WFBC-FM

WFBC-FM
City Greenville, South Carolina
Broadcast area Upstate South Carolina
Branding B93.7
Slogan All The Hits!
Frequency 93.7 MHz (also on HD Radio)
Translator(s) 96.3 W242BX (Greenville, relays HD2)
104.5 W283CG (Inman, relays HD2)
97.7 W246BU (Spartanburg)
First air date March 1947
Format Top 40 (CHR)
HD2: Urban Contemporary "96.3 & 104.5 The Block"
HD3: Sports "ESPN Upstate" (WYRD simulcast)
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 552 meters
Class C
Facility ID 34390
Transmitter coordinates 35°06′43.00″N 82°36′24.00″W / 35.1119444°N 82.6066667°W / 35.1119444; -82.6066667
Callsign meaning W First Baptist Church
We Foster Better Citizenship
(The second callsign meaning was taken from WFBC-TV)
The B is used in B93.7 branding
Owner Entercom Communications
(Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stations WSPA-FM, WROQ, WTPT, WORD, WYRD, WYRD-FM
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live (HD2)
Website b937online.com
963theblock.com (HD2)

WFBC-FM is a Top 40 (CHR) station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina and serving the Upstate and Western North Carolina regions, including Greenville, Spartanburg, and Asheville, North Carolina. The Entercom Communications outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 93.7 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW. The station goes by the name B93.7 and its current slogan is "All The Hits."

The station's transmitter is located on Caesar's Head mountain in South Carolina. WFBC has coverage in almost all of Upstate SC (includes the Piedmont & Foothills), parts of Northeast Georgia, and parts of Western NC. This station can be heard as far east as Charlotte, as far south as Irmo, as far north as Greeneville, Tennessee, and as far southwest as Athens, Georgia. Its studios are in Greenville.

History

The call letters WFBC were taken from a station in Knoxville, Tennessee that had gone off the air in the early 1930s and reassigned to Greenville. WFBC signed on the air May 3, 1933. Former WFBC program director Norvin Duncan said that the WFBC call letters stood for "First Baptist Church". Three other stations in the Greenville market used the WFBC call sign: The original AM station owned by the Peace family, owners of the Greenville News and Greenville Piedmont, and broadcasting on 1330 kHz, now WYRD; television channel 4, signed on by the family in 1953, which used the calls until 1983 (when it became WYFF); and TV channel 40 in Anderson, which changed its calls to WFBC from WAXA after an ownership change. The WFBC call sign was used on channel 40 until 1999; it is now WMYA-TV.

WFBC-FM signed on on May 12, 1947 as a sister station to WFBC. The programming was 90% simulcast for the first 8 to 10 years featuring block local programming and NBC Network programs. The early management team included : Bevo Whitmire, Ken Beechboard, R. A. Jolly, Wilson Wearn and Bruce Buchanan.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, WFBC-FM featured the Esso Reporter each 30 minutes during the morning hours with Norvin Duncan as host. Other early morning shows; Housekeeping-a-hobby with Alice Wyman, Kitchen Kapers with Claude Freeman and The "Aristocratic Pigs" with Baby Ray.

WFBC-FM's later morning shows featured "Shelley's Shenanigans" with Bob Shelley (1953–1956), Bob Poole and "Pooles Party Line" (1957–1961). In 1962, Monty Dupuy became the long running host of the simulcast morning show which was one of the most popular shows in Greenville Radio History garnering more than 50% of the audience for more than 15 years. Dupuy was the morning host on WFBC-FM from 1962 to 1977. In 1965, WFBC-FM began independent programming of "light music" and "Music with McMasters" only simulcasting during the Dupuy morning show and special events. WFBC-FM started programming Drake Chenaults (Hit Parade) format in early 1971 becoming one of the most popular radio stations in the upstate.

Past on-air staff during the 1960s and 1970s on WFBC-FM include: Norvin Duncan, Johnny Wright, Bob Poole, Bob Shelley, Monty Dupuy, Stowe Hoyle, Ben Greer, Bill Kregar, Verner Tate, Alice Wyman, Claude Freeman, Wilfred Walker, Billy Powell, Lee Kanipe, Max Mace, Jeff Fields, Ray Clune, Johnny Batson, Andy Scott, Ken Rogers, Dan Kelly, Jerry Haynes, Jim Burnside, Eston Johnson, Scott Shannon, Bill Love, Dale Gilbert, Dave Partridge, Jim Phillips, Rick Driver and Patty Snow.

WFBC-FM was an adult contemporary station during the 1970s and 1980s, and an oldies station in the early 1990s, with the name "Oldies B 93.7" and then just "Oldies 93.7". Announcers in that time frame included; Ken Rogers, Steve Chris, Lee Alexander, Russ Cassell, Robin Keith ("Rockin Robin"), Chris Scott, Heidi Aiken, Eric Rogers, Lisa Rollins, Jan Meng, Little Anthony Keller, Dan Stevens, "Spanky" Jim Miller, Lee Nolan, "Brother Bill" Prather, Joe Fletcher, Lou Simon and many more. As an Oldies outlet, WFBC featured the popular weeknight Oldies Request show "Into The Night" with Jan Ming. They also played Dick Clark, Mike Harvey and Dick Bartley National Oldies Shows on the weekends. The station also produced and networked several award winning Carolina Beach Music shows with Ken Rogers and Leighton Grantham. The format was 1950s-early 1970s Rock and Roll Oldies and was successful for many years. During this period, the station was known for doing live remotes and broadcast Memorial Day Weekends live from "Freedom Weekend Aloft". WYFF-TV Weatherman Dale Gilbert did Mid-Mornings on WFBC-FM during part of this period as well as doing the Morning Weather Broadcasts on "Your Friend" 4. WFBC/(WYFF-TV 4) and WFBC AM/FM shared the same building from 1955 until 1977, when a new radio facility was built adjacent to the TV station on Rutherford Street. The entire facility was dubbed "Broadcast Place."

In April 1994, WFBC AM/FM was sold, and in 1995, after stunting with a disc jockey reading the local phone book,[1] WFBC-FM switched to its current CHR format. This outraged many local Oldies listeners, and soon, 103.3 and 103.9 (WOLT and WOLI-FM) picked up the Oldies format.

In 1997, Tias Schuster was the station's mascot Buzzy the Bee, later becoming afternoon DJ and music director. Schuster returned to the station as program director in 2012.[2]

(1996-2007)

WFBC added On Air With Ryan Seacrest in November 2008.[3] The station's main competition is Rhythmic CHR WHZT, owned by Summit Media, and Hot AC WMYI, owned by Clear Channel Communications.

HD channels

W242BX, formerly a translator for WHRZ-LP, launched with country music as "Kicks 96.3" on October 14, 2015, but this was revealed to be a stunt. On October 16, the station switched to variety hits as "Simon", with an official announcement of the final format to follow. This announcement on October 21 at Noon appeared to confirm Simon was the final format, but at 5 PM, the station switched to urban contemporary, using the name "96.3 the Block" and playing 10,000 songs in a row (the first song was "Hotline Bling" by Drake). The station added The Steve Harvey Morning Show in mornings on November 2. [4][5] On May 5, 2016, The Block began simulcasting on 104.5 W283CG Inman and rebranded as "96.3/104.5 The Block". 104.5 had completed its move from Tryon and operates from just outside Spartanburg. The simulcast gives the station near full coverage of the entire Greenville market.[6]

W246BU in Spartanburg moved from 97.1 to 97.7 on August 19, 2016.[7]

Morning show

The "Hawk and Tom Morning Show" is hosted by Hawk Harrison, Tom Steele, Heidi Aiken and Kato Keller. It features Torture Tuesday, The Second Date Update and Crank Calls with Thelma Holister, Cecil B. Holister and Mumbleman as primary characters. The Hawk and Tom Show has been broadcasting since April 13, 1997, and for two years before that as the Hawk and Marty Show.

Hawk and Tom hosted the Upstate Race for the Cure each year from 1997–2006 and helped to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

In 2008 they began hosting the Children's Miracle Network's Radiothon to raise money for the Greenville Hospital System's Children's Hospital. For the 2008 Radiothon they set a new record raising $210,000 for the Greenville Hospital System's Children's Hospital. In 2009 they raised $260,000 for the Greenville Hospital System's Children's Hospital.

Current weekday on-air talent

Miranda/KJo: Midnight-5:00am
Hawk and Tom Show: 5:00am-10:00am
SupaDave: 10:00am-3:00pm
Ryan Seacrest: 3:00pm-7:00pm
Shorty: 7:00pm-Midnight

References

  1. ↑ Taylor, Chuck, "10 Musical Stations with Bold Directors and Bold Teams--Shaking Up the Airwaves," Billboard, 8/6/2011, Vol. 123, Issue 27.
  2. ↑ "WNVZ PD Tias Schuster Takes OM/PD Post At WFBC, WSPA". allaccess.com. 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  3. ↑ "Ryan Seacrest affiliate list".
  4. ↑ Venta, Lance (October 21, 2015). "96.3 The Block Drops Hip-Hop Into Greenville". radioinsight. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  5. ↑ 96.3 The Block Debuts
  6. ↑ The Block Doubles Up Into Spartanburg
  7. ↑ Venta, Lance (August 12, 2016). "Greenville's Chuck-FM On The Move". radioinsight. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
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