WESC (660

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 a commercial daytime-only

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

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 Greenville,

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

, it serves the

Upstate South Carolina The Upstate is the region in the westernmost part of South Carolina, United States, also known as the Upcountry, which is the historical term. Although loosely defined among locals, the general definition includes the 10 counties of the commerc ...

region as a simulcast of

WESC-FM WESC-FM (92.5 Hertz, MHz) is a Commercial radio, commercial radio station in Greenville, South Carolina and serving the Upstate South Carolina, Upstate region, including Greenville, Spartanburg, South Carolina, Spartanburg and Anderson, South Car ...

. The WESC studios are located in Greenville, while the station transmitter resides in nearby Berea. The station signs off at sunset to protect

clear-channel A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...

WFAN WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

The station signed on the air in March 1947 as WESC, and for many years played

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, ...

, branded as "660 in Dixie." In 1948, sister station WESC-FM went on the air; both stations simulcast from 1948 until the late 1960s, when WESC-FM switched to

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 ...

, while WESC continued as a country outlet. WESC-FM later returned to country music. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, WESC-AM-FM were frequently the highest rated stations in the Greenville radio market. In 1994, while simulcasting WESC-FM most of the time, WESC also picked up the nationally syndicated

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

show, ''

The Fabulous Sports Babe ''The Fabulous Sports Babe'' was a semi-fictional character who hosted various American sports radio broadcasts. The program, hosted by Tampa Bay area resident Nanci Donnellan, was syndicated across the United States on both ESPN Radio and ESPN2, ...

''. WESC carried its country music format until March 1, 2000, when it was purchased by

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

, and leased to the Radio Training Network (owners of

WLFJ-FM WLFJ-FM (89.3 MHz, "His Radio 89.3") is a Christian radio station serving the Upstate, including Spartanburg, Anderson and Clemson. Owned by Radio Training Network, it broadcasts a contemporary Christian music format. Three family ministries a ...

) under a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

(LMA). The station adopted the call sign WLFJ to match its parent station. RTN programmed a

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk programm ...

format, most recently branded as ''His Radio Talk''. In August 2019, the LMA ended, and the station returned to the WESC call letters and country music simulcast. The previous programming continues to air on WLFJ-HD4 and FM

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

W225AZ. As of March 28, 2020, the station’s towers were taken down for unknown reasons, possibly for a proposed subdivision. WESC was silent until January 22, 2021 and now broadcasts at 5000 watts during the day, down from 50,000.

References

External links

* {{IHeartMedia ESC (AM) Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in South Carolina Classic country radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations ESC