WVOC
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| City of license | Columbia, South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | South Carolina |
| Branding | News Radio 560 WVOC |
| Slogan | Columbia's News, Talk & Sports |
| Frequency | 560 kHz |
| First air date | July 10, 1930 (as WIS) |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 11902 |
| Callsign meaning | W Voice Of Columbia |
| Former callsigns | WIS (1930-1986) WVOC (1986-2011) WXBT (2011-2014) |
| Owner | iHeartMedia, Inc. (Capstar TX LLC) |
| Sister stations | WCOS, WCOS-FM, WLTY, WNOK, WXBT |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wvoc.com |
WVOC is a news/talk formatted radio station licensed to Columbia, South Carolina and serves the Columbia, South Carolina market. The iHeartMedia, Inc. outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 560 kHz with a transmitter power of 5 kW. The station is operating under the moniker News Radio 560 WVOC.
Contents
History
The station went on the air for the first time on July 10, 1930[1] when it was launched with the call letters WIS. On January 23, 1930, WIS was the last U.S. broadcast station to be assigned a previously unused call sign with three letters instead of four.[2] The call letters were derived from the South Carolina nickname "Wonderful Iodine State." Before iodized salt, a high level of iodine in the state's soil gave the state's residents "a low incidence of goiters."[3] Soon after signing on, it was bought by Liberty Life Insurance Company of Columbia, becoming one of many early radio stations owned by insurance companies in the South.
On October 10, 1931, WIS changed its network affiliation from CBS to NBC.[4]
On November 14, 1949, a two-story studio on Bull Street was completed to house both the radio station and a planned television station. Construction of WIS-TV was authorized January 29, 1953, and the station signed on November 7, 1953.[1] The two stations operated under a newly formed Liberty subsidiary, the Broadcasting Company of the South. After acquiring several other stations across the country, it changed its name to Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation, with WIS-AM-TV as the flagship stations.
Talk radio
Cosmos pulled out of radio in 1986, and the new owners adopted the callsign WVOC later that year. The new owners dropped the 56-year affiliation with NBC in favor of Westwood One and CBS Radio. WVOC had a talk radio format with syndicated shows. By the turn of the century, the bulk of the lineup consisted of offerings from parent Clear Channel's Premiere networks, including Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Matt Drudge and Coast-to-Coast AM. The station also featured Kim Komando and the statewide-syndicated Sports Talk show in evenings.
In 2001, soon after Clear Channel bought the station, it jumped to ABC Radio after signing a deal for Paul Harvey. In 2005, as part of a corporate-wide change, the station switched to Fox News Radio.
From 1954 until 2002, the station was the flagship for South Carolina Gamecocks football and basketball, and touted itself as the "Home of the Gamecocks." However, on June 27, 2002, Host Communications and the university decided to leave the station in favor of rival Citadel Broadcasting stations including WISW (WIS Radio) in Columbia. The decision was made based on the power of the radio stations. The move has now placed Gamecock athletics on Citadel's FM signals which rival the coverages of other Southeastern Conference schools.
WVOC was the flagship radio station of the May 15, 2007, simulcast of the Fox News Republican Presidential Debate.
Sports talk radio
On October 26, 2011, WVOC began simulcasting on WXBT (100.1 FM), who had previously broadcast a hip hop format. However, this was part of a transition to move WVOC to the FM band. In November, WXBT changed its calls to WVOC-FM. On January 3, 2012, as part of a three-way format swap, the sports news/talk programming that was on WCOS at AM 1400 was moved to AM 560, and the call letters were changed to WXBT, which was formerly on 100.1 FM. As part of the swap, WXBT adopted the moniker "SportsRadio 560 the Team."
In 2013, WXBT changed to Fox Sports Radio.
Back to talk radio
On November 6, 2014, WXBT switched to a simulcast of WVOC-FM, while its former sports programming moved back to WCOS.[5] WXBT had fired most of its local hosts in October, reportedly because it was unable to make a dent in the ratings against the Midlands' sports-talk powerhouse, WNKT.[6] The simulcast ended on December 10, when it moved exclusively to WXBT, which changed their call letters back to WVOC on December 15.
References
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- ↑ WVOC Columbia Returns to 560; Sports Moves Back to 1400
- ↑ http://www.thestate.com/2014/11/01/3783470_gillespie-bottom-line-drives-changes.html
External links
- Radio and Television Towers and Studios in Columbia, SC
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WVOC
- Radio-Locator Information on WVOC
- Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WVOC
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