WBT (AM)

WBT
Broadcast areaCharlotte metropolitan area
Frequency1110 kHz
BrandingNews Talk 1110/99-3 WBT
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatNews/talk
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
March 22, 1922; 102 years ago (1922-03-22)[1] (also earlier broadcasts as experimental station 4XD)
Call sign meaning
Randomly assigned
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID30830
ClassA
Power50,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
35°7′56.52″N 80°53′22.26″W / 35.1323667°N 80.8895167°W / 35.1323667; -80.8895167
Repeater(s)
Links
Public license information
Webcast
Websitewww.wbt.com

WBT (1110 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station serving the Charlotte metropolitan area, including parts of North Carolina and South Carolina. The station airs a news/talk radio format simulcast on Chester, South Carolina-licensed WBT-FM (99.3) and the HD2 digital subchannel of co-owned WLNK. First licensed on March 18, 1922, it is one of America's first radio stations.[3]

WBT is owned by Urban One, with studios and offices located off West Morehead Street, just west of Uptown Charlotte, co-located with the city's CBS television affiliate, WBTV, currently owned by Gray Television but at one time co-owned with WBT Radio.[4]

WBT broadcasts 50,000 watts around the clock as the only Class A clear-channel station in the Carolinas. Its transmitter site is a three-tower facility in south Charlotte, off Nations Ford Road.[5] During daylight hours it uses a single non-directional antenna and is audible in much of the central Carolinas. At night, all three towers are used in a directional pattern that limits its signal toward the west, to avoid interfering with KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska, the other Class A station on the frequency. Even with this restriction, it can be heard across much of the eastern half of North America with a good radio. For many years, WBT boasted that it could be heard "from Maine to Miami" at night.

  1. ^ "Radio Station Here Complete", Charlotte Observer, March 23, 1922, page 11.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WBT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ As of March 10, 1922, 8 days before WBT was licensed, the Department of Commerce reported that there were 67 authorized broadcasting stations, including, in the South, WGH in Montgomery, Alabama. ("List of stations broadcasting market or weather reports (485 meters) and music, concerts, lectures, etc. (360 meters), (March 10, 1922)" Radio Service Bulletin, March 1, 1922, pages 13-14.)
  4. ^ "Contact Us" (wbt.radio.com)
  5. ^ "Predicted Daytime Coverage Area for WBT 1110 AM, Charlotte, NC" (radio-locator.com)