Source: iOne Digital / Radio One Digital
“WBT’s 100th Anniversary, and our celebration of that achievement, is Sunday night, April 10, 2022,” said WBT’s Bo Thompson. “We’d like you to save the date so we can celebrate a century of broadcasting with you,” he added.
With that news now official, News Talk 1110 & 99.3 WBT begins its march towards a momentous milestone in media.
Started as an amateur station by Charlottean Earl Gluck, the station began broadcasting in December of 1920 at the home of Gluck’s friend, Fred Laxton, located at 2632 Mecklenburg Avenue, near the Charlotte Country Club. The microphone and amplifier were on the dining room table, the transmitter was in another room of the house, and the receiver was located in a chicken coop in the home’s backyard. In March of 1921, an experimental license was issued, and the call letters assigned were 4XD.
On April 10, 1922, WBT was licensed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, becoming the third commercial radio station in the United States, and the first in the Southeast.
Over the past 99 years, WBT’s airwaves have been graced by such legendary voices as Grady Cole, Charles Crutchfield, The Briar Hoppers, Charles Kuralt, Billy Graham, Ty Boyd, H.A. Thompson, Bob Lacey, Rockin’ Ray Gooding, Casey Kasem, Henry Boggan, Rush Limbaugh, and “Charlotte’s Most Beloved,” John Hancock. Each will be included in the celebration of the station’s 100th Anniversary next April.
“Stay tuned to WBT for details about our 100th Anniversary weekend events, April 8 – 10, and join me next month on December 22nd for the ‘WBT 100 Kickoff Show,’ as we’ll begin the countdown to a century with the announcement of our next two WBT Hall of Fame inductees,” Thompson concluded.
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