WSPO

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WSPO
City of license Charleston, South Carolina
Broadcast area Charleston, South Carolina
Branding 99.3 The Box
Frequency

1390 kHz

99.3 MHz
First air date May 14, 1930
Format Urban contemporary
Power 5,000 watts (unlimited)
Class B
Facility ID 60038
Callsign meaning WSPOrts (previous format)
Former callsigns WCSC (1930-?)
WZKG (1989-1990)
WCSE (1990-1991)
WXTC (1991-2009)
Owner Apex Broadcasting, Inc.
Sister stations WAVF, WCKN, WMXZ, WXST, W257BQ

WSPO (1390 AM) is an American radio station serving the Charleston, South Carolina, area with an urban contemporary format. This station is under ownership of Apex Broadcasting. Its studios are located in Charleston (east of the Cooper River) and the transmitter tower is in Charleston as well (west of the Ashley River).

History

WCSC was the first radio station in Charleston as well as the second oldest in the state of South Carolina. It was started out by Fred Jordan and Lewis Burk on May 14, 1930. The station's first studios were in the Francis Marion Hotel.

WCSC increased its power from 1 KW to 5 KW December 14, 1947.[1]

WCSC was a top 40 station. The WXTC call letters were moved from the station that is now WIWF.

WXTC was "Heaven 1390" with a gospel format until the end of 2008, when it went to a classic soul format, which it carried until June 2009. The station adopted the WSPO calls (previously at 95.9 WMXZ) in June 2009 and went to sports-talk.

Former sports radio branding

Under the previous sports radio format, "Southern Sports Now" with Seth Harp and later hosted by Jonas Mount and Big Ben was the station's local program. WSPO also featured national hosts Tim Brando. During the 2010 football season, WSPO aired college games from Westwood One and Sports USA Radio Network, plus NFL games each Sunday and Monday Night Football.[2] WSPO was also the home for the ACC Basketball and NCAA Basketball Tournaments.

On March 10, 2010, Don Imus replaced Tony D, whose last day was February 26.

Steve Czaban moved to WJKB in September 2010.

On October 22, 2011, WSPO changed their format to regional Mexican, branded as "Ritmo Caliente 99.3" and simulcast with W257BQ.

In 2012, WSPO changed to a tourist information format on its AM signal at 1390.

In 2013, WSPO's 99.3 FM signal changed to urban contemporary and is now known as "99.3 The Box".

References

  1. "Power Jump to 5 kw Celebrated by WCSC". Broadcasting. December 15, 1947. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  2. McDermott, John (July 13, 2009). "New player in Charleston area sports-talk game". The Post and Courier. Retrieved July 27, 2009.

External links

Coordinates: 32°49′26″N 80°00′06″W / 32.82389°N 80.00167°W