a Sports Talk radio station based in Raleigh, North Carolina and licensed to nearby Holly Springs. Its studios are located in downtown Raleigh along with WRAL-FM, an adult contemporary music station...
.
Early in 2010, WRBZ ended a simulcast of sports talk to switch to oldies from the late 50s and the 60s, with a few 70s songs. The playlist started with 3000 songs but was expected to be reduced. The target audience is 55 to 70. The station reclaimed its former WKIX callsign soon afterward. WKIX has a very broad-based playlist incorporating some adult standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
and classic country
Classic country
Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country hits from past decades.This genre generally follows one of two formats: those specializing in hits from the 1920s through the early 1970s, and focus primarily on innovators and artists from country music's Golden...
material into an oldies playlist spanning the early 1950s to early 1980s.