WGFY
Encyclopedia
WGFY is a Radio Disney
station
serving the Charlotte, North Carolina
, market. The station is owned by ABC
. WGFY broadcasts with a power of 4,400 watts daytime (5,000 watts at night).
affiliate, and played middle of the road music.
By 1961, WWOK played country music. In 1969, the station was purchased by Mission Broadcasting of San Antonio, Texas
, an early ancestor of the current Clear Channel Communications
. Around this same time, Mission also purchased a Miami, FL R&B station WAME-1260..."The Whammy in Miami". The company flipped the call letters on its two acquisitions, sending WWOK to Florida and bringing WAME to Charlotte.
As WAME, the station was responsible for one of the first radio controversies in Charlotte, when the station's billboards showed a woman in tight jeans (and little else) having the WAME logo branded on her posterior. Popular DJ's in the WAME's Country Music days included Ed Galloway, "Easy Edd" Robinson, "Large" Larry English, Bill Alexander
and Bob Brandon. The phrases "Whammy" and "Top Dog in Charlotte Country" were used extensively to promote the station in those days.
Jimmy Swaggart
, though his subsidiary Sonlife Radio bought the station in December 1978, and brought some of the first Contemporary Christian Music
to the airwaves of Charlotte Radio. In early 1980, Swaggart denounced Contemporary Christian Music through his publication The Evangelist
, and WAME began gradually moving toward a mixture of conservative Christian music and teaching programs. Popular DJ's in WAME's Christian days were Danny Dyer
, Teresa Gardner and Bob Harris
.
In 1990, WAME was sold to a subsidiary of Pat Robertson
's Christian Broadcasting Network
, which changed the call letters to WCNT and began their own in-house syndicated talk network which included Harley David, Cliff Kincaid and Bob Kwessel. Following the demise of the network shows, WCNT became a primarily local talk radio
station. Gerry Vaillancourt started his talk show on WCNT, and H. A. Thompson did a daily show on the station for several months.
During 1991, on Saturday and Sunday evenings, WCNT aired When Radio Was
, hosted by Art Fleming
, with radio serials
such as The Shadow
and Fibber McGee and Molly
.
Late in 1991, WCNT was mostly Sports Talk
, but Vaillancourt had to find a new home when the station signed off in November. Never able to make a profit with the station, the Christian Broadcasting Network took the station silent in mid-1992 and searched for a buyer.
Early in 1993, new owners Christ Covenant Church of Charlotte returned the station to the air as WCNV...Charlotte's news voice, and aired CNN
's Headline News as its 24-hour format. As with its previous format, unprofitability and expenses forced the station silent by year's end.
In 1994, the owners of WHVN did a Local marketing agreement
with Christ Covenant, and brought the station back in 1994 as WIST, with an adult standards
format, mostly from Satellite Music Networks (now part of ABC Radio Networks). Talk shows and some sports programming were eventually added to the AM station after WIST added an FM frequency in 1995. John Sullivan was the most notable of the local hosts. Both the AM and FM stations began using the WNMX call letters in 1996.
In 1997, WNMX-AM, WAME-AM
in Statesville, North Carolina
, and WAVO-AM
in Rock Hill, South Carolina
formed the Total Radio network. WNMX-AM became WTLT, and WAME became WTLI.The stations aired local and syndicated talk shows as well as news. But the format did not work, and WTLT returned to playing adult standards
in the fall, starting with Christmas music during the holidays, while continuing to air syndicated hosts until their contracts ended. WTLT aired the Christian
programming of WHVN early in 1998 before the current format was adopted later that year.
The station was assigned the call letters WCNT on 1990-03-13. On 1993-04-01, the station changed its call sign to WCNV
, on 1994-06-08 to WIST, on 1996-06-16 to WNMX, on 1997-07-11 to WTLT
, and on 1998-09-04 to the current WGFY.
The prior formats before Radio Disney included religious and CNN Radio .
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
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 Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, market. The station is owned by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. WGFY broadcasts with a power of 4,400 watts daytime (5,000 watts at night).
History
The 1480 frequency arrived in Charlotte in 1954 with the call letters WWOK. Initially a daytime operation with 1000 watts, the station added a directional antenna system and nighttime operation in the late 1950s. The station was Charlotte's Mutual Broadcasting SystemMutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
affiliate, and played middle of the road music.
By 1961, WWOK played country music. In 1969, the station was purchased by Mission Broadcasting of San Antonio, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, an early ancestor of the current Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
. Around this same time, Mission also purchased a Miami, FL R&B station WAME-1260..."The Whammy in Miami". The company flipped the call letters on its two acquisitions, sending WWOK to Florida and bringing WAME to Charlotte.
As WAME, the station was responsible for one of the first radio controversies in Charlotte, when the station's billboards showed a woman in tight jeans (and little else) having the WAME logo branded on her posterior. Popular DJ's in the WAME's Country Music days included Ed Galloway, "Easy Edd" Robinson, "Large" Larry English, Bill Alexander
Bill Alexander
William Vollie “Bill” Alexander, Jr. is a retired politician who represented the U.S. state of Arkansas in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1993, rising to the post of Chief Deputy Majority Whip.-Biography:...
and Bob Brandon. The phrases "Whammy" and "Top Dog in Charlotte Country" were used extensively to promote the station in those days.
Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Lee Swaggart is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast...
, though his subsidiary Sonlife Radio bought the station in December 1978, and brought some of the first Contemporary Christian Music
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...
to the airwaves of Charlotte Radio. In early 1980, Swaggart denounced Contemporary Christian Music through his publication The Evangelist
The Evangelist
The Evangelist is the fifth album by Robert Forster. It was released by YepRoc in 2008.-Track listing:#"If It Rains" – 3:47#"Demon Days" – 3:40#"Pandanus" – 3:59#"Did She Overtake You" – 3:24#"The Evangelist" – 4:30...
, and WAME began gradually moving toward a mixture of conservative Christian music and teaching programs. Popular DJ's in WAME's Christian days were Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer is an English actor, media personality, and chairman of Greenwich Borough, a non-League football team.-Biography:Daniel John Dyer was born in Custom House, an area of East London, to Antony and Christine Dyer...
, Teresa Gardner and Bob Harris
Bob Harris
Bob Harris may refer to:In sport:* Bob Harris , American baseball player* Robert Harris , Scottish footballerIn TV and radio:...
.
In 1990, WAME was sold to a subsidiary of Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
's Christian Broadcasting Network
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...
, which changed the call letters to WCNT and began their own in-house syndicated talk network which included Harley David, Cliff Kincaid and Bob Kwessel. Following the demise of the network shows, WCNT became a primarily local talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
station. Gerry Vaillancourt started his talk show on WCNT, and H. A. Thompson did a daily show on the station for several months.
During 1991, on Saturday and Sunday evenings, WCNT aired When Radio Was
When Radio Was
-History:The series began as a local program in Chicago, hosted by Carl Amari, who was the founder of Radio Spirits, Inc., which sells tapes and CDs of old time radio programs. Former CBS Radio executive Dick Brescia heard an in-flight version of the program, and soon mounted a nationally...
, hosted by Art Fleming
Art Fleming
Art Fleming was an American television host, most notably the original host of the TV game show Jeopardy!.-Early life:...
, with radio serials
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
such as The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
and Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
.
Late in 1991, WCNT was mostly Sports Talk
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...
, but Vaillancourt had to find a new home when the station signed off in November. Never able to make a profit with the station, the Christian Broadcasting Network took the station silent in mid-1992 and searched for a buyer.
Early in 1993, new owners Christ Covenant Church of Charlotte returned the station to the air as WCNV...Charlotte's news voice, and aired CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Headline News as its 24-hour format. As with its previous format, unprofitability and expenses forced the station silent by year's end.
In 1994, the owners of WHVN did a Local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
with Christ Covenant, and brought the station back in 1994 as WIST, with an 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...
format, mostly from Satellite Music Networks (now part of ABC Radio Networks). Talk shows and some sports programming were eventually added to the AM station after WIST added an FM frequency in 1995. John Sullivan was the most notable of the local hosts. Both the AM and FM stations began using the WNMX call letters in 1996.
In 1997, WNMX-AM, WAME-AM
WAME
WAME is a radio station broadcasting a classic country format. Licensed to Statesville, North Carolina, USA. The station is owned by Statesville Family Radio Corporation...
in Statesville, North Carolina
Statesville, North Carolina
Statesville is a city located in Iredell County, North Carolina, United States and was named an All-America City in 1997 and 2009. The population was 24,633 at the 2010 census...
, and WAVO-AM
WAVO
WAVO is a radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards format. Licensed to Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA, the station serves the Charlotte area. The station is currently owned by Whvn.-History:...
in Rock Hill, South Carolina
Rock Hill, South Carolina
Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fourth-largest city in the state. It is also the third-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte and Concord, North Carolina. The population was 71,459 as of . Rock Hill has undergone rapid growth between...
formed the Total Radio network. WNMX-AM became WTLT, and WAME became WTLI.The stations aired local and syndicated talk shows as well as news. But the format did not work, and WTLT returned to playing 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...
in the fall, starting with Christmas music during the holidays, while continuing to air syndicated hosts until their contracts ended. WTLT aired the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
programming of WHVN early in 1998 before the current format was adopted later that year.
The station was assigned the call letters WCNT on 1990-03-13. On 1993-04-01, the station changed its call sign to WCNV
WCNV
WCNV is a Public Radio formatted broadcast radio station affiliated with National Public Radio. WCNV simulcasts WCVE-FM out of Richmond, Virginia, United States.WCNV licensed to Heathsville, Virginia and serves the Heathsville/Kilmarnock/Warsaw area...
, on 1994-06-08 to WIST, on 1996-06-16 to WNMX, on 1997-07-11 to WTLT
WTLT
WTLT is a commercial radio station licensed to Sanibel, Florida, broadcasting to the Naples / Fort Myers area on 93.7 FM. WTLT airs a adult contemporary music format branded as "Lite 93.7".- History & Ownership :...
, and on 1998-09-04 to the current WGFY.
The prior formats before Radio Disney included religious and CNN Radio .