A very nice QSL from WBT Charlotte, North Carolina, broadcasting on 1110 AM. Not my first QSL from North Carolina, as it is the home of the Greenville VOA transmitters for as long as it lasts.
WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the oldest and most powerful radio stations in the southeastern United States. It first signed on the air on April 10, 1922, as the fourth licensed commercial radio station in North Carolina, originally owned by the Southern Radio Corporation and operating with just 100 watts. Early programming featured live music and local talent.
In 1925 the station was purchased by Charlotte automobile dealer C.C. Coddington, who increased power and moved the studios into the city. The call letters WBT (which originally stood for “Watch Buick Travel,” a nod to early sponsor Buick) became permanently associated with Charlotte when Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company (later Jefferson-Pilot, and now Lincoln Financial) acquired the station in 1929. Under Jefferson ownership, WBT joined CBS in 1929, became a 50,000-watt clear-channel station in 1933 (one of the first in the South), and built its famous three-tower directional array on Nations Ford Road that still protects KFAB from Nebraska at night. Mind you: while WTB stood for “Watch That Buick”, KFAB stands for “Follow A Buick” according to my source Frank Strait (see comments below). By the way, WWWE, now WTAM, in Cleveland benefits from this as well by the way.
From the 1930s through the 1960s, WBT was the dominant full-service station in the Carolinas, airing a mix of network programs, country music shows (including the legendary Briarhoppers), farm reports, and powerful news operations that made it a primary emergency information source during hurricanes and ice storms. It shifted to news/talk in the 1970s, added FM simulcast on 99.3 WBT-FM (later WLNK) in the 1990s, and was sold along with Jefferson-Pilot’s broadcasting assets to Greater Media in 2006 and then to Entercom (now Audacy) in 2017. Since 1988 the station broadcasts the games of the Charlotte Hornets major-league baseball team.
For more than a century WBT was on the air as Charlotte’s heritage news/talk station, broadcasting with 50,000 watts on 1110 kHz as “The News Talk 1110 & 99.3 WBT.” But as Frank Strait mentioned in the comments, this is going to change with WBT moving to WBT FM on 107.9 MHz. A new format is being discussed for 1110 AM, but the callsign WBT might leave AM.
I’m really grateful for the fact that there are still stations that award DX listeners with nice QSLs. A big thanks to WBT an their team!
My reception report was for WBT on October 16th LT with a “Go Rhino” commercial:
WBT could be heard regularly at my QTH in October 2025. The clip below is what I heard on from October 23rd, with clear WBT ID’s.
My original post was edited based on the comments of Frank Strait (see below) for which I’m very grateful!
Hi, Peter. I’d like to give you a few corrections to your information about WBT.
The Charlotte Hornets are a basketball team in the National Basketball Association, the major league for basketball in North America. The team started play in 1988, so this was not a part of the station’s early history. However, WBT is a big part of Charlotte Hornets history, and the team is indeed a big part of WBT’s history over the last 38 years!
WBT’s directional broadcast protects KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska, a 50kW station on 1110 kHz, rather than Cleveland’s WWWE, which became WTAM in 1996. However, I have no doubt that WTAM also benefits from the directional broadcast! KFAB in Omaha also uses a directional broadcast to protect WBT’s signal. Also, in an interesting coincidence, KFAB was also owned by the owner of a Buick dealership in its early days … KFAB stood for “Keep Following A Buick”!
And finally, the sad part. Your DX reception of WBT occurred during a period of transition for WBT as it shifted its news-talk format from 1110 kHz AM/MW to 107.9 MHz FM. This transition began in late 2025 and, as of January 8, the broadcast on 1110 kHz only directs listeners to WBT-FM. It is known that a new format will soon come to 1110 and possibly a new call sign, which would be sad after more than a century of use. So, the QSL card you received from the good people of WBT would be one of the last ones issued for 1110 and might well be the very last. You’ll want to preserve it!
Keep on DX-ing!
Hi Frank,
Thank you so much for your corrections and additional information. That is highly appreciated!
I will update my text accordingly.
Too bad that the iconic WBT might leave AM. Hopefully the new format will be attractive.
Kind regards,
Peter Reuderink