WNCW
| City | Spindale, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Western North Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina Greenville, South Carolina |
| Branding | WNCW 88.7 |
| Slogan | Listener-Powered Radio |
| Frequency | 88.7 MHz |
| Translator(s) | See § Translators |
| Repeater(s) | See § Simulcast |
| First air date | October 13, 1989 |
| Format |
Adult Album Alternative Americana |
| ERP | 17,500 Watts |
| HAAT | 923 meters (3,028 ft) |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 29262 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°44′06″N 82°17′11″W / 35.73500°N 82.28639°W |
| Callsign meaning | Western North Carolina Window |
| Affiliations | National Public Radio & American Public Radio |
| Owner | Isothermal Community College |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wncw.org |
WNCW (88.7 FM) is a non-commercial public radio station licensed to Isothermal Community College in Spindale, North Carolina. The station broadcasts a varied format including folk, blues, jazz, reggae, Celtic, world, rock, bluegrass, indie, and news.
The station's broadcast area covers most of western North Carolina from a tower on Clingman's Peak near Mount Mitchell. The tower's elevation is 6,634 feet (2,022 m) above sea level. WNCW programming is also available on WSIF, Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and on four translators. WNCW has at least secondary coverage in portions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.
The station has a recording facility, Studio B, where a range of musical artists perform and are interviewed for the station's regular live programs. Selected recordings are compiled into annual "Crowd Around The Mic" albums which are only available to people who pledge support to the station, while some video recordings of the sessions are posted on YouTube.
In 1986, Isothermal Community College received support of the State of NC and the federal government to begin the process of planning and starting a public radio station for Western North Carolina along with the communities it would be serving.
On October 13, 1989, WNCW signed on from a tower on Clingman's Peak near Mount Mitchell at 6 A.M. with Morning Edition, starting with the theme music from B.J. Leiderman. Station manager Burr Beard described the audience as "everyone". Crossroads aired from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. weekdays, with songs from 6000 LPs and "hundreds of compact discs", and started with a song from the Tracy Chapman album Crossroads. Other programming included National Public Radio and American Public Radio. The earliest description of WNCW's original programming said that the station's weekday program was Crossroads, featuring a broad range of music genres, similar to today; in the evenings, listeners could hear classic radio dramas like The Lone Ranger and Sherlock Holmes followed by classical music.
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