WAZZ

WAZZ
City Fayetteville, North Carolina
Branding Sunny 94.3
Slogan Soft Hits[1]
Frequency 1490 kHz
Translator(s) 94.3 W232CI (Fayetteville)
First air date February 18, 1948 (as WFLB)
Format Soft Adult Contemporary
Audience share 1.0, #19 (Fa'07, R&R[2])
Power 1,000 watts (unlimited)
Class C
Facility ID 72058
Transmitter coordinates 35°03′45″N 78°54′30″W / 35.06250°N 78.90833°W / 35.06250; -78.90833
Callsign meaning Radio the way it WAZZ (pronounced like "was")
Former callsigns WFLB (2/18/48-3/01/97)
Affiliations Westwood One
Owner Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc.
(Beasley Media Group, LLC)
Sister stations WFLB, WKML, WYDU, WUKS, WZFX
Webcast Listen Live
Website sunny943.com

WAZZ (1490 AM, "Sunny 94.3") is an adult standards radio station in Fayetteville, North Carolina, owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., playing "Soft Hits Radio the way it WAZZ".

Programming

The station currently employs an adult standards format and carries sports programming from the Campbell Fighting Camels (NCAA) and Charlotte Bobcats (NBA). The station is also an affiliate of the Atlanta Braves radio network, the largest radio affiliate network in Major League Baseball.[3]

History

WFLB signed on February 18, 1948 with John M. Croft as general manager. WFLB was a commercial radio station in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Significant local programs produced by the station included 3-B Time, with disc jockey Bill Bowser, in 1948.

In the 1950s, the station signed on a TV outlet, WFLB-TV 18, which folded later in the 1950s.

Starting in the mid-1950s, WFLB played what was called Top 40.[4]

Newsman Johnny Joyce was the leading radio news anchor in Fayetteville. He worked at WFLB (AM) until the late 1970s where he joined WFAI (AM).

In the late 1970s, WFLB (AM) was a top 40 powerhouse in Fayetteville, North Carolina radio market. The station featured on air personalities Larry "Records" Cannon, Andy "Stonewall" Jackson, Debbi Tanna, John Braxton and Mark McKay. Mark McKay currently is 25-year veteran sports anchor for CNN.

In 1991, station owners Henry Hoot and Rev. Gardner Altman also owned WFAI, which began playing traditional gospel artists such as Shirley Caesar, Willie Neal Johnson and The Gospel Keynotes, and the Rev. James Cleveland, while WFLB would play The Kingsmen, Chuck Wagon Gang and The Bishops.[5]

WFLB switched to adult standards in December 1994.

On August 1, 1996, WFLB went off the air when Beasley Broadcast Group bought WFLB along with WAZZ and WEWO.[6]

WFLB ("The Memories Station") returned to the air in February 1997, with Curt Nunnery bringing back "Curt's Coffee Club," which he had hosted for more than 30 years on WFAI. He was station manager on WFLB before 1994.[7]

Soon after that in 1997, WFLB swapped call signs with WAZZ.

On October 9, 2014, WAZZ changed their format to soft adult contemporary, branded as "Sunny 94.3" (also broadcasts on FM translator W232CI 94.3 FM Fayetteville).[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Beasley-Fayetteville Welcomes Director of Sales" (PDF). 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
  2. ↑ "Fayetteville Market Ratings". Radio and Records.
  3. ↑ "Affiliate Radio Stations". The Official Site of the Atlanta Braves.
  4. ↑ Michael Futch, "Fayetteville Station Passes 50 Years," The Fayetteville Observer, February 7, 1999.
  5. ↑ David Bourne, "WFAI-AM Goes Gospel on Friday," The Fayetteville Observer, February 28, 1991.
  6. ↑ Michael Futch, "Easy-Listening Station Off the Air," The Fayetteville Observer, August 25, 1996.
  7. ↑ Michael Futch, "Familiar Sound Back on Radio," The Fayetteville Observer February 16, 1997.
  8. ↑ Beasley Launches Sunny 94.3 Fayetteville Radioinsight - October 9, 2014
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