Wikipedia

[Matt]

Didn't WPEG upgrade it's signal in the early 90's? I remember that it was shortspaced with WCOS-FM/Columbia (back when they were 97.9) untill 1991 when they changed frequencies to 97.5

If memory serves, they've had several increases over the years. They were 10,000 watts back in the days of the country format, then went up to (I think) 40,000 watts in the 80's from the Concord tower beside Hwy. 29. Sometime in the 90's, they went went directional and up to 60,000 watts.

The final increase was (again, I think) in the last 5 or 6 years, when they moved to a tower west of Charlotte and went to 90,000 watts or so.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[fortmill]

I think it was about 1995 when WPEG moved to their transmitter north of Gastonia with 96,000 watts--they're either on the WCNC or the WJZY/WMYT tower, about 1800 ft up. They're directional to the north to protect 98.1 in Galax VA--you can still get a pretty good signal all the way to the VA state line. A pretty impressive coverage area considering the days when reception was very poor in south Charlotte and non-existant in Rock Hill.

 

[Matt]

I think it was about 1995 when WPEG moved to their transmitter north of Gastonia with 96,000 watts--they're either on the WCNC or the WJZY/WMYT tower, about 1800 ft up.

I didn't put specific information about power increases in the Wikipedia article because I don't know the specific dates or power levels. All I know for sure is that they were less than 50,000 on the Concord tower, and couldn't get more for a long time...then one day I drove by the building on Highway 29 and found it run-down and deserted.

I had hoped WEGO would eventually move their studios back there, but now they've moved their transmitter to another site so I guess that won't happen.

BTW...I just added an article to Wikipedia about the North Carolina News Network. Some of you might find it an interesting read. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_News_Network

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[vchimpanzee]

I have added and expanded the article about WPEG. Anyone who remembers this station's history, please check what I put there, and if your memory is any better than mine, tell me or better yet, correct the entry.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

I did add a blurb on the call letters recently. They were derived from Jim Keel's wife's name (Peggy).

Didn't Keel own WEGO in Concord as well?

(EDIT: Just checked the entry and it answered my question. Thanks Matt.

Robyn

I was going through a collection of my own articles and found one that said WPEG in Winston-Salem was named for "Peg O' My Heart", which was a song. I think I've got that right. I can't put it in the article for that station because I don't remember enough detail. One of these days I have to go to Winston-Salem where all those articles are in a group of fining cabinets, and see if I can get on Wikipedia to type the exact information--comnplete with the article's name and date.

 

[Matt]

....found one that said WPEG in Winston-Salem was named for "Peg O' My Heart", which was a song....

The information about the naming of WPEG was in the existing article that I expanded. The dates would have been correct. Jim Keel was manager there when WEGO-FM split off and became WPEG, but none of the people I knew who worked there ever told me how the station was named. Jim Keel is long dead, and I think Bob Hilker, owner of the Suburban Radio Group, has passed as well, so proving or disproving it would be difficult. I think it's a cute piece of radio lore, and as such it deserves to be preserved in the article.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[vchimpanzee]

....found one that said WPEG in Winston-Salem was named for "Peg O' My Heart", which was a song....

The information about the naming of WPEG was in the existing article that I expanded. The dates would have been correct. Jim Keel was manager there when WEGO-FM split off and became WPEG, but none of the people I knew who worked there ever told me how the station was named. Jim Keel is long dead, and I think Bob Hilker, owner of the Suburban Radio Group, has passed as well, so proving or disproving it would be difficult. I think it's a cute piece of radio lore, and as such it deserves to be preserved in the article.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

Of course it does. apparently WPEG in Winston-Salem changed its letters, and I can probably find the evidence for that. And after they gave up the letters the Concord station could have had them.

I found a mistake in the WGTL article, which I'm glad someone did. It said Dec. 30, 1991 was the last day. I was listening on Dec. 25, 1992. Soon after that, I asked at the Tribune what happened, and I eventually was able to see and copy the article. It was later on Dec. 25 that the station signed off, and it never came back, as much as Fred Whitley wanted to. The plan was to move into Carolina Mall with new equipment. It has never been explained why that never happened.

 

[vchimpanzee]

On the subject of articles without sources for certain information, I agree that this ought to be allowed somewhere but Wikipedia frowns on it. I still put everything I remember in articles in hopes someone will find a source for it.

If you get permission to copy information exactly from a web site, follow the directions here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Successful_requests_for_permission

 

[Matt]

I found a mistake in the WGTL article, which I'm glad someone did.

Thank you. I wrote that article last year, one of my first for Wikipedia.

You're right about it being 1992 when it signed off, but I think I remember it being on December 26th or 27th, when I was out doing some After-Christmas shopping at the Carolina Mall.

The reason WGTL did not move to new quarters has much to do with why the station was in trouble in the first place.

In the 70's and 80's, radio stations were generally considered to be good business risks for banks, especially those with heritage ownerships. Whitley had, over the years, borrowed money to keep WGTL afloat, assuming he would be able to pay it back someday when he finally decided to sell the station.

Scared by the defaults of several companies that were trying to buy and expand FM stations around Charlotte, banks began calling in notes they were holding on stations, and Fred Whitley was not able to either pay up or refinance the notes. Through the mid 80's, he attempted to sell WGTL, but no one would pay his asking price.

In 1989, First Union National Bank foreclosed on Whitley. Not wanting the adverse publicity that they feared would come from foreclosing on a broadcast facility, they worked out a deal with the purchaser, who wanted to build a shopping center (now Tower Plaza) on the site. According to what I remember, the owners of the property would negotiate a lease for studio space in the shopping center, pay for the maintenance of the tower and First Union would loan Whitley the money for the remodeling and studio equipment.

The man who bought the property (his first name was Andy, and he owned Villa Maria Pizza in Carolina Mall for many years) tried to negotiate in good faith, but things did not work out and the deal fell through.

WGTL was supposed to be out of their studio building on June 30, 1992, but Whitley refused to vacate the premises. Andy then began eviction proceedings, but in the end they agreed to a December 31st date to end it.

The building was empty by that date, and was hauled off by February of 1993.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[Matt]

Folks,

I have two more articles for you to look at and correct if you know the details better than I do.

1) I have incorporated information about the early days of 960 AM as WAAK on the WZRH article. Thanks to Kahuna for some of the information I used. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/WZRH.

2) Since some of the information overlaps with 870 AM, WGTL, I expanded the stub I had left there into a full article. With this station, I know more rumors than I can substantiate with actual facts, so very little of the content of my previous post here was used in the Wikipedia article. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGTL.

As always, read, enjoy and remember!

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[Matt]

Folks,

I just added another article, this one about the current WAME-550 in Statesville. This station has a whole series of call letters and owners going back through WAME-WTLT-WHYM-WAME (yes, twice)-WDRV-WDBM.

Anyone who remembers the station, please check the link and let me know if you find anything in error.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAME

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[vchimpanzee]

Folks,

I just added another article, this one about the current WAME-550 in Statesville. This station has a whole series of call letters and owners going back through WAME-WTLT-WHYM-WAME (yes, twice)-WDRV-WDBM.

Anyone who remembers the station, please check the link and let me know if you find anything in error.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAME

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

"WOOO became and Easy Listening format?" By the way, I don't know how long that lasted, but I did put this detail in the history of that station--it was soft adult contemporary. That is correct in the WKKT article, which has been modified since I was there.

Also, Total Radio was never on the Belmont station, to my knowledge. WHVN and WCGC kept the Christian programming.

And the "Timeless Classics" format was not called that. I have an article on Stardust, so the link would work if you changed that.

Looks good to me otherwise.

 

[Matt]

"WOOO became an Easy Listening format?" By the way, I don't know how long that lasted, but I did put this detail in the history of that station--it was soft adult contemporary.

At the conversion of WOOO to WLVV, the station was put on a format called "The FM-100 Plan", which was essentially the same songs as a Beautiful Music format, but with the vocal numbers played at a 3 to 1 ratio to the instrumental numbers. That was during the time when Stan Kaplan sued the station, claiming "....de-facto reallocation of WLVV to Charlotte...." The station responded by reprinting all of their stationery and rate cards with the words in small print, "City of License: Statesville, NC."

About a year after the change of calls to WLVV, the format changed to soft adult contemporary, using Churchill Productions "Radio One" format.

Total Radio was never on the Belmont station, to my knowledge. WHVN and WCGC kept the Christian programming.

I definitely remember hearing the guy's talk show at some point on WCGC. I don't know if that was some time prior to GHB's purchase of the station, or after the purchase and before WCGC became a simulcast of WHVN, but it was there at some point.

"Timeless Classics" format was not called that.

That format IS called that today. It has its own website, http://www.timelessclassicsonline.com, and it IS the format that WAME carries from 10:00am until 6:00am, when they are not carrying a Braves Baseball game or some other sportscast.

It is also the name of the format carried currently by WNMX-FM in Charlotte, WSVM in Valdese and WEGO in Concord....all GHB stations.

I'll check further on the WCGC information. The current manager of WAME used to own WCGC. It gives me a good reason to drive over there and reminice a bit with Jim Mintzer.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[BIG APE]

;D BY the way..Stan won that suit! Just an observation Matt...Do yoiu every stay at your station and do anything?? or are you always visiting or posting? Can I get a Job like that..I'll work cheap! APE! Well, I alway's believed WMAQ IS GONNA MAKE YOU RICH! AND THE "FINAL CONTEST"!

 

[Matt]

Just an observation Matt...Do yoiu every stay at your station and do anything?? or are you always visiting or posting?

Having a hobby keeps you from going insane in this business...and this is mine!

Seriously, I have a rather eclectic work schedule, which causes me to split-shift some days. Also, I work the night shift on Mondays, which gives me a half-day to rest from doing ministry on the weekends.

If I ever go back to doing ministry full-time, I'll give you some advance warning so you can get your application in.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[vchimpanzee]

"WOOO became an Easy Listening format?" By the way, I don't know how long that lasted, but I did put this detail in the history of that station--it was soft adult contemporary.

At the conversion of WOOO to WLVV, the station was put on a format called "The FM-100 Plan", which was essentially the same songs as a Beautiful Music format, but with the vocal numbers played at a 3 to 1 ratio to the instrumental numbers. That was during the time when Stan Kaplan sued the station, claiming "....de-facto reallocation of WLVV to Charlotte...." The station responded by reprinting all of their stationery and rate cards with the words in small print, "City of License: Statesville, NC."

About a year after the change of calls to WLVV, the format changed to soft adult contemporary, using Churchill Productions "Radio One" format.

I don't think it was a year. By the time I started college at UNCC in late summer 1981, I was surprised to hear soft rock on WLVV.

Total Radio was never on the Belmont station, to my knowledge. WHVN and WCGC kept the Christian programming

I definitely remember hearing the guy's talk show at some point on WCGC. I don't know if that was some time prior to GHB's purchase of the station, or after the purchase and before WCGC became a simulcast of WHVN, but it was there at some point.

"Timeless Classics" format was not called that.

That format IS called that today.

Well, that is true, but the name wasn't used then. There's no Wikipedia article called that.

It has its own website, http://www.timelessclassicsonline.com, and it IS the format that WAME carries from 10:00am until 6:00am, when they are not carrying a Braves Baseball game or some other sportscast.

It is also the name of the format carried currently by WNMX-FM in Charlotte, WSVM in Valdese and WEGO in Concord....all GHB stations.

I'll check further on the WCGC information. The current manager of WAME used to own WCGC. It gives me a good reason to drive over there and reminice a bit with Jim Mintzer.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

I fixed everything that I knew was wrong. I hope you don't mind. I did want to make the point that WAME was "Real Country", not just country. And the date on that is early 1998. I forgot to fix that.

The Stardust format name does have a link to an article I wrote.

 

[BIG APE]

Seems Like I remember the FM 100 Plan was a Peters Production deal..Whoever they were, they were awful! APE!