WAVO

History

WTYC began broadcasting May 2, 1948, on 1150 kHz with 1 KW power (daytime). The station's owners were O. Frank Thornton, W.G. Reid and W.E. Williams.

Jonas Bridges, owner of WKMT in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, owned WTYC when it was a country music station during its 40th year of existence. Ken Mayfield, a Charlotte-area general manager known for his success with the start up of WNOW (later, he managed WRCM), was brought in to change the format to Contemporary Christian on April 1, 1989 and change the call letters to WXLF. The station went by Life 1150. Bridges sold the station to Parkway Communications in 1990.

WYRS was off the air when the owner of Christian WHVN bought the station from Parkway Communications effective April 6, 1992. The plan was for WYRS to simulcast WHVN.

As of 1996, WAVO was airing the same programming as WHVN.

For a brief time in 1997, WAVO aired the same programming as talk station WTLT.

On July 10, 2008 at 11:50 A.M., WAVO ended its simulcast of WHVN to begin playing music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mathis, Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey who had once been heard on WNMX, also operated by the same company as WAVO. Big Band Jump would also air each week. Until the company's standards format was cancelled in September 2008, WAVO featured programming from Jones Radio Networks.

Starting in December 2008, WAVO's music was also heard on WEGO (now WTIX), allowing expansion of the station's daytime coverage area.

Morning host Ken Conrad moved from WOLS when it switched to Spanish, and he added an afternoon show. Several months later he was dropped after more than ten years at WNMX, WOLS and WAVO/WEGO. Morning in America with Bill Bennett replaced him in the morning. WAVO and WEGO also added SRN News.

Early in 2010, WAVO/WTIX added two sports talk programs. Bryce Johnson began hosting "Sports Yapp" at 9 A.M. weekdays in February. On April 5 the show began airing an hour earlier. In September the show moved to WZGV, where it joined the afternoon schedule. Also, on April 3, 2010, Chris Pardo, who moved to York County, South Carolina in 2008, began hosting "New York Sports Talk", two hours long starting at noon on both Saturday and Sunday. Pardo, the son of announcer Don Pardo, said that WFNZ rarely offered news about New York sports. He found that others from New York wished there was more coverage of their teams. Pardo publicized the show on web sites and by handing out information to people wearing team apparel. On October 2, 2011, this show moved to WZGV. Two years later the show moved back to WAVO. In 2014, the show moved from Sunday morning to Saturday afternoon.

On July 4, 2010, WAVO/WTIX added "Crank and Case", an automobile advice program similar to Car Talk, hosted by mechanics Chuck Sperry and Stick Case Roneis.

On March 4, 2012, after several months off the air while a new tower was built, WTIX returned to the air with separate programming.

In January 2014, "Eat, Drink and Be Merry", hosted by Joe Cutrone, began airing on Saturdays at noon.

In Summer 2014, WAVO was asking listeners for donations to keep the standards format, since advertising was hard to sell on a station targeting listeners over 55. Without $15,000 to pay for music royalties, WAVO might return to a WHVN simulcast or try something else. By the end of August, the station met its goal.