When did WIST/930 first sign on?

[trusty]

OK, I'm stuck trying to do a little Charlotte radio history. Broadcasting Yearbook and other old radio directories has WIST/930 first signing on 12/1951 while Faded Signals and Wikipedia has it beginning in 1947. The radio history of Charlotte is kinda scarce during that time, so I turn to you who remember.

When was the real sign-on date for WIST/930? Also, if it was 1947, do you have its power output for 1947-1951?

I appreciate the info; thanx.

 

[davideduardo]

OK, I'm stuck trying to do a little Charlotte radio history. Broadcasting Yearbook and other old radio directories has WIST/930 first signing on 12/1951 while Faded Signals and Wikipedia has it beginning in 1947. The radio history of Charlotte is kinda scarce during that time, so I turn to you who remember.

When was the real sign-on date for WIST/930? Also, if it was 1947, do you have its power output for 1947-1951?

I appreciate the info; thanx.

WIST FM was licensed in 1947, and apparently went on in 1948. The AM was granted the WIST calls in March of 1951, when it held a CP for a new station. By 1953, Surety Broadcasting (also owner of WIS in Columbia and WSPA in Spartanburg) tired of the FM and turned in the license. Surety was part of the insurance company of the same name.

Briefly WIST (AM) was WCHN, but never used the calls on the air.

 

[ncradioeng]

Go to the FCC site and the AM or FM Query page, enter the existing call letters of a station and then download the History Cards for the station.

 

[trusty]

Go to the FCC site and the AM or FM Query page, enter the existing call letters of a station and then download the History Cards for the station.

Found it in the History Cards - Thanks. It seems that from 1947-1951, WIST (and WCHN) on 930AM was a CP (I thought so, but had to make sure.) The articles in Wikipedia:
("The 930 frequency in the Charlotte market first went on the air with the call letters WIST in 1947.")
and Faded Signals:
("...WIST signed on the 930 AM frequency in 1947, a sister station to WIS in Columbia, SC.")

So, you see how I got "stuck".

 

[davideduardo]

Found it in the History Cards - Thanks. It seems that from 1947-1951, WIST (and WCHN) on 930AM was a CP (I thought so, but had to make sure.) The articles in Wikipedia:
("The 930 frequency in the Charlotte market first went on the air with the call letters WIST in 1947.")
and Faded Signals:
("...WIST signed on the 930 AM frequency in 1947, a sister station to WIS in Columbia, SC.")

So, you see how I got "stuck".

WIST AM was not on the air until 1951. It began as an FM only station, which operated independently with no local AM. When the insurance company saw that FM was "not working" they filed for and got a CP for the AM, and two years later closed the FM. The AM CP had original calls of WCHN, but they filed for the call letter change prior to going on the air.

 

[trusty]

WIST AM was not on the air until 1951. It began as an FM only station, which operated independently with no local AM...

Thanx; we are on the same page, here.

Only one problem: Faded Signals has the following comment:
"At the time of the 1950 advertisement above, WIST was a Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate..."
http://fadedsignals.com/post/36402885772/the-wistcharlotte-story-involves-two-radio

and that ad talks about how great a buy WIST is because it's so high in the ratings - which is kinda hard to believe about an FM station, in 1950, in Charlotte.

But, hey, that's advertising...

 

[JRH]

I was able to blow up the image in that Faded Signals ad slightly, and it looks like the ratings referenced were in 1958 and 1959.