WGIV
| City | Pineville, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Branding | Streetz 103.3 |
| Slogan | Charlotte's New Hip Hop Station |
| Frequency | 1370 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 103.3 W277CB (Charlotte) |
| First air date | late 1940's |
| Format | Mainstream urban |
| Power | 16,000 watts day 450 watts night |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 22027 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°12′45.00″N 80°52′6.00″W / 35.2125000°N 80.8683333°W |
| Owner | Frank Neely (operated by Core Communications) |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.streetz1033.com |
WGIV (1370 kHz) is a mainstream urban radio station licensed to Pineville, North Carolina, and serves the Charlotte metropolitan area. The station broadcasts at 1370 kHz, and simulcasts on translator W277CB (103.3 FM), which is licensed to Charlotte. WGIV is owned by Frank Neely, but the station is operated by Steve Hedgwood's Core Communications, which owns the identical trimulcast of W233BF/WIPK/WFDR in Atlanta.
This is the second station in the market to use the WGIV call letters, the other being the more well-known 1600 AM frequency (now WBCN at 1660 AM). It was the first station in the market to target the African-American audience.
The struggle for racial equality in the broadcasting industry was a major concern for African Americans in the 20th century. Since World War II, Black Radio has played a major role in the broader African American racial struggle in the United States. Blacks in the radio industry were largely responsible for the struggle against the Jim Crow employment laws, as well as for counteracting the derogatory stereotypes that Whites had given Blacks on broadcasting media. During the civil rights movements in the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans in the radio industry played a crucial role in the spreading of awareness and information to their listeners.
The importance of the radio peeked in the early and middle 20th century, when it was the prime source of media for the people. For a long period, this industry, as was most of the Broadcasting industry, was essentially dominated by White people. The first time African Americans were associated with the radio, was when ‘Racial Ventriloquy’ came through as a wave in the industry. Coined by Mel Watkins in 1994, this term encapsulates the mimicry that White entertainers had begun to do to represent Blacks on stage. Although it existed much earlier, Racial Ventriloquy became prominent in the radio, given that the radio only required announcers to mimic the Black dialect and intonation, and not expressions and looks. In a similar fashion, the first few Black announcers in the radio industry – including Jack Coopers, Eddie Honesty, Ed Baker and others, started their careers in the industry mimicking white announcers. This ‘double racial ventriloquy’ had two reasons. Firstly, the African American announcers, new to the industry, wanted to distance themselves from the pervasive version of their dialect that was being used in humor by the Whites. Secondly, they wanted to attract both Black and White listeners to their shows, for commercial purposes.
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