WVBZ

WVBZ (105.7 FM, "105.7 Man Up!") is a mainstream rock radio station serving the Piedmont Triad region. The station is a part of iHeartMedia, Inc.'s cluster in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem market and is licensed to Clemmons, North Carolina. It has studio facilities and offices located on Pai Park in Greensboro, and a transmitter site is located atop Sauratown Mountain near Pinnacle, North Carolina.

History

History as WFMX

105.7 FM, originally WFMX, was a well known and popular country station licensed to Statesville, North Carolina. WFMX was popular for its coverage of NASCAR, dubbing itself as "The Racin' Station". The station started service on May 3, 1947 as WSIC-FM. It, along with its sister station WSIC-AM, was the first AM and FM radio station simulcast combo to sign on simultaneously in the nation.

The station is also credited as the first FM radio station in the United States to program the country music format.

While the call letters have no specific meaning, they were purchased by then owner Statesville Broadcasting Company from the American Broadcasting Company in New York in 1958.

Starting in the late 1980s, WFMX broadcast from a tower in Rowan County and their 100,000 watt signal covered the Charlotte, Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, and Raleigh-Durham markets. As a result the station would see their ratings show up in the Arbitrons in each of the three markets, yet they remained true to the roots of serving the Piedmont of North Carolina. The station's signal could, also, be heard in portions of South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.

After Hurricane Hugo, WFMX broadcast from its transmitter site, since the studios had no power, using a panel truck. Information about affected areas was relayed to WFMX through ham radio.^[2]

WFMX was owned by Texas based Mercury Broadcasting Inc. and operated in a J.S.A. (Joint Sales Agreement) with Clear Channel Communications. With the move to Greensboro/Winston-Salem, Clear Channel purchased the facility.

On July 19, 2006, WFMX signed off from its Statesville location after nearly 50 years, and prepared for a move to a community of license of Clemmons, North Carolina. This move was extremely controversial for several reasons. WFMX was a staple of the Statesville community and was considered to be one of the most popular radio stations in the Charlotte market. The town switch would move the station from the Charlotte market to the Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem market. Many listeners were also under the impression that after the station moved to Clemmons that it would remain a country station and keep many of the same programs and DJ's.

History as WMKS

105.7 KISS-FM

When the station returned to the air on July 24, 2006 to the Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point market,^[3] after several days of stunting a loop of song clips and sound blurbs centered around the word "Kiss", WFMX flipped to an Adult R&B format, taking on the WMKS calls and using the "105.7 KISS-FM" moniker/slogan. It became the Piedmont Triad region's second Adult R&B outlet as they took on the more-established WQMG, which is owned by Entercom. They also were the second station in the Clear Channel family to adopt the "KISS-FM" brand as an Adult R&B, the other being WKUS out of Norfolk, Virginia. Kiss FM aired Steve Harvey and Michael Baisden.^[3]

105.7 Hit Music NOW

On May 22, 2009, WMKS changed their format to a rhythmic-leaning Top 40, branded as "105.7 Hit Music Now". For the first few months of the station's launch, WMKS played more than 20,000 songs in a row, before taking a commercial break, which occurred in the following August. It became the second Top 40 station in the Triad, competing with Dick Broadcasting's longtime (and more mainstream focused) Top 40 station, WKZL. On August 17, 2009, they became the first station outside the Triangle area to broadcast Bob and the Showgram during morning drive. However, in June 2010, due to poor ratings, WMKS ceased airing the Showgram and switched to "Brotha' Fred" in the mornings, which originates from WKSC-FM. It should be noted that it also had competition with Urban rival WJMH, another factor in their reason to play rhythmic hits, but stay within the Top 40/CHR realm.

History as WVBZ

105.7 the Buzz

105.7 Now moved to 100.3 FM on January 1, 2014 at 5 p.m., taking the spot of sister station WVBZ and rebranded as "100.3 KISS FM." WMKS then became "The Buzz" and shifted its format to Alternative rock.^[4][5] On January 3, 2014 the call letters switched to WVBZ.^[1] On February 24, 2014, WVBZ added Woody & Wilcox from WEND in the morning.^[6]

The Triad's 105.7/Man Up!

On May 22, 2015, at 6 a.m., WVBZ changed to mainstream rock, branded as "The Triad's 105.7", though most verbal references identify the station as just "105.7 Man Up!". The previous format caused the station to fall to 1.6 in the Nielsen ratings.^[7][8] This move marks the fourth different format on the 105.7 frequency since the move from Statesville.

References

External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WVBZ
• Radio-Locator information on WVBZ
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WVBZ
• Photo of former WFMX studios
• WTQR welcoming former WFMX listeners
• Article on WFMX's signal and city of license move