WPCM (920 kHz) is a commercial AM

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

broadcasting a

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it i ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. Licensed to Burlington-

Graham, North Carolina Graham is a city in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census the population was 17,153. It is the county seat of Alamance County. Histor ...

, the station covers the

Greensboro metropolitan area Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the U ...

It is owned by Alamance Media Partners. WPCM is also heard on

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 tra ...

104.5 MHz W283BT in Burlington.

Programming

The station went online at 5:00PM on Friday March 1, 2019.

History

Burlington and Alamance County's first radio station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

the air on September 15, 1941 as WBBB. WBBB had its studios above Lamb's Clothing on South Main Street as a daytime-only station with 1,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of 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 quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s of power. Its transmitter was on Tower Drive at the same location the station airs from today. In 1946, WBBB added an FM station at 101.3 (later 101.1). It later became a separate station known as WNCB, then WPCM and it is currently

WYMY WYMY ("La Ley 101.1" FM) is a Regional Mexican radio station in Burlington, North Carolina, United States. It serves the Triad and Triangle areas, which includes cities such as Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Raleigh and Durham. In addition the sign ...

. In 1952, WBBB increased its power to 5,000 watts, but still as a daytimer. The WBBB

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 assig ...

moved to an FM station in Raleigh in January 1998.David Menconi, "Station Opts for Format of 'Real Rock'", ''The News & Observer'', January 29, 1998. WBBB 920 later started 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. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format that included Ken Hamblin and G. Gordon Liddy, switching its call letters to WPCM. Although the area had several

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

radio stations, WPCM began playing

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on inn ...

by artists such as

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

and Patsy Cline. The new slogan was "We Don't Forget Who Made Country Music Great." By 2001, WPCM was playing

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as wel ...

. In June 2004, WPCM changed its format from beach music. On May 14, 2005, WPCM went back to its beach music format, including operations manager/morning host Byron Tucker and afternoon DJ Charlie Brown. In 2009, Brown became an honorary member of the Association of Beach and Shag Club DeeJays' DJ Hall of Fame. In 2010, WPCM won the Carolina Beach Music Association's AM Station of the Year award for the third time in four years. In 2014, WPCM added W236BO, an

at 95.1 MHz which previously belonged to Liberty University. The music also changed but remained oldies. On December 26, 2014, WPCM switched from oldies to country music. Imaging promos on the air said "WPCM. We Play Country Music." The station's Facebook page had this explanation: "...Today we begin an exciting new chapter in our life as a radio station as we bring you the best in country music...." and "...Alamance County has a love of country music and it is our responsibility to the community and to ourselves to play the music that you want to hear and that our advertiser's clients want to hear...." In 2018, WPCM switched to an

all sports All Sports is the first greatest hits album by Australian rock and pop band The Sports, released in December 1982. The album peaked at number 35 on the Australian Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Austral ...

format, simulcast from co-owned AM 600 WSJS Winston-Salem. In January 2022, it was announced that Curtis Media Group would sell WPCM and WMFR to Triad Media Partners. Curtis Media sold WSJS one month prior, meaning these stations were Curtis Media's last properties in the Piedmont Triad market. On April 29, 2022, WPCM changed their format from sports to contemporary Christian, branded as "Hope 104.5".Hope Debuts In Burlington NC
Radioinsight - April 29, 2022

References

External links

Curtis Media Stations
* * {{Piedmont Triad Radio

PCM Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amp ...

Radio stations established in 1941 1941 establishments in North Carolina Contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States