WCHL (1360

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

. It is owned by the Chapel Hill Media Group and it has a

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

of news, talk,

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

and

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

music. It is a

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

CBS News Radio CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

. Much of its programming is geared towards the Chapel Hill–

Carrboro Carrboro is a town in Orange County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 21,295 at the 2020 census.

community, with a focus on local news and community-affairs programming. The

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s are on South Estes Drive in Chapel Hill. By day, WCHL transmits with 5,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s non-directional, but to protect other stations on

1360 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1360 kHz: 1360 AM is a regional broadcast frequency. Class B and D stations broadcast on 1360 AM. Argentina * AM 1360 in Maria Grande, Entre Rios (still have no callsign assigned) Mex ...

from interference, at night it reduces power to 1,000 watts and uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

. Programming is also heard on 250-watt

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

W250BP at 97.9

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

in Chapel Hill.

History

Chapel Hill's oldest continuous broadcaster

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on January 25, 1953. WCHL was owned by Sandy McClamroch, who went on to become the town's longest-serving mayor. Originally a 1,000-watt station, the station boosted its daytime power to 5,000 watts in 1978. WCHL served as the launching point for the Village Broadcasting Companies, which bought Burlington's WBAG-FM in 1983, moving it to Raleigh as WZZU (now

WNCB WNCB (93.9 FM broadcasting, FM), known as "B93.9", is a country music radio station that serves the Raleigh-Durham market of North Carolina. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc., whose sister stations include WDCG, WTKK, WRDU, and W237B ...

"B93.9"). Over the years, the station developed a loyal following for being highly community-oriented. The WCHL news department brought home many

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

awards and launched the career of several nationally renowned journalists and sports broadcasters.

Charles Kuralt Charles Bishop Kuralt (September 10, 1934 – July 4, 1997) was an American television, newspaper and radio journalist and author. He is most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on '' The CBS Evening ...

and

Jim Lampley James Lampley (born April 8, 1949) is an American sportscaster, news anchor, film producer, and restaurant owner. He is best known as a blow-by-blow announcer on ''HBO World Championship Boxing'' for 30 years. He covered a record 14 Olympic ...

began their broadcast careers at WCHL while students at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

. WCHL played

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

music, and later

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

before going to a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

format in the early 1990s. In 1997, The Village Companies (now Vilcom) sold WCHL to the Raleigh-based

Curtis Media Group Curtis Media Group is a broadcast media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. The company owns and operates several North Carolina radio stations and television networks. Broadcast stations Curtis Media Group owns and opera ...

for $400,000. Curtis moved WCHL's operations to the

WDNC WDNC (620 AM broadcasting, AM) is a Sports radio, sports radio station licensed to Durham, North Carolina but based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Owned and operated by Capitol Broadcasting Company as part of a cluster with NBC affiliate WRAL-TV, ...

studios at the

Durham Bulls Athletic Park Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP, pronounced "d-bap") is a 10,000-seat ballpark in Durham, North Carolina, that is home to the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. It is also ...

. It ended the highly acclaimed local news and community-driven talk for an

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

and

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

format, limited news and a

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

morning show with co-located WDNC. However, in 2002, Vilcom regained control of its former property's sales and programming under a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

(LMA). Vilcom moved the station back to Chapel Hill and returned the station's format to local news and talk on November 25, 2002, just two months before the station celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2003. In June 2004, Vilcom bought the station back from Curtis Media Group for $775,000. Vilcom's longtime owner, Jim Heavner, sold a minority stake in WCHL to Barry Leffler, former president of

WNCN WNCN (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Goldsboro, North Carolina, United States, serving the Research Triangle area as an affiliate of CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on Front Street in north R ...

in Raleigh, in late 2009. By this time WCHL had a

progressive talk Progressive talk radio is a talk radio format devoted to expressing left-leaning viewpoints of news and issues as opposed to conservative talk radio. In the United States, the format has included syndicated and independent personalities such as ...

format, using programming from Air America. Leffler became the station's CEO and managing partner. Heavner remained as chairman. Under Leffler, WCHL added more local news, an FM signal, and the Chapelboro web site. On January 21, 2010, WCHL's network Air America filed for

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''re ...

and ceased live programming the same night. Reruns of Air America's programming continued to air until Monday, January 25 at 9 p.m.. In 2014, Leffler, who had run WCHL since 2009, left the station for

Tenet Healthcare Tenet Healthcare Corporation is an American for-profit multinational healthcare services company based in Dallas, Texas. Through its brands, subsidiaries, joint ventures, and partnerships, including United Surgical Partners International (US ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. In August 2015, WCHL was purchased by Leslie Rudd who brought in several local investors, Chris Ehrenfeld, Jim Kitchen and Mark Vitali to form Chapel Hill Media Group, LLC. Soon after, the station switched formats to incorporate music along with its lineup of live shows each weekday morning and afternoon. It plays

music, giving WCHL a more diverse

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...

than most formats. At the end of 2016 WCHL moved to University Place and re-branded as "97.9 The Hill WCHL." It is currently known for continuing the tradition of community programming by providing local news, neighborhood events and high school sports, along with its music programming. Its website i
Chapelboro.com
a daily local news source for Chapel Hill and the surrounding area. Ron Stutts retired on December 18, 2020, after 43 years as morning host. His show was replaced in 2021 by "This Morning with Aaron Keck", while news director Brighton McConnell took over Keck's afternoon shift.

Sports programming

WCHL was a longtime

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

football and basketball. Vilcom was the rights holder for Tar Heel sports until selling them to Learfield Communications in the early 21st century, and Heavner was

Woody Durham Woody Lombardi Durham (August 8, 1941 – March 7, 2018) was an American play-by-play radio announcer for the North Carolina Tar Heels football and men's basketball programs from 1971 to 2011. Early life Born in Mebane, North Carolina, Durham ...

's color commentator on Tar Heel broadcasts for 18 years. Ron Stutts, the station's morning drive-time host from 1977 until his retirement in 2020, hosts an hour-long pregame show before the

Tar Heel Sports Network The Tar Heel Sports Network is a radio network in the United States dedicated to broadcasting live events and programming relating to North Carolina Tar Heels athletics. It is operated by Tar Heel Sports Properties, a property of LEARFIELD, wh ...

begins its coverage. In 2022, UNC moved its

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Anchored by the cities of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh an ...

-area affiliation to 680

WPTF WPTF (680 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a news/talk radio format. city of license, Licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, the station serves the Research Triangle area. It is owned by the Curtis Media Group, with ...

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. The deal made WPTF the network's new flagship, though WCHL remains as an affiliate station. WCHL continues as the exclusive home for Tar Heel baseball and women's basketball. WCHL also airs high school sports.

Transmission

WCHL's 5,000-watt non-directional daytime signal cuts back to 1,000 watts directional toward the southeast at sunset. The station has continuously broadcast from its two-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

on Franklin Street, noticeable for being emblazoned with metal call letters on one

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

and its frequency on the other. In 2012, WCHL expanded to the FM band by acquiring a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

station from

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

in Virginia. The station, previously licensed to

Creedmoor, North Carolina Creedmoor is a city in Granville County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,124 at the 2010 census. History In 1885, a group of 25 taxpayers of Granville County, including Civil War Confederate veteran Robert Fleming, appea ...

, at 98.5 FM, moved to Chapel Hill and to 97.9 MHz. The

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

is W250BP. The translator is intended to improve nighttime reception of the station and to allow listeners who prefer FM radio to tune in. In the fall of 2012, WCHL rebranded itself as 97.9 WCHL, while retaining its AM 1360 signal.

''Chapelboro''

Using materials produced by its news team, WCHL owns and operates the online local newspaper ''Chapelboro''.

References

External links

{{Chapel Hill-Carrboro CHL (AM) Mass media in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, North Carolina News and talk radio stations in the United States Full service radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1953 1953 establishments in North Carolina