Dunn and Harnett County's first radio station signed on December 6th, 1946, under the ownership of Dunn businessmen Earl Westbrook, A. Lincoln Faulk and A. Hartwell Campbell. Campbell's father, Leslie Hartwell Campbell was president of nearby Campbell College (now Campbell University) at the time, a school his grandfather, James Archibald Campbell, founded in 1887. (Also, in 1953, Campbell and Westbrook, along with three other men, founded WNCT-TV 9 in Greenville, the first television station in Eastern North Carolina. It would later spawn a radio station of its own. Campbell's son, Tom, owned the license to FOX affiliate WRAZ-TV 50 when it signed on in 1995). During the first twenty-five years of operation, WCKB featured a variety of formats which included big band, easy listening, pop, and rock and roll. Special emphasis was always placed on news, especially local news and weather, as well as talk programs. In 1971, they launched an FM station, easy listening WQTI, 103.1 FM. WQTI later became urban WDKS and eventually moved to Fayetteville and to 103.5 FM as rock WRCQ. During the 1980s, WCKB moved to a Gospel Music format which continues today. Having operated with 1,000 watts daytime for most of its existence, WCKB boosted their power to 7,000 watts in 2002. This powerful signal and low dial position ensure WCKB a good, strong signal in the Triangle and the eastern part of the state during the day, but they cut their power down to one watt at night to protect Chicago clear channel WBBM.
