WMBL (740 AM) was a

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 ...

in Morehead City, North Carolina. Its call letters stood for Where Morehead Beaufort Link. The station went on the air in 1947. The entry for WMBL in a booklet from August 1957 to commemorate Morehead City's centennial states: the "radio station is heard from Maine to Florida, and has been heard all the way to Nebraska. Particularly, this is true during hurricane season, when friends and relatives at distant points want information on conditions in this locale." WMBL was one of the few stations to play

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 ...

in the 1950s and 1960s. A listener of the station noted that an afternoon deejay of that time, Bobbie Dennis, "was bold enough to play records by

The Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, f ...

Clyde McPhatter Clyde Lensley McPhatter (November 15, 1932 – June 13, 1972) was an American rhythm and blues, soul, and rock and roll singer. He was one of the most widely imitated R&B singers of the 1950s and early 1960sPalmer, Robert (1981)"Roy Brown, a Pi ...

and

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American singer from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." His greatest fame was due to ...

, to name a few." A sister FM station using the WMBL-FM callsign went on the air in October 1972 at 95.9MHz, later moving to 96.3). In 1986, the stations were acquired by Great American Media (now Curtis Media Group); they were part of the Great American Media group until the early 1990s. WMBL-FM changed its call letters to WMBJ on October 13, 1981, according to

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) records. On June 4, 1986, the station adopted its current call sign,

WRHT-FM WRHT (96.3 FM broadcasting, FM), also known as "Talk 96.3", is a radio station, broadcasting with 100,000 watts that cover the Greenville/New Bern/Jacksonville area with a talk radio, talk format. WRHT is licensed to Morehead City, North Carolina ...

.Call Sign History in FCC database
/ref> WMBL broadcast a popular standards format at "Unforgettable 740" in its last few years. The station was bought by a subsidiary of Clear Channel Worldwide and permanently taken silent in February 2000 to allow for WSCC, 730 in Charleston, South Carolina, to make an upgrade.

References

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External links

History of WMBL
Defunct radio stations in the United States MBL Radio stations established in 1947 Radio stations disestablished in 2000 1947 establishments in North Carolina 2000 disestablishments in North Carolina MBL