WSML is located in

Graham, North Carolina Graham is a city in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census the population was 17,153. It is the county seat of Alamance County. History ...

, and broadcasts at 1200 AM. The station airs 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 branded as Maverick 95.1-94.3.

History

WSML signed on December 2, 1967, as a

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 ...

operating at 1190 AM, owned by Smiles of Graham, Inc. In its early years, the station had a

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 "cont ...

format, but by 1970 it had become a

station. This gave way to a rock format by 1973, and a blend of country and rock soon thereafter. By 1975, WSML had integrated

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 mu ...

into the format and cut back its country music programming; however, after a sale of the station to Acme Communications (no relation to the current television station owner) in 1976, it reverted to a full-time country format. In 1981, the station was sold to Graycasting, Inc. and became WWOK; a year later, Evans Communications Corporation took over the station and reinstated the WSML call letters. By this time, the station had added

religious programming Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...

to its country format; religion had become its full-time format by 1987, after having been acquired by Gray Broadcasting Company (unrelated to

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...

) two years earlier. WSML moved to 1200 AM in 1991, allowing the station to begin 24-hour operation. By the 1990s, programming consisted of

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is co ...

. What had become Graycasting Media sold WSML to

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 ...

in 1998. Clear Channel converted the station to a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format, largely simulcasting sister station WSJS from

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

; this filled in a gap in WSJS' coverage of Greensboro and the eastern part of 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, Winston-Salem, and High Point. This close group of cities lies in the Piedmo ...

(especially at night). There was some separate programming — predominantly

NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college foot ...

sports and Sunday morning programming. After Clear Channel was forced to divest some of its stations in order to merge with AMFM Broadcasting, WSML and WSJS were sold in 2000 to

Infinity Broadcasting Corporation Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus a ...

, which also purchased WMFR from AMFM.

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broad ...

(which Infinity became in 2005), in turn, sold the three stations to Curtis Media Group in 2007. Curtis dropped the WSJS simulcast from WSML on July 15, 2010, replacing it with sports radio programming. Effective February 11, 2019, Curtis Media Group sold WSML and translators W232DT and W236BQ to Alamance Media Partners, Inc. for $397,500.

References

External links

* * * * * {{Country Radio Stations in North Carolina SML Radio stations established in 1967 Country radio stations in the United States 1967 establishments in North Carolina