WGIV (1370 kHz) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 radi ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to Pineville, North Carolina, and serving the

Charlotte metropolitan area The Charlotte metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as Metrolina, is a metropolitan area of the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, within and surrounding the city of Charlotte. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastoni ...

. It airs an

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban conte ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. WGIV is owned by Frank Neely, but the station is operated by Steve Hedgwood's Core Communications, which owns a similar

trimulcast In broadcasting, a trimulcast is a cluster of three radio stations and/or translators that play the same feed. Normally this is done in order to have full coverage of a certain area. Some stations use this technique to provide rimshot coverage i ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

W233BF W233BF (94.5 FM) is a radio station in metro Atlanta, now licensed to serve Atlanta owned by Edgewater Broadcasting. After a series of moves (previously serving the eastern exurb of Social Circle), the station now transmits from the WUPA tower e ...

WIPK WIPK (94.5 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Calhoun, Georgia. The station's broadcast license is held C. Steve Hegwood, through licensee Core Communicators North LLC. Coverage area WIPK transmits from east-sou ...

and WFDR. By day, WGIV is powered at 16,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s. To protect other stations on

1370 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1370 kHz: 1370 AM is a regional broadcast frequency, on which Class B and D stations broadcast. Argentina * LRA 54 in Ingeniero Jacobacci, Rio Negro * Trece 70 in Isidro Casanova, Bueno ...

, it greatly reduces power at night to 45 watts. WGIV is

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...

s W277CB at 103.3

MHz 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 one he ...

and W263CY at 100.5 MHz, both of which are licensed to Charlotte. Programming is also heard on

WDYT WDYT (1220 AM) is a radio station licensed to Kings Mountain, North Carolina, serving the Charlotte metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by Iglesia Nueva Vida of High Point and operated by Core Communications. It simulcasts the urb ...

(1220 AM) in Kings Mountain and its FM translator on 104.1 MHz.

History

This is the second local station to use the WGIV call letters; the original WGIV (at 1600 AM) was the first station in the Charlotte

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

to target the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

audience full time. The current incarnation of WGIV started as

daytimer A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...

WLTC in the late 1940s, and was licensed to serve Gastonia. For the majority of the station's existence, WLTC aired

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, ...

and Southern gospel. A midday gospel show was hosted by Tillie Lowery. After 25 years of hosting the program, Lowery retired in 1995. In the late 1980s, WLTC was acquired by Ford Broadcasting in China Grove. The format would go full-time Southern gospel. In 1998, Ford sold the station to current owner Frank Neely, who owned WGCD. WLTC would change formats to

urban gospel Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prim ...

. On September 16, 2005, WLTC would change call letters to the then-discarded WGIV. Shortly afterwards, WGIV would relocate their tower to a location southwest of

Uptown Charlotte Uptown Charlotte, also called Center City, is the central business district of Charlotte, North Carolina. The area is split into four wards by the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets, and bordered by Interstate 277 and Interstate 77. The ...

, and would be relicensed to Pineville. For the next eight years, the station would air a full-service format aimed towards African-Americans, usually with urban gospel in mornings, talk shows in middays, and

Urban AC 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 ...

music in the afternoon and evening hours. WGIV would acquire the W277CB translator in 2010. On March 30, 2014, WGIV changed formats to

mainstream urban Mainstream may refer to: Film * ''Mainstream'' (film), a 2020 American film Literature * ''Mainstream'' (fanzine), a science fiction fanzine * Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publisher * ''Mainstream'', a 1943 book by Hamilton Basso ...

, branded as "Streetz 103.3." The full-service urban format moved exclusively to wgivcharlotte.com. The station competed against

WPEG WPEG (97.9 FM, ''"Power 98"'') is a mainstream urban radio station serving the Charlotte, North Carolina market. It is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on South Boulevard in the city's South End, and a transmitt ...

, who had not had a competitor since December 2010, when Rhythmic-formatted

WIBT WIBT (97.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station licensed to Greenville, Mississippi, United States. The station is owned by Delta Radio Network LLC and programs an urban contemporary format. The office and studios are located at 830 Main Stre ...

flipped to a more Mainstream Top 40 direction. WGIV received new competition in August 2015, when WQNC relaunched their hip hop-intensive

format. In December 2020, WGIV began simulcasting on

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WGIV
(covering 1947-1979 as WLTC) * * * * {{Charlotte Radio GIV Urban contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in North Carolina