WFNC, founded by John Gilbert Dawson in 1940, was Fayetteville's first radio station. The station operated at 1420 on the dial with 250 watts of power, but moved up 30 kHz to 1450 on March 29 th, 1941, as a result of the NARBA Frequency Shift. It was joined in 1947 by WFNC-FM 98.1 (now WQSM). WFNC was an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting Network in the days of network radio. WFNC would later shift its frequency to 940 AM and, in 1986, moved to 640 AM with 10,000 watts daytime and 1,000 watts at night. The station was also the first full-time news/talk-formatted station in North Carolina. The Dawson family's Cape Fear Broadcasting sold WFNC, WQSM, and their other holdings to Cumulus Media in 1999. WFNC's powerful daytime signal and low frequency allow a wide coverage across central and eastern North Carolina, northeasern South Carolina and even part of Southside Virginia.