HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

WWNT is a
Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
formatted
broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...
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 ...
licensed to
Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...
, United States, serving
Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the fifth-most populous city in North Carolina and the 91st-most populous city in the Uni ...
and
Forsyth County, North Carolina Forsyth County ( )Talk Like a Tarheel
, from the North Carolina Co ...
. WWNT is owned by Delmarva Educational Association. As of August 1, 2018, WWNT is silent.


History


1947 sign-on

The station began as WTOB, a 1,000-watt daytimer in 1947 on 710 kHz and licensed to Winston-Salem.


1950s-1970s: Top 40 days

By 1955, WTOB had moved to 1380 kHz and upgraded from a daytime to a full-time station with 5,000 watts days and 1,000 watts night. It also had a sister television station:
WTOB-TV WTOB-TV (channel 26) was a television station in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, owned by the Winston-Salem Broadcasting Company. The first station on the air in Winston-Salem, it broadcast programming from ABC and operated from Se ...
, which operated from 1953 to 1957. WTOB was a
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 ...
station during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. George Lee was one of "The Good Guys". Other popular DJs were Dick Bennick, The Flying Dutchman, and
Rick Dees Rigdon Osmond Dees III (born March 14, 1950), best known as Rick Dees, is an American entertainer, radio personality, comedian, actor, and voice artist, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show '' The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Coun ...
, who worked at WTOB, WCOG and WKIX when the stations were owned by Southern Broadcasting. Shortly after his retirement in 2015 from WEGO, a ''Winston-Salem Journal'' story said that when Smith Patterson went to work at WTOB, his name was the same as John Johnson and he was told not to use that name. Several days later, he got behind a Patterson Smith oil truck and decided on the name he would use through his 45-year career.


The 1980s and 1990s: changes in formats

In the 1980s and 1990s, the station played
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 ...
in addition to airing local and regional sports events, talk programs such as
Ludlow Porch Ludlow Porch (October 11, 1934 – February 11, 2011), born Bobby Crawford Hanson, was an American radio humorist popular in the Southern United States. He was the author of many humor books, including ''Fat White Guys Cookbook'' and ''Who Cares ...
and ''Marge at Large'', and other local content such as a
barbershop music Barbershop vocal harmony is a style of a cappella close harmony, or unaccompanied vocal music, characterized by consonance and dissonance, consonant four-part chord (music), chords for every melody note in a primarily homorhythmic texture. Eac ...
program. At the end of the 1980s, most of the station's music came from Satellite Radio Networks. The station later switched to
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
radio news. Truth Broadcasting eventually purchased the station and switched it to
Christian talk Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...
, later airing the same programming as WCOG.


The 2000s: simulcasts and Spanish

On January 1, 2002,
WWBG WWBG (1470 AM) is an American radio station licensed to serve Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. The station, launched in 1999 as a replacement for WBIG, is owned by Richard Miller's Twin City Broadcasting Company, LLC. WWBG broadcas ...
began airing the same programming as WTOB. In 2003, Truth Broadcasting stopped selling time to La Movidita, which moved back to WSGH. Que Pasa moved from WSGH to WTOB and WWBG. This was done even though the Spring 2002 Arbitron results showed WTOB had its highest ratings since the change to Spanish programming. At some point not too long after this, Davidson Media purchased WTOB.


2010s: back to English and back to Spanish

On April 1, 2013, WTOB switched back to all-English, dropped all Spanish programming and flipped its format to Oldies (1950s-1970s and Carolina Beach Oldies). Jerry Holt leased the station from owner Davidson Media and was the general manager of WTOB as well as an on-air D.J. The station announced that it was moving its studios to 3rd Avenue in Winston-Salem. WTOB was based on the style and music that made it the top radio station in Winston-Salem in the 1960s and 1970s, and past jingles and sound effects were used. Among the disc jockeys were Curtis Lee, who was on WAIR in the 1960s. Holt and Davidson Media could not agree on a new lease in 2014. WTOB was leased to Dan Williard, and Holt leased another station, WSMX. WTOB switched to a classic hits format on June 1. Speaking about the new format, program director Coyote Mush told the ''Winston-Salem Journal'', "We’re the only station that does the Classic Hits format between Charlotte and Raleigh... Corporate radio has just ignored it." In July 2015, TBLC Media purchased WTOB. In November 2015, TBLC changed the format to Spanish. The classic hits format remained on the station's website and moved first to WSMX and on December 18, 2015, at noon, to WEGO. Former WTOB employees formed Southern Broadcast Media LLC to license the new station. On December 9, 2015, WTOB changed its callsign to WWNT. On November 15, 2016, TBLC Media consented to give the WTOB callsign to the owners of WEGO 980 AM, and as of November 22, 2016, WEGO became WTOB. According to the FCC's Silent AM Broadcast Stations List, WWNT has been off the air since December 11, 2020. Effective June 9, 2023, TBLC Media sold WWNT to Delmarva Educational Association for $15,000.


WTOB-TV

A sister television station, WTOB-TV, signed on the air on September 18, 1953. It was an
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
and DuMont affiliate. WTOB-TV operated on Channel 26.1954 Telecasting Yearbook, page 220.
/ref> As with many early UHF stations, it faced signal problems and the fact that viewers had to purchase expensive UHF converters to see the signal. With the area already served by strong VHF stations like Greensboro's
WFMY-TV WFMY-TV (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Piedmont Triad region. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Phillips Avenue in Greensboro a ...
and Winston-Salem's WSJS-TV, WTOB-TV was fighting a difficult battle. It signed off in 1957. Channel 26 now is WUNL-TV, the University of North Carolina television station serving Winston-Salem. It is not affiliated with WTOB.


References


External links


WWNT on Facebook

FCC History Cards for WWNT
{{Spanish Radio Stations in North Carolina WNT Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in North Carolina WNT