WTPT

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WTPT
City Forest City, North Carolina
Broadcast area Upstate South Carolina
Western North Carolina
Branding 93.3 The Planet Rocks
Frequency 93.3 MHz
First air date September 10, 1947 (as WBBO-FM)
Format Active Rock
ERP 93,000 watts
HAAT 619 meters
Class C
Facility ID 4677
Transmitter coordinates 35°16′19.00″N 82°14′00.00″W / 35.2719444°N 82.2333333°W / 35.2719444; -82.2333333
Callsign meaning W The PlaneT (the station's moniker)
Former callsigns WBBO-FM (1947-1994)
WFNQ (1994-1996)
Owner Entercom Communications
(Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stations WFBC-FM, WROQ, WSPA-FM, WORD, WYRD, WYRD-FM
Webcast Listen Live
Website 933theplanetrocks.com

WTPT is an Active Rock station licensed to Forest City, North Carolina and serving the Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina regions, including Greenville, Spartanburg, and Asheville, North Carolina. The Entercom outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 93.3 MHz with an ERP of 93 kW. The station goes by the name 93.3 The Planet Rocks.

The station broadcasts from Hogback Mountain in Spartanburg, South Carolina with sister station WSPA-FM, with studios in Greenville. However, it is licensed to Forest City, North Carolina.

History

93.3, then known as WBBO-FM and WBBO-AM 780 ("We Build Business Opportunities"), signed on September 10, 1947 in Forest City, North Carolina. The station was owned by the Anderson family, which also owned the "Forest City Courier" newspaper and WPNF-AM in nearby Brevard, North Carolina. Both stations simulcasted with each other on a full-time basis until the late 60s. WBBO-FM featured a variety of formats throughout the next decade, including country and adult contemporary. In 1988, after building a tower on Tryon Peak near Columbus, North Carolina to improve its signal range, WBBO switched to a satellite smooth jazz format, distributed from St. Paul, Minnesota, and began calling itself "The Breeze". [1]

On February 14, 1991 (Valentines Day), WBBO-FM flipped to contemporary hit radio as "Power 93". This move brought back the format to the nearby Greenville-Spartanburg market that the former WANS (now WJMZ) had before they abandoned it for adult contemporary. Initially, ratings were very good, but quickly fizzled out to 9th place, where it stayed throughout much of its existence. In August of next year, the Power 93 moniker was dropped for "93.3 WBBO" as the station became more Dance-oriented. Again, ratings had shown little improvement and was re-adjusted toward Mainstream CHR within a year.

In mid-1994, the station was re-branded as "Q-93" and adopted a more uptempo-ed CHR format sprinkled with plenty of alternative rock. Ratings started to slowly tick upward, but the station was sold to Benchmark Communications (then-owners of WESC AM-FM) and the format was dropped altogether on January 1, 1995 for a younger-skewing country format as "93-Q Country" under the WFNQ-FM call letters. The station began the format with 19,095 songs in a row commercial-free, the most ever on a commercial radio station up to that time. The idea was to use WFNQ-FM as a flanker against then-rival country outlet WSSL-FM so that WESC-FM could be the #1 station in the market. This strategy failed miserablely as WFNQ-FM went to the bottom of the ratings within several months.

Programming also included the Christian music program Face to Face from Right Turn Radio.[2]

In September 1996, WFNQ-FM dropped Young Country for active rock as "93.3 The Planet". The call letters of WTPT-FM were adopted by the end of the year. Due to ownership issues, after being inherited by Clear Channel Communications in the late 1990s, Barnstable Broadcasting purchased the station in 1999, along with WROQ. The company sold WTPT as well as WROQ and (then) WGVC-FM to Entercom Communications in 2005.

On-air staff

Weekends include specialty shows Planet X, Fire Xscape, Rock 30, and HardDrive.

Former on-air staff

Previous logo

(WTPT's logo under previous "New Rock 93.3" branding)

References

  1. ↑ Jeff Borden, "New Format Breezes Into Town," The Charlotte Observer, February 10, 1988.
  2. ↑ Stark, Phyllis (March 4, 1995). "Vox Jox". Billboard. 107 (9): 85.

External links

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