WRCM
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| WRCM | |
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| City of license | Wingate, North Carolina |
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| Broadcast area | Charlotte/Metrolina |
| Branding | "New Life 91.9" |
| Slogan | "Charlotte's Number One Family Friendly Station" |
| Frequency | 91.9 (MHz) |
| First air date | June 14, 1993 |
| Format | Contemporary Christian music |
| ERP | 10,000 Watts |
| Callsign meaning | W Robertson C. McQuilken (First president of Columbia Bible College) |
| Owner | Columbia International University |
| Website | http://www.newlife919.com |
WRCM, known on-air as New Life 91.9, is a radio station in Charlotte, North Carolina. It airs contemporary Christian music and identifies itself as "Charlotte's Number One Family Friendly Station". It is a noncommericial listener supported ministry of Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina, broadcasting at 91.9 mHz.
The station is licensed to Wingate, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, with studios in another Charlotte suburb, Indian Trail, North Carolina.
Columbia International University, then known as Columbia Bible College, applied to the FCC for the license in 1982. Internally, this was known as The 92 FM Project. Other entities applied on top of CBC including Wingate College (now Wingate University) and a church in Waxhaw, North Carolina area. After 10 years of negotiations with the other groups, WRCM was granted the license and was signed on the air by founding general manager Ken Mayfield at 12 noon on June 14, 1993. Present at sign on were CIU president, Johnny Miller; CIU vice president John Davidson and former CIU president, Robertson C. McQuilken. (The station's call letters -RCM- were in honor of his father, Robertson C. McQuilken, the first president of Columbia Bible College.)
WRCM's first staff consisted of full-timers Ken Mayfield, the station's first general manager and afternoon personality, program director and morning host, Rodney Baucom and Karen Wycoff who served as mid-day announcer and secretary. Mayfield had built and managed another contemporary Christian station, WNOW, and had hosted a very popular Sunday morning Contemporary Christian music program for 7 years on Charlotte's 100,000 watt WBCY (now WLNK). Part-time staff members included Shelly Mitchell and Joe Paulo. Paulo stepped into the role of general manager shortly after Mayfield departed in 1999.
WRCM garnered immediate success with a 2.4 in its first Arbitron ratings. This success was in spite of the lack of advertising. Almost all of the "promotion" for the fledgling station had to come by word of mouth and from the station staff at Christian concerts.
Original plans were for WRCM to be a satellite station of Columbia Bible College's original station, WMHK However, these plans were scrapped, and the station has never been a satellite or semi-satellite of WMHK.
Although the station identifies itself as "New Life 91.9, WRCM Wingate-Charlotte" and heavily promotes churches throughout the Charlotte metropolitan area, its 10,000-watt signal results in a marginal signal even in parts of Charlotte. In much of the area, it can only be heard clearly in car radios. However, in late 2005 the station received permission to boost its signal to 30,000 watts.
"New Life 91.9" plays contemporary Christian music (CCM). Its music rotation consists of six or seven current songs in heavy rotation and a mix of six or seven new songs and "classics" from the last two to five years in medium rotation played in a tight format, often back to back with only the station jingle separating songs from each other. It also airs Martha Hadley's nighttime syndicated program of music, prayer, and advice, which it receives via satellite.
New songs are chosen with the help of the listener advisory panel. A survey is distributed every two weeks on a Thursday and usually contains anywhere from 12-18 of the most recently released songs with the option of rating them and identifying which songs are played too much or too little or just right. Also, five new songs are put up for votes. However, it is quite common for many new songs to be passed up, as the station's playlist is heavy on songs from the last couple years that have proven to be popular with listeners.
The station often promotes live concerts by (CCM) musicians, and carries out its Christian mission by performing good works such as collecting donations of baby clothes to support mothers in need who might otherwise consider getting abortions. The station sponsored a mission trip to Brazil during the summer of 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- New Life 91.9 WRCM official website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WRCM
- Radio Locator information on WRCM
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