ERP 100,000 watts Frequency 98.1 MHz Format Rhythmic contemporary | HAAT 304 meters City of license Williamston Branding HOT 98.1 | |
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Broadcast area Greenville/Spartanburg & The Upstate Translator(s) 94.1 W231BA (Spartanburg area) Repeater(s) 107.3-4 WJMZ-HD4 (Anderson) First air date June 6th, 1953 (as WBFM) Owner Summit Professional Networks Area Greenville, Spartanburg, Upstate South Carolina Slogan Carolina's New #1 Hit Music Station | ||
WHZT, 98.1 FM, is an urban-leaning Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio station licensed to Williamston, South Carolina and serving the Upstate South Carolina region. Better known as "HOT 98.1," the Summit Media LLC outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 98.1 MHz with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts. Its studios are located at Noma Square in Downtown Greenville, and its transmitter is located in Seneca, South Carolina.
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History
98.1 signed on the air June 6, 1953 as WBFM. The station was an adult standards outlet airing some of the same programming as sister AM WSNW in Seneca, South Carolina. The station continued with the same format until the mid-90s, even after a power increase to 100,000 watts. The station played oldies for a while and then Triple-A.
Prior to its flip to Rhythmic Top 40 in the spring of 2001, WHZT's previous format was Sports Talk as WPEK ("98.1 The Peak"). But in the week prior to the flip it stunted, and in the process kept listeners guessing, with a Modern AC format as "Q98". On April 1, 2001 Q98 became The New Hot 98-1. The first song was "Party Up" by DMX and continued with 10,000 songs in a row commercial free. Since then Hot 98.1 has done well with its Rhythmic format, which also serves as 'companion' to its Adult R&B sister WJMZ, who had been the R&B/Hip-Hop outlet in the region before seguing into their current direction in 2002.
In September 2007, 98.1 "re-launched" with a promotion called "Pay Your Bills" after being "dead" for several days prior, the dead term referring to being "dead serious about giving away free money." This was met with much fanfare on the air as they also launched a freshened image with new voice talent and jingles, the first change of its kind since the station's 2001 launch. The re-launch paid off as WHZT rocketed to the number one position in their highly competitive target demographic, according to the Fall 2007 Arbitron survey. On March 18, 2008 the station announced that "Pay Your Bills" would be returning.
On July 20, 2012, Cox Radio, Inc. announced the sale of WHZT and 22 other stations to Summit Media LLC for $66.25 million. The sale was consummated on May 3, 2013.
Signal and translator
98.1 WHZT can be heard as far south and west as the northeastern suburbs of the Atlanta metro area, and as far east as the Spartanburg area. In parts of, and specifically east of the Spartanburg area, it becomes more difficult to receive WHZT due to interference from neighboring 97.9 WPEG in Charlotte. The station had a construction permit in 2006 to move its signal to an antenna closer to the metro in nearby Anderson, but it was never attempted. To improve its Spartanburg coverage, a translator of Hot 98.1 was added at 94.1 FM (W231BA) in late 2009, located in eastern Spartanburg county on the WRTH tower. The Hot 98.1 programming is fed via WJMZ's HD2 signal.
Former on-air staff
Fisher, Taylor Scott, Murph Dawg, CJ, Cap N Lou, JT/Justin Daly, Anna, Kacie, Kristen, Reid, Jet Black, Just Jeff, Jay Styles, Brandy, Johnny D, Marino, Eric Sean, Stevi, Supa Dave, Gabe, Nu York, Big Julz