WAZS (980

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is an AM

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed to

Summerville, South Carolina Summerville is a town in the U.S. state of South Carolina situated mostly in Dorchester County, with small portions in Berkeley and Charleston counties. It is part of the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. Su ...

, United States, serving the Charleston area. The station is currently owned by Norberto Sánchez through licensee Norsan Communications and Management, Inc., and broadcasts a

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico ...

format known as named for the frequency of its translator station W280EX.

History

On March 31, 1960, Radio Summerville, Inc., applied to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC) for a construction permit to build a new radio station in Summerville, which would operate as a 500-watt, daytime-only outlet. The FCC approved the application on October 11, 1961, and WAZS began broadcasting as Summerville and

Dorchester County Dorchester County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Dorchester County, Maryland Dorchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. At the 2020 census, the population was 32,531. Its county seat is Cambridge ...

's first radio station on June 7, 1962, featuring what its owner called "a middle-of-the road format of good music". The original controlling owner of Radio Summerville, N. H. Hamilton, transferred control to Sam E. Felkel in 1965; under Felkel, the station was approved to increase its daytime power to 1,000 watts. The format remained

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

with local sports coverage. In 2000, Radio Summerville sold WAZS to Thomas Daniels, Inc. (Jabar Communications). At this time, the station ran religious programming and was known as "Spirit 980". This changed in June 2001 with the launch of WAZS as a Spanish-language station, the first in the Charleston area. WAZS returned to English-language programming for a time beginning in 2005, when it switched to jazz music as a result of Jabar's purchase the year before of FM station WWBZ, which became WAZS-FM and began simulcasting. With listener response being scant to the jazz format, an afternoon

beach music Beach music, also known as Carolina beach music, and to a lesser extent, Beach pop, is a regional genre of music in the United States which developed from rock/ R&B and pop music of the 1950s and 1960s. Beach music is most closely associate ...

program was added the next year. Before eventually reverting to full-time Spanish-language programming, an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format was instituted in 2007 as "The Rocket 980". In 2017, Jabar Communications, whose Charleston operations had grown to two Spanish-language radio stations and two low-power TV stations, sold its business in that city to Norsan Media—owned by Norberto Sánchez of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

—for $850,000.

References

External links

* {{Charleston SC Radio AZS Radio stations established in 1962 1962 establishments in South Carolina