WKIX (850 kHz) is an AM radio station with an oldies format. Licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, the station serves the Research Triangle area. The station is owned by Curtis Media Group. Studios are located in Raleigh.
History
Early years
WNAO signed on in 1947, owned by the News and Observer newspaper. As of 1948, WNAO was an ABC radio affiliate. WNAO-FM was added in 1949. Sir Walter Television purchased the stations from the newspaper effective February 13, 1953. The Raleigh-Durham market's first TV station, WNAO-TV, channel 28, signed on in 1953, but went off the air in 1957. The AM (10,000 watts at 850 kHz) and FM (35,000 watts at 96.1 MHz) radio stations were sold to an independent broadcaster, Ted Oberfelter, who changed the call letters to WKIX and WKIX-FM to avoid the association with the newspaper.
WKIX, Channel 85
In 1958, Hugh Holder, a former CBS announcer, along with three partners bought the radio stations. Holder changed the format from easy listening to top 40, serving the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill market. Known as "WKIX, Channel 85", "The Giant of the South", and "The Mighty 850", the station was one of the most successful popular music outlets in the US from the late 1950s through the 1970s. It was home to many well-known personalities in North Carolina radio including Charlie Brown and Rick Dees. General Manager, Hal Vester, designed the unique format based on his former experience with Top 40 stations in Asheville, Greensboro, Charlotte, Wilmington, and Washington, DC. Chief Engineer, Larry Gardner (who later became CE of WCKY in Cincinnati) was responsible for many technical innovations that provided the distinctive WKIX sound.
Following the Holder years, WKIX and WKIX-FM were owned by Belk Broadcasting, Southern Broadcasting, and Mann Media. Previously, the FM signal had mostly duplicated WKIX's programming, getting a boost from the rising popularity of FM and also providing improved full-time coverage of the entire Raleigh-Durham market. As FM became more dominant, the WKIX-FM call sign was changed to WYYD, power was increased to 100,000 watts, and the station was programmed separately as easy-listening.
In the 1970s, the station had a strong news department, with such figures as John Tesh and Doug Limerick. The format was called "20/20" news, with a summary at 20 past the hour and a full newscast at 20 before the hour. This proved effective since most other stations had news at the top of the hour, bottom of the hour or at 55 past the hour.
Switch to country and other formats
WKIX changed format to country in the summer of 1981, featuring such personalities as Joe Wade Formicola (who had come from KENR in Houston) and Jay Butler (who later went to WQDR-FM, where he stayed for many years as morning personality). WKIX became the first significant country station in the Raleigh market, but with competitive pressures it changed to an "oldies" format in 1986.
From 1990 to 1995, the format was satellite adult standards with some talk shows and sports programming. The call sign changed to WYLT in 1994 when the FM station, also owned by Alchemy Communications, traded letters with the AM.
850 the Buzz
The station went all-talk in 1995 as WRBZ, for its "850 The Buzz" branding, but gradually added more sports programming before becoming an all-sports radio station in April 1998. The launch of talk in 1995 was led by syndicated personality Don Imus, who remained on the air for several years.
For six years, The Buzz was an ESPN Radio affiliate. When ESPN insisted that The Buzz carry its shows instead of local programming, The Buzz changed to Fox Sports Radio effective August 1, 2005. Unlike sister station WDNC, which relied more on network programming from ESPN, WRBZ's lineup consisted almost entirely of locally produced sports talk local programming from morning hosts Adam Gold, Joe Ovies and Tony Rigsbee; David Glenn; and Morgan Patrick (the Sports Pig). Jim Rome's weekday afternoon show and network programming from Fox Sports Radio on weekend afternoons and daily overnights rounded out the lineup. Sunday mornings [1993-2008] the station aired another local show, Computers 2K Now w/ Amnon Nissan. Until October 2008, WRBZ aired The Herd with Colin Cowherd, from ESPN; both WDNC and WRBZ dropped ESPN programming because the network wanted a stronger commitment than McClatchey was willing to provide. The Don Imus morning show aired on WRBZ from the time the station switched to sports until the Rutgers University controversy that caused CBS to drop his show.