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WDCG
WDCG (105.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Durham, North Carolina, and serving the Research Triangle radio market. It airs a Top 40 (CHR) format and is owned by iHeartMedia with studios on Smoketree Court in Raleigh's Highwoods Office Park. WDCG carries several nationally syndicated programs on weekdays: The Fred Show from WKSC-FM Chicago, hosted by Christopher "Fred" Frederick, in morning drive time, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest in early afternoons.
WDCG has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 73,000 watts. The transmitter and tower are off Ten-Ten Road in Apex. WDCG broadcasts in the HD Radio format. The HD2 subchannel plays classic hip-hop as "95.3 The Beat." It feeds two FM translators at 95.1 and 95.3 MHz.
The station signed on the air on February 29, 1948. Its original call sign was WDNC-FM, the sister station to WDNC on the AM band. Both were owned by Durham Morning Herald and The Durham Sun and were affiliates of the CBS Radio Network. The two stations largely simulcast their programming until the late 1960s. The FM station's debut coincided with the AM station's power increase and frequency shift from 1490 to 620 kilohertz.
In 1953, the Herald-Sun group joined WTIK owners Floyd Fletcher and Harmon Duncan in securing a license to operate a television station in Durham, which would eventually become WTVD Channel 11 the following year. WDNC-FM transmitted from an antenna located atop one of AM 620's three towers on Shocoree Drive in western Durham just off Interstate 85. (The old 105.1 FM antenna was visible on the easternmost tower until the site was razed in late 2017.)
In the late 1960s, the FCC was encouraging AM-FM combos to offer separate programming. Around 1968, WDNC-FM began broadcasting an automated easy listening and middle of the road (MOR) format in FM stereo. In 1974, management decided to offer automated country music on the station. It changed its call letters to WDCG to stand for "Durham's Country Giant." WDCG later switched to album rock music in the late 1970s.
As FM Top 40 stations were increasing in popularity and young people were moving to the FM dial for their music, management decided to make a change. WDCG became a Top 40 station in Fall 1981. A year later, the station boosted its power to 100,000 watts and moved to the former WRDU-TV (now WRDC) tower at Terrell's Mountain in southern Orange County. This allowed WDCG to put a city grade signal into Raleigh and Chapel Hill, as well as a 60 dbu signal into Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem, where the station even beat the local Top 40 stations from 60 miles away. WDCG, originally licensed to Durham, was the first station in the Research Triangle to obtain a dual city of license for station identification in 1982. It began identifying itself as "WDCG--Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill".
With minimal promotional money for advertising and give aways, WDCG grew every six months in the Arbitron ratings. Starting in the Fall of 1981, it went from a 1.8 - 4.5 - 9.0 - 9.8 - 11.1 - 14.5 by the Spring of 1984.
WDCG was operated as a loss leader for years by the Durham Herald-Sun. The owners predicted newspapers would someday be viewed on a computer screen. Even if WDCG wasn't earning much money, the newspaper could use a distribution system via WDCG's FM subcarrier that the competing newspaper, The Raleigh News and Observer, did not have. The Durham Herald-Sun had never separated the financial books of 620 WDNC and 105.1 WDCG. The combined stations had only been profitable in two of the 10 years prior to 1983. By 1984, WDCG alone was billing just under $4 million. Over $60,000 a month was coming in from the Greensboro-High Point market, 60 miles away, where WDCG had a dedicated salesperson.
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WDCG
WDCG (105.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Durham, North Carolina, and serving the Research Triangle radio market. It airs a Top 40 (CHR) format and is owned by iHeartMedia with studios on Smoketree Court in Raleigh's Highwoods Office Park. WDCG carries several nationally syndicated programs on weekdays: The Fred Show from WKSC-FM Chicago, hosted by Christopher "Fred" Frederick, in morning drive time, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest in early afternoons.
WDCG has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 73,000 watts. The transmitter and tower are off Ten-Ten Road in Apex. WDCG broadcasts in the HD Radio format. The HD2 subchannel plays classic hip-hop as "95.3 The Beat." It feeds two FM translators at 95.1 and 95.3 MHz.
The station signed on the air on February 29, 1948. Its original call sign was WDNC-FM, the sister station to WDNC on the AM band. Both were owned by Durham Morning Herald and The Durham Sun and were affiliates of the CBS Radio Network. The two stations largely simulcast their programming until the late 1960s. The FM station's debut coincided with the AM station's power increase and frequency shift from 1490 to 620 kilohertz.
In 1953, the Herald-Sun group joined WTIK owners Floyd Fletcher and Harmon Duncan in securing a license to operate a television station in Durham, which would eventually become WTVD Channel 11 the following year. WDNC-FM transmitted from an antenna located atop one of AM 620's three towers on Shocoree Drive in western Durham just off Interstate 85. (The old 105.1 FM antenna was visible on the easternmost tower until the site was razed in late 2017.)
In the late 1960s, the FCC was encouraging AM-FM combos to offer separate programming. Around 1968, WDNC-FM began broadcasting an automated easy listening and middle of the road (MOR) format in FM stereo. In 1974, management decided to offer automated country music on the station. It changed its call letters to WDCG to stand for "Durham's Country Giant." WDCG later switched to album rock music in the late 1970s.
As FM Top 40 stations were increasing in popularity and young people were moving to the FM dial for their music, management decided to make a change. WDCG became a Top 40 station in Fall 1981. A year later, the station boosted its power to 100,000 watts and moved to the former WRDU-TV (now WRDC) tower at Terrell's Mountain in southern Orange County. This allowed WDCG to put a city grade signal into Raleigh and Chapel Hill, as well as a 60 dbu signal into Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem, where the station even beat the local Top 40 stations from 60 miles away. WDCG, originally licensed to Durham, was the first station in the Research Triangle to obtain a dual city of license for station identification in 1982. It began identifying itself as "WDCG--Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill".
With minimal promotional money for advertising and give aways, WDCG grew every six months in the Arbitron ratings. Starting in the Fall of 1981, it went from a 1.8 - 4.5 - 9.0 - 9.8 - 11.1 - 14.5 by the Spring of 1984.
WDCG was operated as a loss leader for years by the Durham Herald-Sun. The owners predicted newspapers would someday be viewed on a computer screen. Even if WDCG wasn't earning much money, the newspaper could use a distribution system via WDCG's FM subcarrier that the competing newspaper, The Raleigh News and Observer, did not have. The Durham Herald-Sun had never separated the financial books of 620 WDNC and 105.1 WDCG. The combined stations had only been profitable in two of the 10 years prior to 1983. By 1984, WDCG alone was billing just under $4 million. Over $60,000 a month was coming in from the Greensboro-High Point market, 60 miles away, where WDCG had a dedicated salesperson.
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