WFXC (107.1
FM) and WFXK (104.3
FM) are a pair of simulcasting
urban adult contemporary
Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...
stations in the
Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to t ...
market. WFXC is the main station, licensed to
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
*Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...
, while WFXK is a full-power satellite licensed to
Bunn.
Owned by
Radio One along with
K97.5 and
The Light 103.9, ''"Foxy 107/104"'' plays "Today's
R&B and
Classic Soul
Classic soul is a radio format that focuses on the more raw types of soul music from the 1950s-1970s that draw from certain rhythm and blues and soul music influences, after 1980 is generally considered “contemporary R&B” with the smoother ...
" and airs the
Rickey Smiley
Broderick Dornell Smiley (born August 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, television host, actor, and radio personality, known for his prank phone calls. The calls feature Smiley disguising his voice and carrying on a conversation with t ...
morning show and the
D.L. Hughley
Darryl Lynn Hughley (; born March 6, 1963) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hughley is best known as the original host of BET's ''ComicView'' from 1992 to 1993, the eponymous character on the ABC/ UPN sitcom ''The Hughleys'', and as ...
afternoon show. The station was ranked first in the Roanoke Rapids market in the Fall of 2006, Spring 2007 and Fall of 2007.
Its studios are located in Raleigh; the WFXC transmitter tower is in
Oak Grove, just east of Durham, while the WFXK transmitter is near
Castalia
Castalia ( grc, Κασταλία), in Greek mythology, was a naiad-nymph, a daughter of Achelous who inhabited the Castalian spring in Delphi. In older traditions, Castalian spring already existed by the time Apollo came to Delphi searching f ...
, west of
Rocky Mount.
WFXC and WFXK broadcast in the
HD radio format.
History
107.1
WFXC signed on in 1965 as WSRC-FM, the sister station of Durham's WSRC, 1410 AM (now
WRJD
WRJD (1410 AM) is a radio station based in Durham, North Carolina, which currently broadcasts a Spanish Christian format. It was a heritage radio station that went by WSRC for over half a century.
History
The station signed on the air as WSRC ...
). In 1971,
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
Broadcasting Service bought the station and renamed it WDBS. The new station was free-form with much
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
,
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and a daily
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
program. On the business side, WDBS operated as a non-profit commercial station. With WDBS's commercial dial position increasing in value, Duke sold the station to the Village Companies in 1983 and applied for a non-commercial license. Classic Ventures, Ltd. later bought WDBS, changing the 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 ...
. The call letters changed to WFXC in June 1984 with a format targeted at the black community. In 1986, WFXC became known as "Foxy 107-The Triangle's Strong Song Station", the first area FM to program urban contemporary music. In 1987, WQOK moved in from South Boston and went head-to-head with "Foxy" for the urban audience. Though WFXC had recently moved from Rose of Sharon Road in western Durham County to a more centrally located taller tower off NC 98, it was hampered by its 3,000-watt signal—a consequence of being short-spaced to
WWWI in the
Piedmont Triad
The Piedmont Triad (or simply the Triad) is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of North Carolina anchored by three cities: Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Winston-Salem, and H ...
, also at 107.1. As a result, "Foxy" was no match for the powerful 100,000-watt newcomer. In hopes of gaining more ratings traction, the station switched to a rhythm and blues/urban adult contemporary format targeting an older, upscale audience in 1990. In the spring of 1992, WFXC found a fix for its coverage shortfall in WCAS 104.3, a faltering 100,000-watt move-in from Tarboro programming adult contemporary. Owner Pinnacle Broadcasting quickly entered into a local marketing agreement with WCAS owner Osborn Communications and began airing at two dial positions as "Foxy 107/Foxy 104". The two stations provided a strong combined signal, with at least secondary coverage from the fringes of the Triad to
Greenville.
WCAS later became WFXK and both stations are now owned by Radio One.
WFXC plans a power increase with a change to class C3. On October 4, 2017 WFXK FM Released a Construction permit to up their transmitter power from 8,000 watts to 13,000 watts. But the Antenna array will be lowered from 479 feet HAAT To 463 feet HAAT. The construction permit expires October 4, 2020. The station shares its eastern Durham County tower with sister-station WQOK.
104.3
WFXK began as WCPS-FM in
Tarboro, North Carolina
Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 10,721. It is the county seat of Edgecombe County. The ...
, the sister station of
WCPS 760 AM
The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 760 kHz: WJR in Detroit, Michigan is the only class A station in North America broadcasting on 760 AM; 760 AM is a U.S. clear-channel frequency.
In Argentina
* LU6 Atlántica in Mar ...
. Both stations later became the property of Curtis Media and the frequency became home to a
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, ...
format as WKTC "Katie Country". In 1990, 104.3 FM was upgraded to serve the Raleigh market by new owner Osborne Communications, while the WKTC intellectual property moved to
96.9 FM in Goldsboro. Osborne debuted in Raleigh as WAZO, but later became WCAS "Class 104", an
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 ...
station. it provided a strong signal from Raleigh to Greenville and the fringes of the
Fayetteville area. The "Class" format attracted some notable personalities from other area stations such as WRAL morning man "Famous" Bob Inskeep, but never really took off ratings wise in part because of its weak signal in the western portion of the market (Durham, Chapel Hill). In 1992, Class 104 gave way to a simulcast of WFXC called "Foxy 107/Foxy 104".
WFXC and WFXK were purchased by Clear Channel in 1996 and were owned by Clear Channel Worldwide until 2000 when the two, along with WNNL and WQOK, were spun off to Radio One for Clear Channel to meet ownership caps following their acquisition of AMFM.
In 2012, WFXK was relicensed from Tarboro to Bunn, but kept the same transmitter in
Castalia
Castalia ( grc, Κασταλία), in Greek mythology, was a naiad-nymph, a daughter of Achelous who inhabited the Castalian spring in Delphi. In older traditions, Castalian spring already existed by the time Apollo came to Delphi searching f ...
.
References
External links
*
Remembering WDBS: The Campus Radio Station of Duke University (1950–1983)*
*
{{Radio One
Urban One stations
FXC
Radio stations established in 1965
Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States
1965 establishments in North Carolina