WPTI

For the Louisville, Kentucky radio station, see WRKA.
WPTI
City Eden, North Carolina
Broadcast area Piedmont Triad
Branding 94.5 WPTI
Slogan "Your News, Talk and Sports Station"
Frequency 94.5 MHz
First air date March 20, 1949 (as WLOE-FM)
Format Talk, Sports
Power 100,000 watts
HAAT 299 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 55754
Transmitter coordinates 36°20′48″N 79°54′30″W / 36.34667°N 79.90833°W / 36.34667; -79.90833
Callsign meaning W Piedmont Triad International (name of the airport)
Former callsigns WLOE-FM (1949-?)
WEAF (?-?)
WSRQ (?-1984)
WWWI (1984–1986)
WKLM (1986-?)
WWMY (?-1991)
WMKG (1991–1992)
WNEU (1992–1994)
WXRA (1994–2001)
WWCC (2001–2003)
WGBT (2003–2009)
Affiliations Premiere Networks
Fox News Radio
Fox Sports Radio
TheBlaze Network
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Clear Channel Broadcasting Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations WMAG, WMKS, WTQR, WVBZ
Webcast Listen Live
Website rushradio945.com

WPTI (94.5 MHz), is a commercial FM talk and sports radio station serving the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina, covering the Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point media market. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and is licensed to Eden, North Carolina. Its transmitter is located in Madison, North Carolina, and its studios and offices are located on Pai Park near Interstate 40 in Greensboro. WPTI broadcasts at 100,000 watts.

Programming

WPTI airs mostly nationally syndicated talk shows by day and sports shows at night. Weekdays begin at 5 a.m. with This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal followed at 6 a.m. with a North Carolina-oriented wake up show hosted by K.C. O'Dea of sister station WTKK Raleigh-Durham. At 9 a.m., WPTI runs Glenn Beck. At noon Rush Limbaugh is heard followed by Sean Hannity at 3 p.m. From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., WPTI carries the Fox Sports Radio Network. Overnight, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory is heard.

Weekends feature both talk and sports shows, as well as paid brokered programming. National news from Fox News Radio is heard at the beginning of most hours, except when sports shows are airing.

History

The station first went on the air on March 20, 1949 as WLOE-FM, simulcast with its AM sister station 1490 WLOE.[1] In the 1970s, the station switched call letters to WEAF as a beautiful music outlet. It later took the call letters WSRQ. In 1984 the station increased power to 100,000 watts and became a country music station called WWWI "I-95". Later the name was changed to "I-94.5". In 1986 the call letters were switched to WKLM "Classy 94.5" when the station returned to beautiful music.[2] Later, when the studios moved to Greensboro, the name changed to WWMY "My 94.5", though the format remained the same.[3] WWMY switched to MOR in 1990, later changing to the new call letters WMKG and the name "Magic Lite" when WMAG began providing the station's programming. In 1992, WMKG became WNEU "New Country 94.5", later changing its name to "Cat Country".[4][5]

"La Preciosa" logo

On September 22, 1994, the station became WXRA "94.5 the Rock Alternative", playing modern rock.[6][7] Later in the 90s, the station began playing a mix of old and new rock and called itself "The Rock Station". Around New Year's Day, 2001, WXRA became WWCC, a classic-leaning country music station. Ratings for this format were poor. In February 2003, WWCC became WGBT and flipped to a Rhythmic Top 40 format as "94.5 The Beat."

On February 16, 2006 at 5PM, after playing "Don't Forget About Us" by Mariah Carey, WGBT switched to a Spanish-language classic hits format as "La Preciosa."[8] The station played Regional Mexican music from the 70s, 80s and 90s. As such, WGBT became The Triad's first FM Spanish-language radio station (and the second in North Carolina). This made the fourth distinctly different radio format in five years to be broadcast on the 94.5 frequency in the Greensboro market.

WPTI today

At the end of 2009, the Curtis Media Group announced that its WSJS/WSML news talk simulcast would no longer carry The Rush Limbaugh Show.[9][10] On December 31, 2009, WGBT became a talk station known as "Rush Radio 94.5" under new calls WPTI. The station stunted with weekend-long continuous replays of The Rush Limbaugh Week in Review through New Year's weekend. The Glenn Beck Program and a local show called The Morning Rush hosted by Bill Flynn and Pamela Furr debuted January 4.[11]

On July 26, 2010, Sean Hannity moved to WPTI.

In November 2010, the station canceled The Morning Rush with Flynn and Pamela Furr (although Furr continued with anchoring news for both WPTI and WRDU). After Christmas of 2010, Dmitri Vassilaros began hosting the morning show.[12] In 2011, WPTI replaced Vassilaros with K.C. O'Dea.[13]

ON May 24, 2013 WPTI dropped the "Rush Radio 94.5" branding, now just calling itself "94.5 WPTI".[14]

WPTI is the Triad's FM affiliate of the Tar Heel Sports Network, which broadcasts football and basketball games involving the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels. Following derogatory comments made by Rush Limbaugh regarding Sandra Fluke, WPTI was asked not to promote the university or the Tar Heel Sports Network during The Rush Limbaugh Show.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977
  2. ↑ Jeff Borden, "The Readers Write: "'Beautiful Music' Listeners Find Ways to Fill Void After WZXI Format Switch," The Charlotte Observer, April 14, 1986.
  3. ↑ Bradley Johnson, "Aiming for an Audience," Greensboro News & Record, July 20, 1987.
  4. ↑ Sutter, Mark (1991-08-16). "Triad Radio Stations Plan Marketing Staff Mergers". Greensboro News & Record.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Maria C. (1993-05-20). "Radio Stations Fighting for Fans". Greensboro News & Record.
  6. ↑ Folk, Mark (1994-09-23). "Ex-Country Station Ready to Rock 'N' Roll". Greensboro News & Record.
  7. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-09-30.pdf
  8. ↑ "94.5 FM Becomes La Preciosa". WXII12. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
  9. ↑ Rush Radio 94.5 http://www.rushradio945.com
  10. ↑ "Conservative Talkers Moving To FM In Triad". wxii.com. 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  11. ↑ Rowe, Jeri (2010-01-07). "Radio host shifts to the right with a new station". News & Record. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  12. ↑ "Rush Radio Hires New Morning Show Host". WGHP. 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
  13. ↑ "Ask SAM: Straight Answers". Winston-Salem Journal. 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  14. ↑ http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/82176/less-rush-for-wpti-greensboro/
  15. ↑ Cain, Brooke (2012-03-22). "UNC distances itself from Rush Limbaugh". News & Observer. Retrieved 2012-03-22.

External links

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