WWBG (1470 AM) is an American

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 serve

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

, United States. The station, launched in 1999 as a replacement for WBIG, is owned by Richard Miller's Twin City Broadcasting Company, LLC. WWBG broadcasts a classic hits music format to the

Greensboro Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...

– High Point area, simulcast from co-owned WTOB in

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 ...

History of WBIG

The call sign of WWBG is a tribute to the prior occupant of this frequency in Greensboro, WBIG, which broadcast from the city for 60 years. Established in 1925 in Charlotte and moved to Greensboro the next year by founder Wayne M. Nelson, the station became the first broadcasting property of

Jefferson-Pilot Lincoln National Corporation is a ''Fortune'' 200 American holding company, which operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for LNC and its subsi ...

in 1934 and affiliated with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. It continued as the most popular station in Greensboro in decades, though in later years the move of music audiences to FM and the growth of the radio market outside of Greensboro proper put it at a severe disadvantage. Jefferson-Pilot shut the station down on November 20, 1986; the land was sold five years later for the construction of a

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. ( ) is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of October 28, 2022, Lowe's and i ...

home improvement store.

History of WWBG

On December 9, 1994, Walt Cockerham announced that the former WBIG would return to the air with its old frequency, but 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 ...

was no longer available. ( A station in

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in northeastern Illinois, United States. It is located along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River west of Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, second-most populous city in Illinois, with a popul ...

, would adopt the WBIG call sign in 1991.) During the year after

WKEW WKEW (1400 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a Gospel music radio format. Licensed to Greensboro, North Carolina, US, the station is owned by Truth Broadcasting Corporation. In Greensboro and nearby communities, WKEW can also be he ...

changed from

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 ...

, Truth Broadcasting bought several stations in the Greensboro area, including the one that would be called WWBG, the call sign that the new station was assigned by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

on August 21,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. Truth Broadcasting planned to do what WKEW had done. This meant news, talk, sports and community affairs relating to Greensboro. On November 1, 1999, Dunn and Bray returned to 1470 AM. Dunn said, "It's like being home. We've got the old morning crew back together." The news/talk format only lasted until January 1, 2002, because, program director David Albright said, it was not profitable and a number of Spanish-speaking people wanted a radio station of their own. "La Movidita" was already airing on WTOB (1380 AM) in Winston-Salem. In 2003, Truth Broadcasting stopped selling time to La Movidita, which moved to its former home WSGH. Que Pasa moved from WSGH to WWBG and WTOB. WTOB began airing separate programming in 2013. In December 2020, WTOB 980 AM/96.7 FM began simulcasting on the 1470 AM frequency. During simulcast, the station call sign WWBG has been retained, and the transmitter power has been maintained at 10,000 watts daytime and 5,000 watts at night. WTOB currently has an oldies music format and is being simulcast on WWBG.

References

External links

Que Pasa Media

WWBG official website
{{Classic Hits Radio Stations in North Carolina WBG Guilford County, North Carolina Radio stations established in 1999 1999 establishments in North Carolina Classic hits radio stations in the United States Mass media in Greensboro, North Carolina