WFBX
| City | Spring Lake, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Fayetteville, North Carolina |
| Branding | 92-5 FBX |
| Frequency | 1450 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 92.5 W223CL (Spring Lake) |
| First air date | May 22, 1963 (as WFBS) |
| Format | Sports/Mainstream rock |
| Power | 950 watts |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 19875 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°11′0″N 78°57′45″W / 35.18333°N 78.96250°W |
| Former callsigns | WFBS (1963-1983) WRZK (1983-1987) WPJS (1987-1988) WCIE (1988-2008) |
| Owner |
(CRS Radio Holdings Inc) |
| Sister stations | WFAY |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | fayettevillenow.net |
WFBX (1450 AM) is a radio station licensed to Spring Lake, North Carolina, serving the Fayetteville area. The station is currently licensed to CRS Radio Holdings Inc.
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.
The station’s original studios and offices were located on the second floor of the Professional Building in downtown Spring Lake. The tower/transmitter site was a former cow pasture on NC Highway 210, one mile north of Spring Lake. .
Between 1966 and 1969, a fire originating in a dentist’s office in the Professional Building destroyed the station’s studios and offices. The station built the new WFBS Broadcast House studio and office building at the transmitter site and moved into it prior to 1969.
On February 8, 1969, a fire started underneath the control room of the Broadcast House studio building. The fire spread very quickly, fueled by the plastic insulation of cables installed on the underside of the floor, as well as gasoline and a gasoline powered lawnmower stored nearby. The burning plastic rapidly filled the building with dense smoke.
Station personnel tried to save what they could, but the toxic smoke forced them to leave the building with almost nothing. The fire spread from the basement through the studios to the attic. It heavily damaging the back half of the building, collapsed parts of the floor and ceiling, and destroyed the control room, news studio, racks of equipment, and both production rooms. The offices were undamaged by fire, but received substantial smoke damage.
...
Wikipedia