In October of 1954, WSHE first signed on the air with 500 watts. John Greene, the founding owner of Durham's WSRC (now WRJD), was also part of WSHE's ownership. The station was also known as WMSN in the mid-1950s. By the early 1960s, AM 570 was known as WLLE "Hot 57", Raleigh's home for rhythm and blues. The station ran afoul of the FCC in a late 1970s double-billing scandal and its license was given to the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. In 1981, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Monroe purchased the station and continued its well-known R&B format unil 1997, when they sold the station to Kentucky-based Christian broadcaster Mortenson Broadcasting. WLLE then became WRDT, switching gears to a Christian talk format. Curtis Media bought the station in 1999 and changed the calls to WDTF in November of that year, airing a mix of contemporary Christian music, ministry and talk. In November of 2002, the station became WDNZ and dropped most of its religious programming to simulcast with WDNC in Durham most of the day as "570/620 DNC Radio". In August 2003, WDNZ boosted their daytime power to 1000 watts. The simulcast with WDNC came to a close on November 1st, 2005, when WDNC entered into a local marketing agreement with McClatchey Broadcasting, owner of WRBZ. WDNZ continued with much of the syndicated talk programming it shared with WDNC. On September 21st, 2006, the WDNZ calls were changed to WDOX to avoid confusion with their former simulcasting partner. WDOX shares a tower with co-owned WCLY, 1550 AM, on Maywood Avenue south of downtown Raleigh, and simulcasts its programming on Louisburg's WYRN, 1480 AM.
