W253BG (98.5
FM) is an
alternative rock radio station located in
Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...
area. Although
license
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
d as a
broadcast translator prohibited from carrying its own programming, it broadcasts under a legal
loophole allowed by the
Federal Communications Commission, by
simulcasting on
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
2 of
WJMZ FM 107.3, allowing such stations to sidestep the restriction on translators, as well as
regulations regarding the excessive
concentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership (also known as media consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Contemporary research demonstrates in ...
by a single company in a given
media market.
History
98.5 FM began broadcasting in March 2007 in
Arial, re-broadcasting
WHRZ-LP in
Spartanburg, which carries a
Christian Contemporary format. In June 2012, an application was filed to move the station to Paris Mountain in
Greenville, with a downgrade from 250 to 200 watts, however allowing the station to cover
Greenville County
Greenville County is located in the state of South Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 525,534, making it the most populous county in the state. Its county seat is Greenville. The county is also home to the ...
, as well as portions of neighboring
Pickens and
Spartanburg counties with a solid signal. The station would also re-broadcast
Cox Radio
CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company pri ...
's
WJMZ-FM's HD2 signal. The station's new tower also houses sister station
W258CB, 99.5 Chuck FM.
In early July 2012, shortly after the construction permit was granted, a website linked to Cox surfaced that indicated that "Talk 98.5" would launch, with a countdown to "something to talk about" on August 6 featured on the homepage. On Sunday, August 5, the station went live, running a loop of
The Neal Boortz Show from sister station
WSB. The following day, at 11am, a local talk show came on the air, referring to "Talk 98.5." Shortly after noon, after playing a montage of sound clips, the true format was launched as X-98.5, "The Upstate's New Rock Alternative." The first song heard on X-98.5 was ''
We Are Young'' by
Fun.
On July 20, 2012, Cox Radio, Inc. announced the sale of W253BG and 22 other stations to
SummitMedia for $66.25 million. The sale was consummated on May 3, 2013.
The station registered websites in September 2013, referring to a format change to a gospel format as ''98.5 Praise'', ''Gospel 98.5'', ''Praise 98'', or ''Praise 98.5''. However, this format change never took place. In June 2014, rumors began to spread that W253BG will instead flip to a simulcast of
WRTH as ''98.5/103.3 Earth FM'', but that turned out to be a rumor also.
References
External links
*
{{Upstate Radio
253BG
Radio stations established in 2007
Modern rock radio stations in the United States