On September 22, 1924, Wynne Radio Company owner William A. Wynne brought local radio back to the area when the 50-watt WFBQ 1190 began broadcasting. Wynne later changed the call letters to WRCO, representing the name of his business. WRCO was purchased by Durham Life Insurance Company in 1927, which again changed the call letters to reflect their ownership. Their company slogan was
�We Protect The Family", so WRCO became WPTF. The early transmitter for the station was atop the Sir Walter Hotel. WPTF later moved to 1380 and then 560 before landing at it�s now-familiar 680 spot on the dial in 1931. In Durham, an unlicensed broadcaster named Felix M. Whitaker surprised local radio listeners when he began broadcasting from his home at 316 Wilkerson Avenue, according to a report in the October 25th, 1925, Durham Morning Herald. Whitaker told the paper of his intentions to secure a radio license, but he was apparently unsuccessful in his efforts. Two years later it was the newspaper making radio waves. WKBG began broadcasting from the Pickwick Theater in Chapel Hill on July 3rd, 1927, airing a program of sacred music performed from the theater. The station�s �aerial� was on the roof and the newspaper account alluded to some connection with the University of North Carolina. It was also reported that WKBG could be heard by those outside the theater on �telephone 350�, likely a reference to the station�s wavelength (a 350 meter wavelength would have roughly equaled 850-860 on the AM dial). Very little information exists about the fate of WKBG, but it was, no doubt, very short-lived. A 1925 Burgess Battery Company publication listing radio stations of that era noted a station in Henderson, WIBV, at 268 meters (around 1120 AM), that was also short lived. Durham�s first licensed radio station signed on in 1934. Mayor W.F. Carr and other civic leaders wanted the Bull City, North Carolina�s third-most populous at that time, to have a radio station all its own. The group bought Wilmington, North Carolina�s WRAM, 1370 AM. Within an hour of permanently signing off in the Port City, WRAM�s broadcasting equipment was loaded onto a truck headed for Durham. On the top floor of the Washington Duke Hotel downtown, a radio studio was set up and a strand antenna was strung between two
steel towers built on the hotel's roof. On April 9th, 1934, WDNC signed on with 100 watts at 1500 AM. 
On March 20th, 1939, Raleigh attorney Alfred J. Fletcher put Raleigh�s second radio station, WRAL, on the air with 250 watts at 1210 on the dial. Fletcher�s new station became the building block of his Capitol Broadcasting Company. WPTF boosted their power to 50,000 watts in 1941, greatly expanding the reach of their signal into other parts of North Carolina and beyond. That same year, the
Federal Communications Commission enacted the North American Radio Broadcasting Act . Referred to as NARBA, this act was developed to provide Mexico and Canada with clear channel frequencies and to expand the band from 1500 to 1600 kilocycles. This act, which went into affect on March 29th, 1941, involved a massive shuffling of the AM broadcast band. WPTF, by virtue of its 680 dial position, just missed being affected by NARBA. WRAL and WDNC, however, had to change their dial positions. WRAL moved three spaces forward to1240 AM and WDNC dropped back one spot to 1490 AM. Less than six months after NARBA, Josephus Daniels� prediction of long ago proved tragically untrue. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor (in the then-territory of Hawaii), and America went to war. As a result, a freeze was put on all radio station applications. 
These included such stations at Henderson's WHNC, 890 AM, Burlington�s WBBB, 920 AM and Goldsboro�s WGBR, 1400 AM. However, the war�s end in 1945 brought about a tidal wave of applications winning FCC approval. During this period, Durham saw a big growth in its number of stations. Harmon Duncan signed on WDUK at 1310 AM on June 10th,1946. Floyd Fletcher, the son of WRAL radio founder Alfred J. Fletcher, signed on WTIK at 730 on the dial on Independence Day of that same year. Before 1946 was over, a third station, Harold Toms' WHHT, 1580 AM (later 1590), hit the ever-crowding Bull City airwaves. In 1947, WRAL signed on the area's first FM station, WRAL-FM, at 95.3. The Raleigh News and Observer�s WNAO, 850 AM, signed on that year as well. On Leap Day, 1948, WDNC increased its power to 5,000 watts 
daytime, switched frequencies to 620 and debuted WDNC-FM at 105.1. That same day; Tom Sawyer's WSSB signed on, assuming the 1490 frequency vacated by WDNC. In 1949, WPTF-FM, then at 94.5 had also signed on, along with WNAO-FM at 96.1.
The sleeping giants of radio, these early FM stations were largely unprofitable and overlooked due to the lack of receivers and listeners. These two factors, coupled with the impending birth of television would keep FM on the back burner until the 1970s. Programming during this time mainly came from one of four national networks, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the now-defunct Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS). These networks provided dramas, comedies, series and news, in addition to live musical performances. In late 1948, Raleigh's WPTF was affiliated with NBC, WNAO with ABC and WRAL with MBS; Durham's WDNC was CBS, 
WDUK was ABC and WHHT with MBS. There was also plenty of local programming to be found as well, including local news, talk and music performances. In the late 1940s, Jesse Helms, who would go on to serve five terms as a United States Senator from North Carolina, worked in the news department of WRAL radio where he pioneered the use of actualities, or sound bites, during news broadcasts. Another well-known WRAL personality was the late Fred Fletcher, another son of founder A.J. Fletcher, well known for his children�s programming and warnings to motorists of known spots where the Raleigh Police were checking for speeders. In Durham, WDNC personality Norfley Whitted was the first black radio announcer in the South and one of only four in the nation at the time. While Whitted was breaking the color barrier, WDNC�s Frances Jarman was shattering the �glass ceiling�. Jarman was known as the �First Lady of North Carolina Radio� and also helped to pioneer spot news coverage as WRAL�s Helms had done before her. As the 1940s came to a close and the 1950s began, Durham bid farewell to two of its radio stations. On November 19th, 1949, WHHT, by this time a 5,000-watt station at 1590 AM, ceased operations and was dissolved into WSSB. The next year, WTIK and WDUK merged their operations, with WTIK surrendering its 730 dial position for WDUK's 1310 facility.
In 1953, The Raleigh News and Observer founded the area's first television station,
WNAO-TV. An Ultra High Frequency (UHF) station seen on channel 28, WNAO-TV�s signal left much to be desired, due to the station�s lack of sufficient broadcast power and the caliber of transmission and receiving equipment which existed at the time. The principles of WTIK, Floyd Fletcher and Harmon Duncan were partially involved in putting the area's first Very High Frequency (VHF) and oldest continuous TV station,
Durham's WTVD, channel 11, on the air September 2nd, 1954. 
The University of North Carolina put WUNC-TV, channel 4, on-air January 8, 1955. Capitol Broadcasting's WRAL and
Durham Life's WPTF competed for Raleigh�s VHF channel 5 allotment in a
David-and-Goliath battle, with the smaller Capitol Broadcasting the victor. WRAL-TV signed on December 15th, 1956. Many years later, in 1977, Durham Life Broadcasting did get a television station when they bought Durham�s WRDU-TV, which assumed the UHF channel 28 that was vacant since WNAO-TV went out of business in 1959. As mentioned in the last section,
radio was network-programmed up to this point, using block-programming found on today's TV--soap operas, plays, news broadcasts, shows
and even musical elements abounded, with radio
stations known best by their network affiliations than the type of music they played. Much more suitable to a visual medium, block programming migrated to
television during the fifties. Radio adapted in a way more compatible with the
medium's mobility and appeal to the sense of sound; it began programming music and talk programming, thus laying the groundwork for format programming. 
with the birth of Top 40. This started when Texas broadcaster
Gordon MacLendon programmed two radio stations he owned with a tight rotation of
the 40 most-purchased songs on local jukeboxes. Thus was born
the "Top 40" format, now referred to as "CHR" or Contemporary Hit Radio, also
included larger-than-life personalities who talked fast, downplayed news
elements and prominently featured call signs/dial positions, often heard in musical �jingles�. Locally, Durham's WSSB embraced the format. However, the year 1958 brought about a
true local "giant" in Top 40 radio. This was the year WNAO and WNAO-FM was sold to the late Hugh Holder, who redubbed them WKIX and WKIX-FM. "The Giant of the South" spun the hits all the way from the early days of rock and roll through the British invasion on up
to the pop music of the seventies, a time when music genres began to splinter and radio
formats became more focused. "Kix" had a loyal following throughout
the Triangle and points beyond, spawning numerous careers. Chapel Hill�s WCHL, which signed on in 1953, was also a Top 40 station during this era. 
The eighties saw different, more defined formats making their way to radio, in lieu of the more loosely defined, mass appeal formats of earlier decades. It was also during this time the FCC relaxed their rules and regulations, allowing FM stations in smaller towns to boost their power and move their antennae closer to more populous cities and towns. Tall radio towers, termed �big sticks� rose 1,000 feet or more from the surrounding countryside to give these move-ins adequate antenna height needed for effective FM line-of-sight broadcasts. Students of FCC protocol know that with commercial FM (92-108 MHz), the Commission assigns channels to different communities by means of a 
Curtis also bought several AMs including Chapel Hill's WCHL and Raleigh religious outlets WRDT and WCLY. Curtis also signed on Raleigh's last remaining vacant commercial FM allotment, 102.9 FM, in 1998 as WWND. With a few exceptions all of the Curtis stations moved into the company's studios at 3012 Highwoods Boulevard.
San Antonio-based Clear Channel, now the nation's largest radio station owner, entered the market in 1996 with the purchase of WQOK and Fuquay-Varina-licensed smooth jazz station WNND. Clear Channel would later buy WFXC, WFXK and WDUR from Pinnacle Broadcasting, in effect allowing them to control the market's top radio outlets targeting the area�s sizeable black audience. In 2000, AMFM was bought out by Clear Channel, which meant the radio giant now owned the former�s four FM stations in addition to their own portfolio of four FM and one AM. Ownership caps forced Clear Channel to divest at least three FM stations. The company opted to keep WDUR and AMFM's four FM properties, selling WQOK, WFXC, WFXK and WNNL to urban broadcaster Radio One (Clear Channel sold WDUR in 2005). Both Clear Channel and Curtis Media's headquarters, located along Highwood Boulevard in North Raleigh, concentrate the studios for eleven local radio stations (roughly 1/3 of all area radio stations) on the same city block. Radio One's stations are located in another North Raleigh studio on Creedmoor Road.