WBBB (96.1
FM "96.1 BBB"), is an
adult hits 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 ...
based in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
, owned by
Curtis Media Group
Curtis Media Group is a broadcast media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. The company owns and operates several North Carolina radio stations and television networks.
Broadcast Stations
Curtis Media Group owns and operates the fol ...
. Its studios are located in Raleigh, and the transmitter tower is near
Garner
Garner may refer to:
Places United States
* Garner, Arkansas
* Garner, Iowa
* Garner, Missouri
* Garner, North Carolina
Other uses
* Garner (surname), a surname
* Granary, a grain store
* ''Tennessee v. Garner'', a United States Supreme Court cas ...
close to Lake Wheeler.
History
The station was signed on in 1949 by the Raleigh ''
News and Observer
''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the ''Charlotte Observer''). The paper has bee ...
'' as WNAO-FM to simulcast sister station
WNAO 850 AM. The stations were sold to Sir Walter Television effective February 13, 1953. In 1955 the station became WKIX-FM, simulcasting much of sister AM WKIX's
top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
format. This move was out of necessity as WKIX (AM)'s 10 kW signal was powered down to a directional 5 kW at night, preventing the station from having full area coverage. In 1972, WKIX-FM changed format to
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
WYYD.
In a change announced in March 1983, WYYD gave up its Carson Radio Services
beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
format for a new sound without instrumentals described as "between beautiful music and
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
" by general manager
Ed Weiss. Burkhart, Abrams, Michaels, Douglas & Associates consulted on the format that included
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...
,
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...
,
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
and
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...
and offered four songs in a row.
Two years later WYYD changed its letters to WYLT ("Lite 96.1"), playing
soft adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...
music.
In 1992, WYLT had a
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
show called "Saturday Night Fever" airing on Saturday evenings.
In 1993, WYLT as "Y-96" tried a variation of
adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
,
[David Menconi, "What's Wrong With Radio - And why it's not likely to get any better," ''The News & Observer'', July 10, 1994, p. G1.] playing traditional AC during the day and
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
at night, including artists such as
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
,
10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs is an American alternative rock band that was founded in 1981. They have released nine studio albums, six EPs, and five live albums. They achieved their most significant success between 1987 and 1993, when they released four album ...
,
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. While Colvin has been a solo recording artist for decades, she is best known for her 1998 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home".
Early ...
,
John Hiatt
John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including new wave, blues, and country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and has been awarded ...
,
The Breeders
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ...
, and
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...
Several area college radio stations played alternative music, but WYLT was a commercial station and had a stronger signal.
[David Menconi, "Dialing for dollars: WYLT's format change may make cents, but it's a betrayal to the listeners," ''The News & Observer'', January 14, 1994, p. WUP14.][
WYLT started 1994 by stunting as "W-Garth", playing only ]Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...
. On January 5, WYLT traded call letters with WKIX; both stations were owned by Alchemy Communications.[David Menconi, "WYLT Changes Format, Call Letters - Station Chucks Alternative Rock for Country Digs", ''The News & Observer'', January 5, 1994, p. D1.] The FM station switched to country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
as a result of the increased popularity of WQDR-FM
WQDR-FM (94.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, broadcasting to the Research Triangle, including the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, Rocky Mount, Wilson, and Goldsboro. "94-7 QDR" presents a co ...
, but distinguished itself from its competitor with "country your grandparents just wouldn't understand."[ General manager Rennold Madrazo described the new sound as "very hot, high energy and uptempo, with lifestyle promotions" and targeting ]yuppie
Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...
s and other upscale listeners.[ The result was a decline in ratings, followed by a slight increase.][
When the station switched to ]mainstream rock
Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
Format background
Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...
on January 28, 1998, the WBBB letters were taken from a Burlington, North Carolina
Burlington is a city in Alamance County, North Carolina, Alamance and Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Are ...
radio station at 920 AM (which was concurrently renamed WPCM
WPCM (920 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a contemporary Christian radio format. Licensed to Burlington-Graham, North Carolina, the station covers the Greensboro metropolitan area It is owned by Alamance Media Partners.
WPC ...
). WBBB was called "Real Rock, 96rock" then transitioned to "The Rock Station, 96rock". They later dropped the first half of their name and became known simply as 96rock and went by the motto "Everything That Rocks."
On November 21, 2011, at midnight, WBBB flipped to adult hits as "Radio 96.1: More Music, Less Blah, Blah, Blah" (the call letters reflecting this branding), playing music from the 1970s-2000s. The final song on 96Rock was '' Wild Side'' by Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...
, while the first song on Radio 96.1 was ''One Way or Another
"One Way or Another" is a song by American new wave band Blondie from their 1978 album ''Parallel Lines''. Lyrically, the song was inspired by Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry's experience with a stalker in the early 1970s, an incident which ...
'' by Blondie.
In June 2012, Radio 96.1 became the highest-rated radio station amongst adults aged 25–54 in the Raleigh-Durham Arbitron market.
On April 3, 2017, WBBB rebranded as "96.1 BBB: Your Life. Your Music," with no other changes.
Previous logos
Image:Wbbb96.png, WBBB logo as 96rock
File:Radio 96.1 Logo.jpg, WBBB logo as Radio 96.1
References
External links
Radio 96.1 Facebook page
Radio 96.1 Twitter page
*
{{Raleigh Radio
BBB
Radio stations established in 1949
1949 establishments in North Carolina
Adult hits radio stations in the United States