WYRD (1330 kHz), branded as "The Fan Upstate", is a

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 ...

-formatted commercial AM

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 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 ...

to Audacy, Inc. in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...

, which serves Upstate South Carolina. Studios and transmitter site are located in Greenville. The station power is 5 kW, non-directional daytime and 3-way directional at night. Programming is simulcast on

WORD A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...

950 AM Spartanburg, and by translators W249DL 97.7 MHz, Greenville and W246CV 97.1 MHz, Spartanburg.

History

The station has traditionally traced its history to May 1933, the date when it began broadcasting from Greenville. However,

(FCC) records list the station's first license date as November 4, 1924, tracing its origin to the original license, issued as WFBC to the First Baptist Church of

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. The station, designed by University of Tennessee senior Andy Ring, was a gift by Mrs. J. B. Jones, in memory of her mother, Mrs. W. S. Hall. Following a series of test transmissions, WFBC made its formal Knoxville debut on November 23, 1924. On December 9, 1932, the

Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by ...

approved transferring the WFBC license from Virgil V. Evans to the Greenville News-Piedmont Company, as part of a move from Knoxville to Greenville. At the time, WFBC operated on 1200 kHz with 50 watts of power. On January 8, 1935, the

approved increasing the station's power to 5,000 watts. In later years, WFBC was known for its top-40 format. In 1997, the station's call letters, which continue to be used by WFBC-FM, were changed to WYRD. Until the format change from talk to sports on March 29, 2014, News Radio WORD carried Russ and Lisa, Mike Gallagher, Coast to Coast AM,

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

, Kim Komando, Lars Larson, Dave Ramsey,

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...

and Bob McLain. WYRD-FM now airs the talk format that was once simulcast on WORD (AM), and on the FM station starting in 2008. WYRD and its associated FM translator signals became "ESPN Upstate" in February 2014. The station began with

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

programming, except during the afternoon drive time slot, which was hosted locally by Greenville-Spartanburg radio veteran Greg McKinney. Later in 2014, McKinney's show "The Huddle" moved to early afternoons, and Mark Sturgis took over the afternoon drive slot. McKinney retired from the station in January 2019, and the early afternoon show was taken over by Marc Ryan. Sturgis has had extended absences from the station for health reasons, and a variety of substitute hosts filled in. On March 23, 2022, WYRD and its FM translators rebranded as "The Fan Upstate" and switched affiliations from ESPN Radio to CBS Sports Radio and

BetQL Network The BetMGM Network (known on air as The Bet) is a radio network owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. that focuses on the world of sports betting. It is heard on the Audacy app as well as Audacy's portfolio of sports stations. The network was laun ...

.ESPN Upstate Relaunches As The Fan
Radioinsight - March 23, 2022

References

External links

* *
FCC History Cards for WYRD
(covering 1927-1979 as WFBC, originally in Knoxville, and later in Greenville) * * {{Entercom Audacy, Inc. radio stations Infinity Sports Network stations Radio stations established in 1924 1924 establishments in Tennessee 1933 establishments in South Carolina YRD (AM)