WCIE (1450 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a All Sports format. Licensed to Spring Lake, North Carolina, USA, it serves the Fayetteville area. The station is currently owned by WCIE-AM.

History

Norman Suttles, a former manager of WFNC, signed on WFBS on May 23, 1963, as the fifth radio station in Cumberland County, North Carolina. The format was Top 40, and announcers included some of the best in the country because the U.S. Army drafted them and sent them to Fort Bragg. Because it had the clearest signal of any station on the base, and because it sounded as professional as a large-market station, WFBS became a major success.

From 1963 to the mid 1970s, the station was owned by Radio Smiles, a group owner of several AM radio stations in North Carolina, including stations in Kinston (WISP), Graham WSML, Raleigh (WRNC) and others. In the mid 70's the station was purchased by its long-time general manager. In 1979, he sold the station to a North Carolina attorney. On December 30, 1986, Radio Smiles re-acquired the station.

In 1980, it was changed to a "soft soul" music format. For a period of time between 1980 and 1987, the station was programmed with the Z Rock hardcore metal rock music format.

On June 27, 1988, the station was transferred to Evangel Christian School, Inc. Evangel Christian School changed the call letters to WCIE to match their FM station in Lakeland, Florida, WCIE-FM (91.1). The letters stood for "Where Christ is Everything." For a period of time under Evangel, the station "went dark" and did not transmit.

In September 1989 Evangel stopped providing WCIE with programming by satellite, so the station had to increase its original programming from five hours a week to all the time. WCIE was also non-commercial and did not even charge pastors for airing their messages; an annual "Share-a-Thon" provided the station with its funding.

In 1993 and 1994, the station was called WHTK and the format was Top 40. Jeff Davis operated WHTK, but things did not work out.

For nine months prior to February 14, 1999, W & V Broadcasting, owned by William and Vera Hollingsworth, worked to return WCIE to the air. According to general manager Tammie Hollingsworth, WCIE had been off the air two years when it came back as a black gospel station airing the same programming as co-owned WMFA. The station made its return despite a break-in that resulted in the loss of thousands of dollars of equipment.

Late in 1998, WCIE went off the air again because the transmitter site was sold to a new owner who did not want the station's tower there. Late in 1999, the station was sold to Colonial Radio Group, Inc., owner of WFAI, and the planned format was "1450 The Sports Animal. In 2001, the plan was for sports talk began airing on both WCIE and WFAY, the station which had been WFAI. "ESPN Radio 1450" finally began broadcasting at full power Jan. 1, 2002 after temporarily using 500 watts while various problems were solved. WFAI aired WCIE's programming at night. WCIE aired the area's only local sports-talk show, hosted by Allen Smothers.

Late in June 2002, WCIE became a Spanish language station, the first in the area, with the name "Mexicana Musical 1450 AM," and WFAY took over the sports talk format. The new WCIE format would include Spanish Contemporary, tropical music, banda, ranchera, tejano, salsa, and regional Mexican.

Early in 2004, Roberto Vengoechea became the new general manager, and "La Nueva Radio Latina" included an increased focus on Latin and Caribbean listeners, not just Mexicans. In addition to news and information, WCIE played tropical, salsa, merengue and cumbia music. One reason for the changes: the various ethnic groups on the area military bases. .

On May 1,2006, WCIE became "ESPN 1450," with WFAY airing the same programming prior to its switch to Spanish.

In 2000, the WFBS call letters were adopted by an AM radio station on 1280 kHz in Berwick, Pennsylvania. The Berwick station bought the rights to the original WFBS Radio Smiles jingles from the early 1960s and changed their identity to WFBS, Radio Smiles, with a format of early 1960s music. It is not believed that the two stations were otherwise related.

Scott Shannon, New York radio programmer and DJ (also the announcer for the Sean Hannity radio show) started his radio career at WFBS.

Call sign history:

• WFBS: May 22, 1963 - November 01, 1983
• WRZK: November 01, 1983 - June 22, 1987
• WPJS: June 22, 1987 - August 09, 1988
• WCIE: August 09, 1988 - Present (2007)

References

External links

• Radio Latina homepage