WBAV-FM
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| City | Gastonia, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Charlotte/Metrolina |
| Branding | V101.9 |
| Slogan | Charlotte's Best Variety Of Classic Hits & Today's R&B |
| Frequency | 101.9 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | 1947 (as WGNC-FM) |
| Format | Urban Adult Contemporary |
| ERP | 99,000 watts |
| HAAT | 301 meters |
| Class | C0 |
| Facility ID | 6587 |
| Callsign meaning | The V from WBAV is used in branding: V101.9 Best Adult Variety (reflecting slogan and format) |
| Former callsigns | WGNC-FM (1947-1978) WZXI (1978-1987) WLIT (1987-1988) WCKZ (1988-1994) |
| Owner |
Beasley Broadcast Group (Beasley Media Group, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WBCN, WKQC, WNKS, WPEG, WSOC-FM |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | v1019.com |
WBAV-FM (101.9 FM, "V101.9") is an Urban Adult Contemporary radio station serving the Charlotte, North Carolina market. Owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, WBAV's studios are located on South Boulevard in Charlotte's South End, and a transmitter is located in Gastonia (its city of license).
WBAV-FM competes with urban oldies rival WOSF.
WBAV-FM carries Smooth Jazz on its HD 2 station and sister WFNZ on its HD 3 station.
The station signed on in 1947 as WGNC-FM. It was locally owned by the McSwain Family. The station was a full simulcast of co-owned WGNC-1450 AM and was the only FM station ever licensed to Gastonia. The station normally ran a broadcast day of 5:00 AM to 12:00 midnight until the late 1970s, when it began operating 24 hours daily.
In 1975, it broke off from its AM sister and began airing an automated adult contemporary format. The call letters were changed to WZXI in 1978. The station was one of three soft adult contemporary stations in the Charlotte market. Protests over the programming change by WEZC in December 1982 led WZXI to change to beautiful music.
In 1987, WZXI became WLIT and later switched to a satellite-delivered MOR format.
On January 22, 1988, shortly after Beasley Broadcasting bought the station, WLIT became WCKZ, better known as Kiss 102. "Kiss" aired a "CHUrban" format, which is the precursor to what is now known as Rhythmic Contemporary. Artists included Lionel Richie, Shalamar, Chicago, Lisa Lisa, Phil Collins and Jody Watley. The station also increased its transmitter's power on Crowder's Mountain and moved its studio from Gastonia to Charlotte. However, due to rival WPEG's increase in power, as well as increased competition from WAQQ, the station began falling in the ratings, as well as financial troubles, resulting in the station filing for bankruptcy in 1992. In late 1993, Beasley announced they would sell WCKZ to Broadcasting Partners Inc. (BPI), who recently purchased WPEG. A local group, Citizens for Broadcasting in the Public Interest, started a petition to stop the sale, but the sale was approved in mid-January 1994. BPI decided to merge WCKZ's rhythmic format with WPEG in order to eliminate the competition between the two stations. (The "Kiss" moniker, though with a more Mainstream Top 40 format, would be relaunched on 95.1 FM in May 1996.)
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