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WBAV-FM
WBAV-FM (101.9 FM, "V 101.9") is a commercial radio station licensed to Gastonia, North Carolina, United States, and serving the Charlotte metropolitan area. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, it carries an urban adult contemporary format, with studios on South Boulevard in Charlotte's South End.
WBAV-FM's transmitter is sited on Crowder's Mountain, along McSwain Groves Road in Gastonia. The station broadcasts in HD Radio; it carries sports from Fox Sports Radio on the HD-2 subchannel and tropical music on the HD-3 subchannel.
The station signed on the air in September 1947. The original call sign was WGNC-FM and it had a power of 11,100 watts. It was locally owned by the McSwain Family. WGNC-FM was a full simulcast of co-owned WGNC 1450 AM. The stations normally ran a broadcast day of 5:00 AM to 12:00 midnight until the late 1970s, when it began operating 24 hours daily. WGNC-AM-FM were network affiliates of ABC.
In 1976, WGNC-FM broke off from its AM sister station's programming and began airing a soft adult contemporary format. The call letters were changed to WZXI in 1978. The station was one of three soft AC stations in the Charlotte radio market. Protests over the programming change were launched by WEZC in December 1982. That led WZXI to change to beautiful music.
In 1987, WZXI became WLIT and later switched to a satellite-delivered Middle of the Road (MOR) format.
On January 22, 1988, shortly after Beasley Broadcasting bought the station, WLIT became WCKZ, better known as "Kiss 102". "Kiss" aired a "Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio" format (commonly known as "CHURban," a precursor to what is today Rhythmic Contemporary). Artists included Lionel Richie, Shalamar, Whitney Houston, Lisa Lisa, Phil Collins and Jody Watley. The station also increased its transmitter's power on Crowder's Mountain and moved its studio from Gastonia to Charlotte.
However, due to rival WPEG's increase in power, as well as increased competition from WAQQ, the station began falling in the ratings. That, along with financial troubles, resulted in the station filing for bankruptcy in 1992. In late 1993, Beasley announced it would sell WCKZ to Broadcasting Partners Inc. (BPI), which recently purchased WPEG. A local group, Citizens for Broadcasting in the Public Interest, started a petition to stop the sale, but the sale was approved in mid-January 1994. BPI decided to merge WCKZ's rhythmic format with WPEG in order to eliminate the competition between the two stations. (The "Kiss-FM" moniker, with a more Mainstream Top 40 format, was relaunched on 95.1 FM in May 1996.)
On January 25, 1994, at 2 p.m., WCKZ flipped to Urban AC, branded as "V 101.9." New WBAV-FM call letters were adopted the day prior to the flip. The WBAV call letters were assigned on February 11 to co-owned station WGIV. Following a format change, the AM station returned to the WGIV call letters in May 1997.
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WBAV-FM
WBAV-FM (101.9 FM, "V 101.9") is a commercial radio station licensed to Gastonia, North Carolina, United States, and serving the Charlotte metropolitan area. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, it carries an urban adult contemporary format, with studios on South Boulevard in Charlotte's South End.
WBAV-FM's transmitter is sited on Crowder's Mountain, along McSwain Groves Road in Gastonia. The station broadcasts in HD Radio; it carries sports from Fox Sports Radio on the HD-2 subchannel and tropical music on the HD-3 subchannel.
The station signed on the air in September 1947. The original call sign was WGNC-FM and it had a power of 11,100 watts. It was locally owned by the McSwain Family. WGNC-FM was a full simulcast of co-owned WGNC 1450 AM. The stations normally ran a broadcast day of 5:00 AM to 12:00 midnight until the late 1970s, when it began operating 24 hours daily. WGNC-AM-FM were network affiliates of ABC.
In 1976, WGNC-FM broke off from its AM sister station's programming and began airing a soft adult contemporary format. The call letters were changed to WZXI in 1978. The station was one of three soft AC stations in the Charlotte radio market. Protests over the programming change were launched by WEZC in December 1982. That led WZXI to change to beautiful music.
In 1987, WZXI became WLIT and later switched to a satellite-delivered Middle of the Road (MOR) format.
On January 22, 1988, shortly after Beasley Broadcasting bought the station, WLIT became WCKZ, better known as "Kiss 102". "Kiss" aired a "Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio" format (commonly known as "CHURban," a precursor to what is today Rhythmic Contemporary). Artists included Lionel Richie, Shalamar, Whitney Houston, Lisa Lisa, Phil Collins and Jody Watley. The station also increased its transmitter's power on Crowder's Mountain and moved its studio from Gastonia to Charlotte.
However, due to rival WPEG's increase in power, as well as increased competition from WAQQ, the station began falling in the ratings. That, along with financial troubles, resulted in the station filing for bankruptcy in 1992. In late 1993, Beasley announced it would sell WCKZ to Broadcasting Partners Inc. (BPI), which recently purchased WPEG. A local group, Citizens for Broadcasting in the Public Interest, started a petition to stop the sale, but the sale was approved in mid-January 1994. BPI decided to merge WCKZ's rhythmic format with WPEG in order to eliminate the competition between the two stations. (The "Kiss-FM" moniker, with a more Mainstream Top 40 format, was relaunched on 95.1 FM in May 1996.)
On January 25, 1994, at 2 p.m., WCKZ flipped to Urban AC, branded as "V 101.9." New WBAV-FM call letters were adopted the day prior to the flip. The WBAV call letters were assigned on February 11 to co-owned station WGIV. Following a format change, the AM station returned to the WGIV call letters in May 1997.