Welcome to Radio R.I.P., the final resting place of those local radio stations that became, quite literally, a part of Raleigh-Durham radio history. We're not talking about the death of a format or a station's call letters here, but cases where the actual station left the air permanently. Some would consider these "dead" stations a mere footnote of an area's broadcasting history, but the subject hits very close to home here. Our area's very first radio station, WLAC, signed off for good only a year after its 1922 debut. Understandably, there's very little information on these stations, but we've assembled everything we could find to provide some background on their history. Some radio operations outside of the greater Triangle area are included based on either their likelihood of being heard here or their relevance to the area's broadcast history. Move-ins from smaller towns and stations that were dark for brief periods of time without losing their licenses are not included; only those stations which actually left the air and had their licenses deleted. Periods of operation that are uncertain are denoted with a question mark following the years. If you have any details on the stations listed, or know of one we missed, please contact RDU RadioWaves.
WLAC, 600 AM, Raleigh (1922-1923)
On October 16th, 1922, the Raleigh area's first radio station and North Carolina's second signed on from what was then North Carolina State College. The station was student-run with studios in Winston Hall. Josephus Daniels, then-owner of the Raleigh News and Observer and a former secretary of the Navy under President Wilson spoke on WLAC that first night. In his speech, Daniels made a statement that would tragically be disproven 19 years later; "Nobody now fears that a Japanese fleet could deal an unexpected blow on our Pacific possessions...radio makes surprises impossible." However, WLAC didn't live to see Daniels eat those words, as a lack of money forced the station off-air one year after sign-on. In 1966, an FM station, WKNC, brought broadcasting back to N.C. State, where it continues today at 88.1 FM.
WIBV, 1110-1120 AM, Henderson (1925)
A 1925 edition of Burgess Battery Company's radio guide said that this station was broadcasting from Henderson at 268 meters, which would fall between 1110 and 1120 kilocycles). The owner of the station was listed as the Jonell Radio Company. If anyone reading this has any further information on WIBV, please click here
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WKBG, 850-860 AM, Chapel Hill (1927)
The Durham Morning Herald signed on radio station WKBG from the Pickwick Theater in Chapel Hill on July 3rd, 1927, airing a program of sacred music performed from the theater, according to an account in the paper. The station�s antenna was on the theater's roof and the newspaper alluded to some connection between the station and 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. If anyone reading this has any further information on WKBG, please click here
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WDUK, 1310 AM, Durham (1946-1951)
Harmon Duncan signed on WDUK, 1310 AM, on June 10th, 1946, as Durham's second station and the first of three post-World War II stations to sign on in Durham that year. WDUK's studios were located on Corcoran Street in downtown Durham and its transmitter one mile north of downtown on Leon Street. The ABC affiliate broadcast at 1,000 watts daytime power and 500 watts at night. Three months later, on Independence Day, Floyd Fletcher put Durham's third radio station, WTIK, on the air at AM 730 and independent of any network affiliation. This station operated from studios in downtown Durham with transmission faclilties located near the present-day crossing of the Durham Freeway (NC 147) and Ellis Road. In 1951, the two businessmen brought about a merger which resulted in 1310 AM becoming ABC-affiliated WTIK, broadcasting from the Leon Street plant still in use today. The WDUK call sign, as well as WTIK's old 730 frequency, were discontinued.
WHHT, 1580 (later 1590) AM, Durham (1946-1949)
Harold H. Toms' WHHT was the last of three stations to hit the Bull City airwaves in 1946. At first WHHT was a 1,000-watt daytimer at 1580 on the dial, operating from studios in downtown Durham at 313 E. Main Street. The station was an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS). Around 1948, WHHT moved up the dial to 1590 AM with increased daytime power (5,000 watts) and a 1,000-watt nighttime authorization. The directional signal emanated from three towers off Guess Road immediately north of the present-day Interstate 85 overpass. WHHT left the airwaves permanently on November 20th, 1949, when it was dissolved into cross-town competitor WSSB (the present-day WDUR), which had signed on in 1948 at the 1490 dial position that was home to WDNC before their move to 620 AM.
WFMY, 97.3 FM, Greensboro (1948-1955?)
The radio station signed on a year before its television counterpart, WFMY-TV 2, began broadcasting. The radio station operated with 35,000 watts but was discontinued as channel 2's (and the medium of television's) star rose throughout the '50s.
WBTM-FM, 97.9 FM, Danville (1946-1954)
WBTM, 1330 AM, opened an early FM station in the late 1940s. WBTM-FM operated with 32,000 watts, but disappeared from the air at the end of 1954. WBTM also briefly operated a TV station, WBTM-TV 24, which both signed on and went out of business in the year 1954. WBTM's current FM sister station, WAKG, signed on in 1968 as WBTM-FM at 103.3 FM.
WCBT-FM, 98.5 FM, Roanoke Rapids (1948?-1954)
This station was the FM half of Roanoke Rapids' WCBT, which still broadcasts at 1230 on the AM dial. It was licensed for 16,000 watts and apparently simulcasted much of the AM's fare. Hurricane Hazel put WCBT-FM off the air in October of 1954, and the station wasn't returned to the air due to the low profitability of FM broadcasting at that time. In 1990, 98.5 FM signed on down I-95 in Rocky Mount as WSAY (now WDWG).
WCEC, 810 AM, Rocky Mount (1947-1986)
Signed on the same day as their FM station, WCEC-FM 100.7, the daytime-only station operated until it's FM half moved to Raleigh in 1986 as WTRG (now WRVA).
WGTM-FM, 96.9 FM and later 106.7 FM, Wilson (1948-1954)
This was the FM half of WGTM, 590 AM, which still exists today. WGTM-FM signed on with the AM in 1947, one of the prerequisites given by the FCC for granting the AM license. Records from the time show that the station originally broadcast at 96.9 FM before moving to 106.7 FM. WGTM-FM was another station permanently silenced in October of 1954 when Hurricane Hazel destroyed its tower.
WFMC-FM, 105.5 FM, Goldsboro (1951?-1952?)
White's Radio Log from Winter 1951 lists this FM half to WFMC, apparently a precursor to the later WFMC-FM at 102.3, later WOKN, WEQR and presently WKIX. A radio log from 1952 shows no reference to WFMC-FM 105.5, so it must've left the air in the early-1950's, if it ever actually existed beyond a construction permit .
WSNS, 103.1 FM, Sanford (1951?-1952?)
White's Radio Log from Winter 1951 lists this station as an apparent stand-alone. It's not listed in a 1952 log. WSNS, too, may have been a construction permit that was never built. Frequency 103.1 FM was later allocated and built in nearby Dunn, NC as WQTI, now WRCQ at 103.5. In the early 2000's, the frequency was alloted to another nearby community, Robbins, NC.
WAFR, 90.3 FM, Durham (1971-1976)
Signed on by the North Carolina Central University Radio Workshop, WAFR was reportedly the nation's first black public radio station. The station signed on from studios in downtown Durham on E. Pettigrew Street September 15th, 1971, following the recent sale of Durham's only FM station targeting the black community, WSRC-FM, to Duke University. WAFR's organizers had attempted to have some of the old WSRC-FM broadcasting equipment donated to them, but it went along with the sale of the station. The WAFR airwaves once played host to singer Stevie Wonder, who, according to newspaper accounts, sung live on the air. However, the public radio station endured constant financial problems and charges of mismanagement and discrimination that threatened their federal funding. WAFR signed off the air by 1976. When the former WSRC-FM, now WDBS, was put on the market in the early 1980s, its fans attempted to rescue its folk format by approaching the Community Radio Workshop about a merger that would bring WAFR back to the local airwaves, but this idea was rejected. Almost two decades after WAFR's demise, North Carolina Central University was, remarkably, able to sign-on a 50,000-watt station to the Triangle's crowded FM dial. WNCU, which makes its home at 90.7 FM, just two dial spaces up from the 90.3 spot WAFR held for it's five-year run, also operates as a public radio station.
WVSP, 90.9 FM, Warrenton (1973-1985)
This was a public radio station licensed to "Soul City, Inc.", which programmed to the black community in rural Warren County and surrounding areas. The station was founded by Valeria Smith Lee, who was also WVSP's general manager during its 11-year existence. Financial woes forced them from the air, and the 90.9 frequency was later engineered into Rocky Mount, where North Carolina Wesleyan College signed on WESQ in 1991. WESQ is now WRQM, which rebroadcasts the NPR programming of Chapel Hill's WUNC-FM.
W278AB, 103.5 FM, Durham (1988-2004)
W278AB was a fill-in translator for Duke University's student-run WXDU, 88.7 FM. The translator signed on in 1988 to provide coverage to dead spots on the West Campus. W278AB, which transmitted with one watt of power from an antenna located on the campus' clock tower, near Cameron Indoor Stadium, originally signed on at 90.7 FM with a different call sign I've been unable to locate. It was displaced by the sign on of North Carolina Central University's WNCU in 1995, at which time it moved to 103.5 FM. When parent station WXDU's tower height and power were slightly increased following the facility's reconstruction after being damaged by Hurricane Fran in 1996, the 88.7 signal was much improved on West Campus. Though FCC records show that the W278AB license was canceled on March 9th, 1999, the translator was actually on the air until sometime in the spring of 2004.
WCRY, 1460 AM, Fuquay-Varina (1949-2004)
Fuquay-Varina's first radio station signed on in 1949 as WFVG, predating the official merger of the southern Wake County towns of Fuquay Springs and Varina. WFVG, which stood for "Watch Fuquay-Varina Grow", featured agricultural programming in addition to country and rock and roll. In the 1970s, WFVG became WAKS, a country station. An FM station, WAKS-FM (today's WNNL "The Light 103.9") was launched in 1981. WAKS became business news/talk WNBR in 1989, but went dark for a while, only to return as WCRY in 1993. WCRY simulcasted the news/talk programming of Southern Pines-based WEEB, 990 AM. Willis Broadcasting of Norfolk purchased the station in the mid-'90s and flipped it to black gospel. The station operated from studios and a directional antenna on NC 55 north of Fuquay-Varina, with 5,000 watts daytime and 122 watts at night. On June 16th, 2004, Willis Broadcasting, which had neglected to pay several FCC fines, negotiated a deal in which WCRY and four other Willis stations would permanently sign off and turn in their licenses. By June 21st, AM 1460 had fallen silent.
W260AB, 99.9 FM, Raleigh(1992-2005)
Signed on to relay the signal of Wilson-licensed WAHD, 90.5 FM (now WAJC) into Raleigh. The translator's license was canceled when a full-power Chase City, Virginia station, WFXQ (now WCMC), 99.9 FM, moved its license and facilities to Creedmoor. The translator had attempted to move to 99.5 as W257AX, but that would have posed interference problems to the relocated station as well.
