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106-524: The network consists mainly of local radio affiliates within North Carolina , southern Virginia , and northern South Carolina , and also includes Sirius XM satellite radio, and streaming platforms including GoHeels.com, The Varsity Network and TuneIn . The network began in the early 1960s when WSOC in Charlotte made the first attempt to create a radio network for Tar Heel men's basketball outside

212-546: A "provisional" broadcasting station license, with the randomly assigned call letters WBT, on March 18, 1922, which authorized broadcasts on the 360-meter entertainment wavelength. WBT made its first broadcast four days later on March 22. The next day's Charlotte Observer reported that: "Erected by the Southern Radio corporation of this city and attached to the Realty building, this station, officially designated as WBT, operating on

318-613: A 15kW low-power station broadcasting in high definition on the same transmitter tower under the control of the same owners, using the same studios to provide a second high definition channel for the Fox affiliate. One notable exception to the survival of secondary affiliations are stations owned by West Virginia Media Holdings . WTRF-DT2 in Wheeling and WVNS-DT2 in Beckley , West Virginia both had Fox as their primary affiliation and MyNetworkTV as

424-562: A 360-meter wavelength, this station will arrange musical concerts, addresses on various subjects and will give nightly programs for the benefit of approximately 20,000 receiving stations within a hearing radius. The first program was given last night and several stations in this section are known to have picked up the Victrola music broadcasted." This article further described the "wireless telephone broadcasting station" as "the first station that has been erected and put in active operating condition in

530-500: A Senior Advisor to the Head Coach/Pro Liaison. Analyst duties during the 2024 season are shared between Bryn Renner and Joe Jauch, both former Tar Heel players. Lee Pace handles football sideline reporting . Eric Montross was the basketball analyst starting in 2005 through the 2022-23 season. Shortly after the season, it was announced that he had recently been diagnosed with cancer. After announcing that he would sit out

636-472: A child to repeatedly count into the microphone for the early test transmissions. These initial transmissions eventually were expanded into the playing of phonograph records, which resulted in enough interest from local amateurs, as well as technically advanced members of the general public, that a regular schedule of broadcasts was established. In late 1920 the station was issued an Experimental radio station license to Fred Laxton, located at his home address, with

742-417: A common example of this was the popular syndicated science fiction drama series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994). Some network affiliates may also choose to air season games involving local sports teams in lieu of network programming. A handful of networks, such as the U.S.-based Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television and National Public Radio (NPR), have been founded on

848-418: A few that had affiliations with ABC, NBC, CBS and DuMont during the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when fewer television stations existed in a particular market, especially those that would eventually be able to support four commercial outlets). Historically, the sole commercial station in a market would commonly take affiliations or secondary affiliations from most or all of the major national networks. As

954-541: A five-hour drive time news and talk program featuring hosts Bo Thompson and former WCNC-TV news anchor and former North Carolina Congressional candidate Beth Troutman, Jim Szoke on sports and Mark Garrison on newscasts at the top and bottom of each hour. Vince Coakley, former WSOC-TV news anchor and North Carolina Congressional candidate, hosts late mornings. Brett Winterble is heard in the late afternoon followed by one-hour evening show "Breaking with Brett Jensen" hosted by longtime WBT personality Brett Jensen. The rest of

1060-447: A joint effort by Fred Laxton, associated with General Electric , Earle J. Gluck , a Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company engineer and Frank Bunker, a Southern Bell Telephone Company employee. During World War I a ban was in place that suspended amateur radio transmissions. In late 1919 the ban was lifted, and all three became licensed radio amateurs. Most amateurs at this time used spark transmitters that could only transmit

1166-686: A large number of listeners. The show ran from 9 P.M. to 1 am, meaning Don Russell's show would start two hours earlier at 5 and run for four hours instead of five, and James' overnight show would start an hour later. WBT dropped its ABC affiliation in favor of NBC Radio in 1987. Talk programming continued to increase on WBT through the 1980s, mostly at night. Larry King , on the Mutual Broadcasting System , moved from WSOC and stayed on WBT until 1987, when WBT decided its new NBC affiliation needed to take priority over other networks. Bruce Williams ' syndicated financial advice show, part of

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1272-487: A large number of privately owned affiliates to disseminate its radio and television programming. However, since the 1960s, most of the CBC Television affiliates have become network owned-and-operated stations or retransmitters. CBC Radio stations are now entirely O&O. While network-owned stations will normally carry the full programming schedule of the originating network (save for major local events), an affiliate

1378-400: A local monopoly, a station could become a primary affiliate of one of the stronger networks, carrying most of that network's programming while remaining free to "cherry-pick" popular programming from any or all of the rival networks. Similarly, some markets that had two commercial stations shared a secondary affiliation with one network, while maintaining separate primary affiliations (such as in

1484-452: A local show with former WFNZ host Brett Jensen from 7   pm-10   pm. Coakley, who became the Republican candidate for North Carolina's 12th District U.S. House seat in 2012, returned to the station in 2017. In December 2012, morning co-host Stacey Simms left Charlotte's Morning News to spend more time with her family. On January 14, 2013, Charlotte native Doc Washburn, most recently

1590-559: A morning host at WFLF-FM in Panama City Beach, Florida, debuted in the 9   pm-1   am slot, bringing local talk to the timeslot for the first time in nearly two years, replacing Lewis and the retired Boortz. The show would be replaced by the nationally syndicated America Now with Andy Dean in May 2013; Washburn remained with the station as a fill-in host. Following Entercom's takeover of WBT via LMA on October 31, 2016, Keith Larson,

1696-462: A new independent multicultural station, CFHD-DT , which signed on in 2013. This was also done by MyNetworkTV in the 2009–10 season in Des Moines , Iowa and Memphis , Tennessee after it lost their individual affiliates in those markets to other networks as it offered the network's last season of WWE Friday Night Smackdown to the local CW affiliates in both cities without forcing them to carry

1802-470: A nighttime talk show "Lacey Listens". Also in 1972, McMurray left the station November 1, replaced by former assistant program manager Jack G. Petrey. In 1973, Truckin' Tom Miller joined the station from WGBG in Greensboro. One year later, WBT had reached number one again, reaching the highest Arbitron numbers on record to this day. Around the same time, the station dropped its longtime affiliation with

1908-510: A non-directional pattern for the next year while the two damaged towers were rebuilt. A single tower radiates the transmitter's full power during the day. Its daytime coverage area is not nearly as large as those of other 50,000-watt stations due to the Carolinas' poor ground conductivity; some outer suburbs such as Statesville , Shelby , and Salisbury only get a grade B signal. Despite this, it provides at least secondary coverage as far north as

2014-453: A particular network's programming as an affiliate, or to refer to the status of carrying such programming in a given market as an "affiliation". Stations which carry a network's programming by method of affiliation maintain a contractual agreement , which may allow the network to dictate certain requirements that a station must agree to as part of the contract (such as programming clearances, local programming quotas or reverse compensation of

2120-417: A particular station's affiliation agreement was either previously renewed or originally signed. While many television and radio stations maintain affiliations with the same network for decades, on occasion, there are certain factors that may lead a network to move its programming to another station (such as the owner of a network purchasing a station other than that which the network is already affiliated with,

2226-411: A percentage of total national market reach. As such, commercial networks tend to have O&Os only in the four largest media markets ( Kantō , Keihanshin , Chūkyō , and Fukuoka ), and rely on affiliates to carry their programming in other prefectures. However, there are two major exceptions to the regulations. NHK is a government-owned, non-commercial television network and, since it is not covered by

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2332-708: A permanent buyer. On October 18, 2016, Entercom announced that it would purchase WBT-AM-FM and WLNK, plus WFNZ . Upon the completion of the Greater/Beasley merger on November 1, Entercom began operating the stations via a time brokerage agreement, which lasted until the sale was consummated on January 6, 2017. On November 5, 2020, Urban One agreed to a station swap with Entercom in which they would swap ownership of four stations in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. to Entercom in exchange for their cluster of Charlotte stations, including WBT and WBT-FM. As part of

2438-569: A principle which effectively reverses the commercial broadcasting owned-and-operated station model and is called a state network. Instead of television networks owning stations, the stations collectively own the network and brand themselves as "member stations" or "member networks" instead of as affiliates or O&Os. Individual stations such as WPBS-TV (in Watertown, New York ) and KPBS (in San Diego , California ) are not allowed to be owned by

2544-466: A reassignment plan was announced that moved KFAB to 1110 kHz, which in turn required WBT to start operating with a directional antenna at night, to limit its signal toward KFAB. To mitigate the nighttime coverage loss, in July 1947 a 1,000-watt "booster" transmitter, located five miles (8 km) northeast of Shelby, North Carolina , was authorized "for benefit of nighttime listeners west of Charlotte". (Use of

2650-408: A research firm surveyed people to find out what they wanted. Hinson said the changes had been planned for 15 months, after he traveled and heard what was happening in radio, deciding "we should be keeping up to date". Hinson said, "I think we'll appeal to all ages" including "a 45-year-old man, his 20-year-old married daughter, and her 27-year-old brother." Johnny Evans, Gil Stamper and Rich Pauley left

2756-665: A secondary affiliation. Until WTRF lost its Fox affiliation in 2014 to NBC affiliate WTOV-TV (leaving WTRF-DT2 with MyNetworkTV and WVNS as the only one with affiliations from both), each network was carried on the second digital subchannel of WTRF-TV and WVNS-TV , respectively, both of which carry CBS programming on their main signals. Another example is WBKB-TV in Alpena, Michigan , owned by The Marks Group , which also carries CBS programming on its main signal and both Fox and MyNetworkTV on its second digital subchannel. In addition, however, WBKB-TV also has an ABC affiliate on WBKB-DT3, giving

2862-487: A series of power increases raised the station's from 5,000 watts to the maximum permitted, 50,000 watts. The 50,000 watt transmitter was dedicated on August 12, 1932. In 1925, Freeman Gosden and Charlie Correll started a comedy show carried by WBT that was a forerunner to Amos and Andy . Russ Hodges , later famous as the radio voice of the New York/San Francisco Giants , was sports editor of WBT for

2968-423: A share of a station's retransmission consent revenue to the network). Affiliation contracts normally last between three and five years, though contracts have run for as little as one year or as long as ten; in addition, if a company owns two or more stations affiliated with the same network, affiliation contracts may have end-of-term dates that are the same or differ among that company's affiliates, depending on when

3074-482: A similar directional pattern that protects WBT to the east. Despite this, it can be heard in parts of 22 states, including almost all of the eastern half of the continent. Despite its clear-channel status, WBT was long plagued by marginal nighttime coverage in some parts of the Charlotte area, especially the western portion, due to the need to adjust its signal at sundown to protect KFAB. To solve this problem, WBT operated

3180-524: A station's schedule; this form of dual affiliation was the norm before the digital age. Dual affiliations are most commonly associated with the smaller American television networks, such as The CW and MyNetworkTV, which air fewer hours of prime time programming than the "Big Four" networks and can therefore be more easily combined into a single schedule, although historically the "Big Four" have had some dual-affiliate stations in small markets as well and in some cases, affiliates of more than two networks (including

3286-657: A synchronous booster signal in Shelby from 1947 to the early 1960s. In 1995, then-owner Jefferson-Pilot bought WBZK in Chester, South Carolina, located 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Charlotte, to provide a better signal to the western part of the market at night. WBZK's calls became WBT-FM . In 2012, sister station WLNK added a simulcast of WBT on its HD2 digital subcarrier. Past hosts include "Hello Henry" Boggan, Ty Boyd, Grady Cole, John Hancock, Mike Collins, "Rockin'" Ray Gooding, Bob Lacey , Jason Lewis and H.A. Thompson. Don Russell

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3392-625: A time in the late 1930s, leaving in 1941 for Washington, D.C. During the Golden Age of Radio , WBT carried the CBS schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts to listeners in the Carolinas and at night, around the Southern United States. One musical program was " Arthur Smith and the Crackerjacks". Smith, best known for writing the song that became

3498-517: Is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or all of the lineup of television programs or radio programs of a television or radio network . This distinguishes such a television or radio station from an owned-and-operated station (O&O), which is owned by the parent network. Notwithstanding this distinction, it is common in informal speech (even for networks or O&Os themselves) to refer to any station, O&O or otherwise, that carries

3604-477: Is independently owned and typically under no obligation to do so. This is especially the case for network shows airing outside the network's primetime hours. Affiliated stations often buy supplementary programming from another source, such as a broadcast syndication service, or another television network which otherwise does not have coverage in the station's broadcast area. Some affiliates may air such programs instead of those from their primary network affiliation;

3710-405: Is one of America's first radio stations. WBT is owned by Urban One , with studios and offices located off West Morehead Street, just west of Uptown Charlotte , co-located with the city's CBS television affiliate , WBTV , currently owned by Gray Television but at one time co-owned with WBT Radio. WBT broadcasts 50,000 watts around the clock as the only Class A clear-channel station in

3816-436: Is only shared between the main station in a given market and any repeaters it may operate to extend its coverage, PBS is not beholden to exclusive programming agreements with stations in the same metropolitan area. In some markets, the network maintains memberships with two noncommercial educational stations – in some cases, these are owned by the same entity – which split the programming rights. To avoid programming conflicts,

3922-480: Is the station's longest-tenured personality, having worked at the station on six separate occasions since the 1970s. From 2009 until March 31, 2011, Pete Kaliner hosted a local program in the 9-midnight slot, but was fired in a cost-cutting move by Greater Media. Neal Boortz 's syndicated show was heard on tape delay from 9   pm-1   am; however, this was a temporary move as nationally syndicated host and former WBT personality Jason Lewis began to be heard on

4028-533: The Deliverance theme " Dueling Banjos ", went to work at WBT at age 20 at the invitation of station manager Charles Crutchfield. He played guitar and fiddle for musical programs on WBT before getting his own show. Crutchfield believed that Charlotte, not Nashville , could have ended up being the country music capital because of the station's early "Briarhoppers" and "Carolina Hayride" shows, which may have inspired The Grand Ole Opry . In March 1941, as part of

4134-473: The Ada, Oklahoma - Sherman, Texas market, where until 1985, KTEN and KXII shared secondary affiliations with NBC, while the former was primarily affiliated with ABC and the latter with CBS; the former station is now a primary NBC affiliate). As U.S.-marketed television receivers have been required to include factory-installed UHF tuners since 1964, the rapid expansion of broadcast television onto UHF channels in

4240-568: The CBS Radio Network and joined ABC Radio . WBT won Billboard adult contemporary station of the year in 1976 and 1978. In 1978, Marty Lambert became Jeff Pilot, the traffic reporter for WBT and WBCY . Lambert became assistant program director and music director in 1982. Larry James left his midnight to 6 A.M. shift at WBT for WYDE in Birmingham, Alabama in November 1978 after winning

4346-625: The Carolina Panthers . Jones Angell succeeded Durham in the booth as "the Voice of the Tar Heels" for both football and basketball beginning with the 2011 football season after working with the network in various roles for the previous 11 years, including baseball play-by-play from 2004-2011. Brian Simmons performed football analyst duties through the 2023 season before joining the UNC football staff as

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4452-671: The Country Music Association Disc Jockey of the Year for medium markets. Then he returned to WBT for the same shift in January 1979. In September 1979, Henry Boggan, who had been a midday host and program director at WBIG in Greensboro, North Carolina , began hosting a talk show. it was similar to "Lacey Listens", with "nice-guy" talk, not controversial issues. Like Lacey's, which received calls from far away, his show would reach

4558-509: The E. W. Scripps Company , and CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting ). In the United States, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations limit the number of network-owned stations as a percentage of total national market reach. As such, networks tend to have O&Os only in the largest media markets (such as New York City and Los Angeles ), and rely on affiliates to carry their programming in other, smaller markets. However, even

4664-623: The Global Television Network . CJNT-DT in Montreal formerly maintained dual affiliations through both City and Omni Television to satisfy its ethnic programming requirements due to its sale to Rogers Media in 2012. This model eventually ceased as Rogers' was granted a request by the CRTC in late 2012 to change the station's format from a multicultural station to a conventional English-language station, and contribute funding and programming to

4770-527: The NBC Talknet block, replaced King. WBT expanded "Hello Henry" and its "Sports Huddle" program. For their entire 14 years in Charlotte, starting with the inaugural 1988–89 season, WBT aired the games of the original NBA Hornets franchise. WBT made changes to its format on December 10, 1990, hoping to attract more women. The station dropped James K. Flynn, Thompson and Tom Desio, generating numerous protests. Don Russell had hosted "Russell & Flynn" in

4876-530: The National Educational Television Association ; likewise, most content on PBS's core national programming service is produced by various individual member stations such as WGBH-TV , WNET and WETA-TV . These are not affiliate stations in that the ownership of the main network is not independent of ownership of the individual local stations. Unlike the modern-day affiliation model with commercial stations, in which network programming

4982-558: The Triangle . In 1965, WSOC owner Cox Broadcasting sold the network to Village Broadcasting, owner of WCHL in Chapel Hill, North Carolina . WCHL became the flagship station. Village Broadcasting gradually evolved into VilCom, and sold the network in the late 1990s. Bill Currie, known as "The Mouth of the South" was instrumental in developing the original statewide network in the 1960s and

5088-523: The United States from September 1994 to September 1996, when television stations in 30 markets changed affiliations (through both direct swaps involving the new and original affiliates, and transactions involving multiple stations) as a result of a May 1994 agreement by New World Communications to switch twelve of its stations to Fox , resulting in various other affiliation transactions including additional groupwide deals (such as those between ABC and

5194-458: The 1970s and 1980s (along with increased deployment of cable and satellite television systems) has significantly reduced the number of one-station markets (limiting them to those with population densities too small to be able to make any additional stations economically viable), providing networks with a larger selection of stations as potential primary affiliates. A new station which could clear one network's entire programming lineup better serves

5300-446: The 2023-24 season to focus on his health, Montross died on December 17 at age 52. Game analysis duties during the 2023-24 season were handled by a rotation of former players including Pete Chilcutt , Marcus Ginyard , Tyler Hansbrough and Zeller. Adam Lucas contributes basketball pregame commentary and conducts postgame interviews. Dave Nathan anchors pregame, halftime and postgame coverage for football and basketball, and also handles

5406-801: The 3   pm-6   pm afternoon drive slot, where he remained until semi-retiring in October 2019, after nearly 30 years at WBT. On November 15, 2013, both WBT and WBTV were dedicated with a North Carolina historic marker at the corner of Tryon Street and Third Street. The Wilder Building, which was demolished in 1983, hosted the WBT's studios from 1924 to 1955. The sign reads "WBT/WBTV – Oldest broadcast stations in North Carolina established 1922. WBT radio long hosted live country music. WBTV sign-on, July 15, 1949. Studios here until 1955." On March 3, 2014, WBT again dropped CBS News and returned to ABC News. In making

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5512-533: The Carolinas. A station has been erected at State college in West Raleigh, but it did not work properly and it will probably be a few weeks before it will be in a position to do any broadcasting." On April 11, following a successful inspection by the Fourth Radio District inspector, Walter Van Nostrand Jr on April 4, 1922, the license's "provisional" qualifier was removed. In October 1925, Fred Laxton sold

5618-455: The Carolinas. Its transmitter site is a three-tower facility in south Charlotte, off Nations Ford Road. During daylight hours it uses a single non-directional antenna and is audible in much of the central Carolinas. At night, all three towers are used in a directional pattern that limits its signal toward the west, to avoid interfering with KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska , the other Class A station on

5724-460: The Department of Commerce, the regulators of radio at this time, adopted a regulation that formally created a broadcasting station category, and stations were now required to hold a Limited Commercial license authorizing operation on wavelengths of 360 meters for "entertainment" broadcasts or 485 meters for "market and weather reports" (833 and 619 kHz). The Southern Radio Corporation was issued

5830-567: The Eastern Seaboard at night, as WBT's clear channel signal can be heard from "Maine to Miami". On June 8, 2012, WBT announced that The Brad and Britt Show , hosted by Brad Krantz and Britt Whitmire of WPTK in Raleigh , would be taking over the afternoon slot from Vince Coakley effective July 2. Krantz and libertarian Richard Spires had a show on WBT prior to 2003. In June 2013, the show moved to 6   pm-9   pm; Hancock would take over

5936-692: The McKays and became the 400th station to air The Rush Limbaugh Show , which had already been heard in the Charlotte area on WADA in Shelby , WSIC in Statesville and WHKY in Hickory . In 1995, Jefferson-Pilot bought WBZK-FM 99.3 in Chester, South Carolina to provide a simulcast signal that better served the western part of the market at night. At this time the FM station's call letters were changed to WBT-FM . That same year

6042-570: The Public Broadcasting Service; most belong to local community non-profit groups, universities or local and state educational organizations. The national PBS system is owned collectively by hundreds of broadcasters in communities nationwide. Individual member stations are free to carry large amounts of syndicated programming and many produce their own educational or edutainment content for distribution to other PBS member stations through services like American Public Television or

6148-440: The Realty building, to be used for "sending out concerts, big speeches and other entertainment to those who own home outfits within a radius of 200 miles [320 km] from Charlotte". Initially there were no specific standards in the United States for radio stations making transmissions intended for the general public, and numerous stations under various classifications made entertainment broadcasts. However, effective December 1, 1921,

6254-627: The Southern Radio Corporation to the Carolina States Electric Company for approximately $ 50,000, while retaining control of WBT. However, the next month the station was sold to Charlotte Buick automobile dealer C. C. Coddington, who would promote both the radio station and his auto dealership with the slogan "Watch Buicks Travel". The station was moved to the top of the Coddington building, although Coddington later moved

6360-431: The United States, a station may even be simultaneously listed as an affiliate of two (or in rare cases, three) networks. A station which has a dual affiliation is typically expected to air all or most of both networks' core day time and/or prime time schedules – although programming from a station's secondary affiliation normally airs outside its usual network time slot, and some less popular programs may simply be left off of

6466-558: The ability of digital television stations to offer a distinct programming stream on a digital subchannel , traditional dual affiliation arrangements in which programming from two networks is combined into a single schedule are becoming more rare. KEYC-TV in Mankato , Minnesota is one such example, carrying CBS programming on its 12.1 subchannel and Fox on 12.2. KEYC's Watertown , New York sister station WWNY-TV follows this same pattern (CBS on 7.1 and Fox on 7.2), but supplements this with

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6572-548: The affiliate of record for Apex , Cary , Durham , & Wake Forest , North Carolina. Relayed on FM via translators W255DF 92.9 MHz (Raleigh), W254AS 98.7 MHz ( Rolesville ), W298DB 107.5 MHz ( Smithfield ) Relayed on FM via translator W228CW 93.5 MHz Network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America , and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station

6678-620: The basketball play-by-play when late season football schedule conflicts prevent Angell from being available. Nathan also calls play-by-play for the Diamond Heels in baseball , sharing the booth with Kyle Straub. Matt Krause calls the action for women's basketball . Angell and Lucas also co-host a twice-weekly podcast , Carolina Insider, that is a production of the network and LEARFIELD. UNC head coaches Mack Brown (football), Hubert Davis (men's basketball), Courtney Banghart (women's basketball) and Scott Forbes (baseball) host programs on

6784-493: The booster transmitter ended sometime in the early 1960s.) New FCC regulations forced CBS to sell WBT when the network reached the maximum number of stations it could own. In 1945, it was acquired by the Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, forerunner of Jefferson-Pilot, and became its flagship station. After the sale, it remained a CBS affiliate. In 1947, an FM sister station at 99.9 MHz

6890-538: The call sign 4XD. The growing interest in radio led to the December 1921 founding of the Southern Radio Corporation, located in the Realty Building, to sell radio parts and equipment. The initial officers were Fred Laxton, president, J. B. Marshall, vice president, and Frank Bunker, commercial engineer in charge. It was also announced at this time that the company planned to installed a transmitter and rooftop antenna at

6996-512: The day. Rob Hunter and H. A. Thompson were new DJs. WBT had been a "good music" station with news and features. The new sound included "livelier disc jockeys" and artists that included Chicago , The Supremes and Bobby Sherman . Operations program manager Tom McMurray, hired in November 1970, said WBT would not be a "rock" station, that meant "a different type of station than what we're shooting for. We're youthful, but not youth-oriented." Harold Hinson had become managing director and July 1970 and

7102-399: The dots-and-dashes of Morse code , however, Laxton managed to acquire a scarce vacuum tube from General Electric, which made audio transmissions possible. The three decided to set up a transmitter in an abandoned chicken coop located behind Laxton's home at 2462 Mecklenburg Avenue, with a microphone line running to the home's living room. Laxton's daughter later remembered being drafted as

7208-495: The early days of privately owned networks CTV and TVA , but the original "one station, one vote" model has largely faltered as increasing numbers of stations are acquired by the same owners. In CTV's case, the systematic pattern of acquisition of CTV member stations by the owners of CFTO-TV in Toronto ultimately allowed control over the network as a whole, turning former member stations into CTV O&Os. In some smaller markets in

7314-632: The eastern Piedmont Triad , as far west as the eastern portion of the Upstate , as far east as the Pee Dee and as far south as the Columbia suburbs. Under the right conditions, it can be heard well into the more mountainous areas of the Carolinas, as well as the Sandhills. At night, power is fed to all three towers in a directional pattern to protect KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska , which also operates on 1110 AM and employs

7420-605: The fast-growing Charlotte market; its owner had wanted to buy WBT after hearing its signal at night on Cape Cod . Also in 2006, WBT lost the North Carolina Tar Heels to all sports WFNZ . Sales director Steve Sklenar said the games pre-empted John Hancock 's show and, during the ACC Tournament , Rush Limbaugh. WBT wanted the games, Sklenar said, but the pre-emptions cost the station advertising revenue. The Tar Heels had aired on WBT from 1977 to 1991, and returned to

7526-507: The five major networks by market reach. In Canada , the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has significantly more lenient rules regarding media ownership. As such, most television stations, regardless of market size, are now O&Os of their respective networks, with only a few true affiliates remaining (mainly located in smaller cities). The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation originally relied on

7632-466: The frequency. Even with this restriction, it can be heard across much of the eastern half of North America with a good radio. For many years, WBT boasted that it could be heard "from Maine to Miami" at night. On weekdays, WBT airs mostly locally produced talk shows and offer podcasts of these shows on its website. News, weather, and traffic reports are heard each half-hour. WBT begins each weekday with Good Morning BT with Bo Thompson and Beth Troutman ,

7738-434: The games. Beginning in 2006, WFNZ served as the network's Charlotte outlet. However, its weaker nighttime signal forced the Tar Heels to contract first with WRFX (2006-2011) and WNOW-FM (2011-2012) to simulcast football games that kicked off after 5 p.m., as well as all basketball games. The Tar Heels returned to WBT beginning with the 2012 football season. North Carolina's second-most-powerful AM station, WPTF , joined

7844-444: The history of North Carolina radio reported being frustrated "by the absence or inaccessibility" of information, noting that "Broadcasters have been too busy acting in the present tense to take much thought of the past; hence they have discarded much of the memorabilia of broadcasting's earlier days." WBT was first licensed as a broadcasting station on March 18, 1922. However, the station traces its history to earlier broadcasts made in

7950-613: The implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement , WBT was shifted to 1110 kHz, where it has been ever since. During the previous November 11, 1928, frequency reassignments, two midwestern stations, WBBM in Chicago and KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska, had been placed on 780 kHz, which meant they had to synchronize their programming during nighttime hours. To eliminate this restriction, in 1944

8056-488: The largest markets may have network affiliates in lieu of O&Os. For instance, Mission Broadcasting 's WPIX serves as the New York City affiliate of The CW (which is 75% owned by station operator Nexstar Media Group , with Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global each owning 12.5% stakes), while Paramount owns independent station WLNY-TV in that market. On the other hand, several other television stations in

8162-571: The metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and mainly rely on affiliates to carry their programming outside of those two areas. The metropolitan areas of Belo Horizonte , Brasília , Manaus , and Recife are examples of those who have both O&Os and affiliates. For instance, TV Globo and RedeTV have O&Os in Recife, but Record , SBT and Band do not. TV Cultura , Rede Brasil de Televisão , and TV Gazeta only have one owned-and-operated station each; those networks are smaller than

8268-416: The morning show until 1973, playing such artists as Duke Ellington , Peggy Lee and Petula Clark . Then Boyd moved to WBTV to host television shows. He returned to WBT in 2008 to co-host the morning show while its regular hosts took time off. WBT was the number one station in Charlotte for many years. Among its employees were Charles Kuralt and Nelson Benton . But by 1970, WBT was down to number nine in

8374-424: The morning; the show was renamed "Russell & Friends". John Hancock became midday host, and WBTV personalities Mike and Barbara McKay began an afternoon program. Boggan, whose show had run in the afternoon, returned to his evening slot, replacing Desio, but was sometimes pre-empted by sports programs. WBT also switched its network affiliation from NBC back to CBS on December 21 On September 3, 1991, WBT dropped

8480-417: The move, the station cited the stronger resources ABC's reporters provides to WBT's local programming compared to CBS and Fox News Radio . On July 19, 2016, Greater Media announced that it would merge with Beasley Media Group . Because Beasley already had the maximum number of stations in the Charlotte market with 5 FMs and 2 AMs, WBT-AM-FM and WLNK were spun off to a divestiture trust , eventually going to

8586-451: The network choosing to affiliate with another local station in order to improve local viewership of its programming by aligning with a stronger station, or a dispute between a network and station owner while negotiating a contract renewal for a particular station such as those over reverse compensation shares), often at the end of one network's existing contract with a station. One of the most notable and expansive affiliation changes occurred in

8692-436: The network during their respective team's season. Other notable on-air color analysts and contributors over the history of the network include Phil Ford , Stephen Gates, Jerod Haase , Jim Heavner, Henry Hinton, Bob Holliday, Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice , Freddie Kiger, Lee Kinard, Ken Mack, Draggan Mihailovich, Bob Quincy and Rick Steinbacher. The state's most powerful AM station, WBT in Charlotte, has been an affiliate of

8798-422: The network in 2021. As part of the deal, WPTF became the network's new flagship, though WCHL remains as an affiliate station. WPTF had long been the flagship of rival NC State for more than 40 years until 2007. Daytime-only signal. Relayed on FM via translator W225CJ on 92.9 MHz at Asheville. Also simulcast on 94.3 WRHD -HD2 ( Farmville, NC ) and translator W274CK on 102.7 MHz ( Winterville, NC ). Listed as

8904-469: The network since 1971, except for 1991 to 1995 and 2006 to 2012. WBT is a 50,000-watt clear-channel station that reaches parts of 22 states at night, bringing the Tar Heels' broadcasts to most of the eastern half of North America. According to longtime WBT station manager Cullie Tarleton, putting the Tar Heels on WBT was largely the idea of longtime coach Dean Smith , who wanted to tell recruits from New England that their parents would be able to listen to

9010-569: The network utilizes a Program Differentiation Plan to assign programming quotas in these situations, resulting in the primary member station carrying more PBS-distributed programming than the secondary member; the number of two-to-a-market PBS members (not counting repeaters of the market's main PBS outlet) has been steadily decreasing since the early 2000s, with few remaining outside larger markets. The "member station" model had historically been used in Canada in

9116-505: The network's interests than the former pattern of partial access afforded by mixing various secondary affiliations on the schedule of a single local analog channel. In 2009, after many years of decline, the era of secondary affiliations to multiple major networks (once common in communities where fewer stations existed than networks seeking carriage) finally came to an end at the smallest-market U.S. station, KXGN-TV in Glendive, Montana (which

9222-447: The ownership cap, owns and operates all of its stations. TXN Network is also not covered by the ownership cap due to the network's low number of affiliates (which are all owned by the network). In Brazil , government regulations limit the number of owned-and-operated stations that a television network can own based on the percentage of total national market reach. As a result, the five main national networks tend to have O&Os only in

9328-453: The ratings, and national advertisers wanted ratings to improve. Jefferson Standard did not like the idea of change, but the company brought in researchers to show what programming Charlotte wanted. WBT let go 28 staffers and spent $ 200,000 on changes that included new studios. It also canceled many programs that advertisers supported but which did not attract enough listeners. On March 15, 1971, WBT switched to adult contemporary music during

9434-463: The remainder of MyNetworkTV's schedule. From September 1, 2016, to August 31, 2019, the largest current-day market example of a dual affiliation was with Fox Television Stations 's WPWR-TV , a Gary, Indiana -licensed station serving the entire Chicago market, which carried a primary affiliation with The CW , while maintaining Fox's MyNetworkTV programming service in a late night timeslot. Beginning on September 1, 2019, The CW affiliation of WPWR-TV

9540-519: The same market – WABC-TV ( ABC ), WCBS-TV ( CBS ), WNBC ( NBC ), WNJU ( Telemundo ), WNYW ( Fox ), WWOR-TV ( MyNetworkTV ), WPXN-TV ( Ion Television ), WXTV-DT ( Univision ) and WFUT-DT ( UniMás ) – are O&Os. A similar rule exists in Japan , in which regulations governed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications limit the number of network-owned commercial television stations as

9646-482: The station and WBT dropped its CBS News affiliation. Some religious programming was kept, but not the daily syndicated shows. WAYS and WIST , which targeted listeners ages 12 to 34 with rock, believed WBT was trying to take listeners away from them. Jerry Shinn of WAYS said WBT "isn't paced the way we are," so it wouldn't work. Jack Gurley of WIST doubted WBT could successfully mix Broadway show tunes with Three Dog Night . Bob Lacey started at WBT in 1972 with

9752-692: The station began airing games of the NFL Carolina Panthers inaugural season until 1999, returning as the team's flagship station in 2005. Lincoln Financial Group bought Jefferson-Pilot in 2006. The merged company retained Jefferson-Pilot's broadcasting division, renaming it Lincoln Financial Media . In January 2008, Lincoln Financial sold WBT-AM-FM and WLNK to Greater Media of Braintree, Massachusetts . Lincoln-Financial then sold its three television stations, including WBTV, to Raycom Media —thus breaking up Charlotte's last heritage radio/television cluster. Greater Media had long wanted to expand into

9858-549: The station four different network affiliations between three subchannels. In Canada, affiliated stations may acquire broadcast rights to programs from a network other than their primary affiliation, but as such an agreement pertains only to a few specific programs, which are chosen individually, they are not normally considered to be affiliated with the second network. CJON-DT in St. John's , Newfoundland , nominally an independent station , uses this model to acquire programming from CTV and

9964-416: The station from 9-midnight (on a three-hour delay from his live broadcast) beginning in May 2011. Nearly two months after Kaliner's departure, Tara Servatius' contract was not renewed; Doug Kellett and Wayne Powers filled the 3-6   pm slot on an interim basis while the station searched for a replacement. On June 22, 2011, former WSOC-TV lead anchor Vince Coakley, who had done fill-in work at WBT before,

10070-622: The station in 1995. According to Cullie Tarleton, who ran the station at that time, putting the Tar Heels on WBT was largely the idea of longtime coach Dean Smith , who wanted to tell recruits from the New York City area that their parents would be able to listen to the games. On May 5, 2012, WBT signed back on with the Tar Heel Sports Network to be Charlotte's main carrier of the Tar Heels. After WRFX carried night basketball games for several years, WNOW-FM took over until 2012. With this switch back, games can now be heard all up and down

10176-584: The team moved to New Orleans in 2002. From 1991 to 1995, WBT was the Charlotte-area home of the Duke Blue Devils . It was also the Charlotte home of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels from 1977 to 1991 and again from 1995 to 2006. The Tar Heels returned to WBT in 2012. As with many early radio stations, there is a limited amount of information about WBT's origins. Wesley Wallace's 1962 review of

10282-488: The terms of the deal, Urban One took over operations via a local marketing agreement on November 23. The swap was consummated on April 20, 2021. WBT's diamond-shaped antennas account for three of only eight operational Blaw-Knox towers in the United States. In the morning hours of September 22, 1989, the high winds from Hurricane Hugo severely damaged two of WBT's towers and nearly killed then-Chief Engineer, Bob White. The FCC approved WBT to operate at 25,000 watts with

10388-505: The transmitter site to farm property he owned on Nations Ford Road in south Charlotte, where it remains today. On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission 's General Order 40 , WBT was assigned to a "clear channel" frequency of 1080 kHz, which gave it exclusive national nighttime use of that frequency. In 1929 C.C. Coddington sold WBT to the two-year-old CBS Radio Network. In subsequent years

10494-480: The use of local marketing agreements and shared services agreements to operate a second station nominally owned by another broadcaster. These may be supplemented by LPTV or repeater stations to allow more channels to be added without encountering federally imposed limits on concentration of media ownership . Often, the multiple commonly controlled stations will use the same news and local advertising sales operations, but carry different network feeds. Further, with

10600-540: The weekday schedule is made up of nationally syndicated conservative talk hosts including Mark Levin , Ben Shapiro , Michael Knowles and Coast to Coast AM with George Noory . Weekends feature shows on money, health, real estate, technology, the outdoors, cars and home repair, some of which are paid brokered programming . Syndicated shows include Glenn Beck , Bill Cunningham , Ric Edelman , Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb and The Tech Guy with Leo Laporte . Some hours begin with Fox News Radio . WBT

10706-480: Was affiliated with both CBS and NBC). The digital conversion allowed KXGN to carry CBS and NBC programming side-by-side on separate subchannels, essentially becoming a primary affiliate of both networks. This is the most common type of "dual affiliation" existing today in the digital TV age. In larger markets, multiple full-service channels may be operated by the same broadcaster using broadcast automation , either openly as duopoly or twinstick operations , or through

10812-458: Was changed to WCIU-TV . WBT (radio) WBT (1110 kHz ) is a commercial AM radio station serving the Charlotte metropolitan area , including parts of North Carolina and South Carolina . The station airs a news/talk radio format simulcast on Chester, South Carolina -licensed WBT-FM (99.3) and the HD2 digital subchannel of co-owned WLNK . First licensed on March 18, 1922, it

10918-425: Was named Servatius' replacement in the 3-6   pm timeslot. Coakley left after a little over a year and was replaced on July 2, 2012, by Brad Krantz (a former WBT host) and Britt Whitmire, formerly of WZTK . Krantz and Whitmire, in turn, were fired by the station on June 11, 2014, and were replaced by John Hancock, who moved up from evenings (6-9   pm) and a 6 pm local news hour hosted by Mark Garrison and

11024-606: Was put on the air. But that WBT-FM was discontinued in the mid-1950s and is not same as today's WBT-FM 99.3, which first went on the air in 1969 as WCMJ, owned by the York-Clover Broadcasting Company. In 1949, Jefferson Standard signed on Charlotte's first television station, WBTV . It has been with the CBS Television Network since its signon, mirroring its radio sister. Grady Cole was WBT morning host for 32 years, replaced in 1961 by Ty Boyd, who hosted

11130-527: Was the flagship station of the Carolina Panthers from the team's 1995 inception until 1999, when WRFX became the flagship. WBT regained the rights to air Panthers games starting with the 2005 season until the agreement ended in 2021, when WRFX once again became the flagship of the Carolina Panthers radio network. WBT was the flagship of the Charlotte Hornets from the team's debut in 1988 until

11236-418: Was the network's first play-by-play announcer until departing to KDKA-TV in 1971. The network's long-time "Voice of the Tar Heels" for football and men's basketball games was Woody Durham from 1971 until his retirement in 2011. Mick Mixon partnered with Durham as the color analyst from 1989-2005 for both football and basketball before departing to take the job as the play-by-play announcer for

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